Soliciting Feedback from Students on Their Learning Experience

In the absence of the Course Evaluation Questionnaire (CEQ), instructors have an option for getting anonymous feedback from students about their learning experience by using the Brightspace Survey tool.

Brightspace Survey Tool

The Brightspace Survey tool enables you to design and administer your own anonymous feedback survey at the end of the semester, or at any time you want information about the impact of a particular practice or instructional approach on student learning. The Survey tool allows a variety of question formats including Likert-style, multiple-choice, and open-ended questions. Students access the survey via a link in the Brightspace course shell and you can view and export the results.

Visit the Technology Resources site for instructions on using the Survey tool.

Before you Start

Reflect on your course and instructional approach. What do you want to know about the following?

  • course organization and structure;
  • teaching and learning activities and resources;
  • assessment methods and grading;
  • student learning outcomes;
  • instructional style; and
  • learning environment.

Design your Survey and Encourage Participation

  • Make sure your survey questions draw out information that will help you make good decisions about what to change and how for future offerings.
  • Ensure questions are clearly stated and organized by theme.
  • Where appropriate, ask students to give a specific number of responses, for example:
    “List three activities you engaged in during this course that helped your learning”.
  • Announce the availability of the feedback survey and the date the survey will close. Use the Announcements widget on your course home page and activate the option to display the survey in the course Calendar tool.
  • Assure students that the survey is anonymous.
  • Remind students of the characteristics of constructive feedback (respectful, specific, useful, etc.).
  • Let students know that you value their feedback and use it to make adjustments to your teaching and improvements to the course. Provide a few examples of how you’ve used feedback to make improvements in the past.
  • Remind students to complete the survey and provide them with a link to it using Announcements, Email, or Discussions.

Helpful Resources

The following documents provide lists of Likert-style questions that you may find helpful in selecting items, wording questions, and constructing your feedback survey.

Resource created by Allyson M.