Students as Sources of Teaching Feedback

September 24, 2026

One of the best things we can do for our teaching is to get feedback on it — from our peers, from experts (the CFI Teaching Team conducts class observations upon request), from ourselves, and from students. The Teaching Toolbox series has repeatedly emphasized the value of listening to students (for example, see toolboxes by Joshua Streeter, Daisy Breneman, and Leah Ballinger). In this toolbox, I continue this focus with a discussion of collecting structured student feedback in the middle of the semester. We've covered this ground before, but I thought it'd be a good idea to re-up information about some of the recommended practices.

Of course, student feedback, in the form of Student Evaluations of Teaching AKA course evals, has a bad rep, largely deserved due to its well-documented biases. (But there are occasionally funny comments.) What I'd like to focus on here, though, is different from course evals in several important ways: First, the feedback I am writing about is formative, that is, to be used to help us teach well, not summative feedback that is used to rate and rank our teaching. Second, such formative feedback happens early-to-mid-semester, when we are still able to use it, either to adapt our teaching to the feedback or to communicate our teaching strategies more clearly. Third, this is feedback that is for and by us; we, as instructors, decide what questions we want to ask our students, how we collect their responses, and what we do with them.

So, how can we collect and use student feedback about our classes and our teaching? The easiest way is to participate in CFI's mid-semester check-in program, which currently accepts sign-ups. If you cannot do this, or if you came across this toolbox when mid-semester check-ins are not on offer, here are some suggestions for collecting feedback on your own:

• Collect feedback not too late, and not too early: Students should have experienced your class enough to provide feedback and provide feedback early enough for you to make changes (if needed).

• Choose survey questions that provide students with an opportunity for detailed but guided responses. There are actually CFI toolboxes on student feedback that suggest useful questions and ways to collect answers.

• Collect anonymous feedback through a survey in Canvas to save class time. Emily Gravett's toolbox mentioned above has further suggestions on how to collect feedback, for example through PollEverywhere. Of course, it is also possible to collect responses in class, in which case I'd suggest leaving the classroom while students write their responses, to provide some measure of anonymity.

• Consider whether all students in your class will be able to contribute to the survey results. For example, in-class response collection, especially if hand-written, may privilege some student responses over others.

• If you are concerned about student bias in their responses, Cornejo Happel et al. (2025) show that questions about specific teaching practices, in contrast to more subjective traits, lead to less bias. In addition, you may ask students to name specific things that help or hinder their learning (including things that they do). That way, students are focused on the things that matter for their learning.

• Read the survey responses and identify themes that appear meaningful to you. This does not have to reach the level of a formal qualitative analysis that you (or a qualitative researcher) would conduct for a research study. If you collect responses in class, you may have to do so on the fly. In a large class, you may want to take more time, outside of class, to identify themes.

• As a rule of thumb, identify up to three themes about what goes well in class, up to three themes about what constitutes a hurdle to student learning, and up to three themes about suggestions for improvements. This will provide you with a manageable number of themes to address.

• Is it evil to suggest that you could use a generative AI tool to identify themes? (One of my colleagues thinks it is. Let me just remind you to follow JMU guidelines and principles for AI use, such as using Copilot and making sure the data you enter are anonymous.)

• Take some time in class to report back to your students: What themes have you found? What questions do you have about the themes? Starting a conversation with students in which you listen carefully to what they have to say and show your appreciation for their openness is often a good idea. It may be even more important than any specific changes you make to your teaching.

• If you find that student feedback suggests changes to your teaching that you are willing to make, make those changes and tell your students. If the feedback does not suggest any changes, or if the changes are a bad idea, tell your class as well and explain your reasons. You want to make sure your students know that their feedback has been heard, whether changes were warranted or not.

• If you fear that the student feedback in your class comes with comments or language that are harmful to you or the relationship with your students, consider asking a colleague to identify and summarize themes in your student responses and frame them in a constructive manner. You can also ask a colleague (or a CFI consultant) to conduct the student feedback survey in your class.

Sometimes, faculty request a class observation or student feedback collection from the CFI that they want to use in an annual evaluation, a tenure and promotion packet, or another dossier. We usually decline those since we only provide formative feedback about teaching. This goes with the current faculty handbook's language in section III.D.2.a.(1), which limits summative use of student feedback. If you nevertheless consider reporting formative student feedback to your department, please talk to your academic unit head and/or PAC chair to determine how this can be done and what information you would have to report.