Teaching Support Services

Gathering student feedback on instruction at the mid-term with self-administered mid-semester feedback survey templates can provide specific, actionable, and kind feedback to improve your teaching and amplify student learning well before the end of the semester.  

A task force of faculty developed two short survey options to gather mid-term feedback in 2022. Since then,  faculty have used the surveys to gather and respond to student feedback before or at the mid-term; many colleagues who have used the survey suggest administering it slightly earlier than mid-term so there’s ample time to make reasonable small adjustments to the course. Email fdc@furman.edu for an easily importable Qualtrics version of the survey for your course(s).

Research on a technique called Small Group Instructional Feedback (SGIF) suggests that this focus group strategy, lasting no more than 30 minutes, can support greater student satisfaction and self-reported learning. Furthermore, Furman data indicates that Student Opinion of Instruction response rates for courses where SGIF sessions were conducted are up to 3X higher than university averages at the end of the term, typically greater than 75% (and in some cases a 100% response rate!) Faculty Development Center consultants can facilitate a SGIF session with your group of learners (course or program participants) to examine, from the perspective of a neutral observer, student perceptions of group dynamics, approaches to learning, assignments or activities, and ideas to enhance student achievement and learning. During a follow-up conversation with you, results from the session will be analyzed together, with the goal of identifying potential strategies to respond to the range of comments generated by the activity. SGIF sessions are typically conducted around the mid-term of a course or program. As such, these sessions need to be scheduled well in advance with an FDC consultant. Email fdc@furman.edu to set up your SGIF. 

The Faculty Development Center utilizes a three-stage teaching observation process, whereby an FDC consultant will a) work with you before the observation occurs to articulate your goals for the observation, b) engage in a formative (non-evaluative) in-class observation over 1-2 sessions, and c) discuss observations of your pedagogical choices, patterns in student-to-student and faculty-to-student interactions, and overall session design and time allocation. The goal of these observations is to facilitate critical reflection of your teaching practices so that future areas of experimentation and refinement may be identified. Teaching observations are particularly useful in offering a different perspective on your teaching once you’ve engaged in personal reflection and analysis of your practice.  To schedule a teaching observation, please complete our online collaboration request form.

Coming soon!