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58 A Tutor’s Guide to Teaching and Learning at UQFor further information on tools and strategies to assist you in improving your skills as atutor, visit: http://www.tedi.uq.edu.au/evaluations/index.html.♦Informal class feedbacko The Minute Paper (Angelo & Cross, 1993) – stop the class for 2 or 3minutes early and ask students to respond very briefly – in one minute! –to two questions: “What did you find most useful about the sessiontoday?” and “In what way could the session be improved?”.This is a very quick and easy method, instant and manageable data towhich you can respond. It’s good to remember to give feedback aboutthe general outcomes of the questions to the class and note any changesthat you are going to make as a result of the feedback.o Alternatively, consider using a “suggestion box” for getting feedbackeither on how a particular session went, or about how the classes (andyour teaching) are going in general. This might be a good option ifstudents seem uncomfortable or shy about chatting to you as in the abovemethod, and it provides the students with an anonymous way of givingyou feedback.Student learning♦♦Student’s self-reported knowledge – sometimes it can be very helpful to getfeedback from students about their learning as a way of getting feedback about yourteaching. For example, if you have spent a session on a particular concept and youwant to know whether your approach was effective in helping students tounderstand that concept, try using a method called “The Muddiest Point” (Angelo &Cross, 1993).At the end of class, ask students to respond to this question on a piece of paper –“What was the ‘muddiest’ point in this class. In other words, what was least clear toyou?”. From students’ responses you can then gauge how effective the session wasin facilitating student learning, and perhaps identify where any major problemsoccurred (e.g., if the majority of students comment on the same aspect as being themuddiest point). You then have the opportunity to address this the next time youmeet with your students.Student work – similarly, you can get an idea of your students learning from theirperformance on assessment, in-class or out-of-class activities. This information canalso help you to pinpoint where you may need to think about your approach toteaching and how effective it is in facilitating student learning. For example, if yourstudents complete an in-class quiz and most get the questions about facts correct,but many fail the questions that require application of knowledge to solve aproblem, then you may need to think about how you approached this aspect of thelearning material with students.
Section 6: Evaluating and Improving Your Teaching 59♦Approaches to learningo The VARK questionnaire – can help to people appreciate the variety of differentways in which people learn, and to identify their own preferred preferences(e.g., Visual, Aural, Read/write, Kinesthetic or Multimodal). It can supportstudents who have been having difficulties with their studies through helpingthem to identify the most effective learning methods for their preferred way oflearning, and is useful for teachers who would like to develop additionallearning strategies for their classrooms. It can be used with a group or class orwith one-to-one counselling, but it does require some explanation to avoidstudents or teachers leaping to inappropriate conclusions.Access this questionnaire at: http://www.vark-learn.com/english/index.aspo Similarly, you can use The Approaches to Study Inventory (ASI) withstudents to examine their typical approach to learning in relation to thekind of learning that takes place rather than the kind of mode throughwhich learning takes place as in the VARK questionnaire (see Section 2– How do students approach their learning for an overview of the theorythat underpins this questionnaire). A sample of the ASI in included in theback of this guide.Some general principles…♦♦♦♦♦Don’t overuse students as sources of evaluation dataAs a new teacher, consider getting feedback early on in the semester, so that youhave an opportunity to address any aspects before it’s too late!Always be prepared to respond to feedback and inform students you will and willnot be making on the basis of it, and why.Don’t ask specific questions about the course or your teaching that you don’t intendto change or that you can’t change.Guarantee anonymity – students need to be confident that any written feedback theygive is anonymous.
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