Collecting midterm feedback can help you plan changes to immediately improve teaching and learning. This document lists different categories and examples of types of questions. Scaled questions (strongly disagree to strongly agree) allow you to collect a snapshot of student perception data and may be helpful to use in large courses. Open-ended questions provide rich, detailed feedback, but take longer to read and interpret.

When designing custom survey questions, some things to keep in mind are:

• Your own teaching and learning goals.
• Using questions that prompt reflection.
  • May encourage student ownership of learning experience.
  • May mitigate biased responses.
• What you want to reassess, or track based on prior OMET results.
• Gathering feedback about new content, activities, or assessments.
• Areas where your students seem to struggle.
• Question topics that would solicit actionable feedback.
• Using a mix of scaled and open-ended questions.
  • Scaled for targeted feedback. Helpful in large classes.
  • Open-ended questions for detailed, rich feedback and provides an opportunity for students to comment on topics not covered in the scaled questions. (Favored for midterm surveys.)

If you decide to use a midterm survey, discuss the feedback collection process, and share results and planned changes with your students.

Examples of questions that prompt students to reflect on their effort:

Scaled:
I complete the weekly assignments for this course.
I am prepared for class.
I feel confident that I will do well in this class.
I participate in class discussions. If not, why?
I attend class regularly.
I was looking forward to taking this class.
I feel comfortable approaching the instructor with questions or comments.

Open-ended questions:
On average, how many hours a week do you spend preparing for class?
What steps could you take to improve your learning in this course?

Examples of course related questions:

Scaled:
The pace of the class is appropriate.
Assignments are helpful in learning the material.
Assignments require a reasonable amount of effort.
I find the comments on exams or other written work helpful to my understanding of the class content.
I find the format of this class (lecture, discussion, problem-solving) helpful to the way that I learn.
I receive helpful feedback.
I am developing the skills I need in this class.
I understand what is expected of me in this class.
I can apply what I’m learning in this class to different situations.
The course content is presented in a manner that helps me learn.
The instructions for completing assignments are clear.
There are sufficient opportunities to practice what I am learning.
The course is organized to assist me in achieving the learning outcomes of the course.

Open-ended questions:
What is the most important thing you’ve learned so far?
What are you still having difficulty with?
List three things you like best about the class.
List three things you like least about the class.

Examples of questions to solicit targeted feedback on specific or new aspects of the course:

Scaled:
Would you prefer more or less (discussion? lecture? small group work? presentations?) Please explain your preferences.
(Class activity, assessment, course material, technology tool) contributed to your learning.

Open-ended:
Which (Class activity, assessment, course material, technology tool) has been most beneficial to your learning and why?

More examples of midterm survey questions:

• OMET question library
• Examples of midterm survey items by course type (University of Connecticut)
• Examples of midterm survey items from 10 institutions
• Creating good questions for mid-semester surveys (University of Toronto)

Resources for understanding the results of your survey