Seven Ivy League universities and nine Big Ten universities have some form of mid-semester feedback process for students to voice concerns about the course before it ends.
ASMSU, MSU’s undergraduate student government passed a resolution last night to begin talks with administration and faculty members to implement a similar feedback process at the university.
In March 2014, The University Committee on Undergraduate Education or UCUE created a sub-committee to conduct a sample survey to investigate if a mid-semester feedback process could be helpful for students and faculty at MSU.
There was disappointing turnout in the survey according to a UCUE memo, with only 167 faculty members and 376 students participating – of those, 70 percent of faculty members and 67 percent of students recommended a mid-semester feedback system.
The survey also found that only 35 percent of students felt comfortable talking to their professor about instructional problems.
“This would give students an option to give their professors feedback in the middle of the semester, which gives students who may be hesitant to speak with their professors a chance to communicate with them anonymously,” College of Social Science representative and introducer of the bill Jason Porter said.
Porter sees this as an important way for students to get help during the semester, instead of the current process of post-semester surveys, which can only help a professor make adjustments for the next semester.
The proposed mid-semester feedback process would not be a mandatory policy for professors to offer, but Porter hopes faculty will see the value in a feedback process like this and implement it for their students.
“Hopefully the professors, teacher’s assistants, and faculty will look at this process and notice it will help students and the class as a whole and implement it,” he said.
Vice President for Academic Affairs Teresa Bitner added that the Office of Faculty and Organizational Development’s website provides resources for faculty to learn more about how mid-semester feedback can be implemented and how it has been utilized at other universities.
Porter and Bitner have already begun work on creating a presentation to provide for the associate deans of each college and faculty members over the coming months to show the benefits of a mid-semester feedback process.
Porter said he hopes professors will begin offering mid-semester feedback by as early as next fall.
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