Midterm season is upon us! The half-way point of the semester is an excellent time to reflect on what has transpired over the last 8 weeks and how to approach the rest of the semester. A mid-term evaluation will allow your students to give you valuable feedback about their experience so far in your course. There are many different ways to approach a mid-semester evaluation (including a reflective self-evaluation!). Whether you want to offer a survey in class or online, there are several easy options that will allow you to create customized, anonymous surveys for your courses.
Moodle Questionnaire Activity
The Moodle Questionnaire Activity allows you to build a survey that will collect data about students’ course experience. You can build your Questionnaire right into your existing course structure in Moodle, and there are a variety of different question types available for gathering different types of data. This option has the added benefit of allowing you to “grade” students after they complete this activity if you want to make participation in the evaluation mandatory or provide extra credit for completing the evaluation. The grading feature is available even if you choose to make the survey anonymous.
Google Forms
Google Forms are very familiar to students on campus and are simple to create. Question types include open-ended essay questions, rating scales, and multiple choice or check box questions. Google allows you to easily export responses to a spreadsheet or view them graphically in your browser as pie charts. To ensure that student responses are anonymous, make sure not to use any questions that include identifying information, and uncheck the “Collect Email Addresses” box in the preferences menu.
Online Polling Programs
If you’d like to offer a survey in class, you can use an online polling software like Socrative. This program allows you to create custom surveys or one-shot questions that students can answer in class from their personal devices. A tool like Socrative can be used anytime throughout the semester, allowing you to build regular assessment into your course.
These three tools offer powerful ways to collect formative data about your courses. Try one out this midterm season! If you need a hand getting these up and running, please contact Diane or Kate.
