Acting on Mid-Course Feedback

Acting on Mid-Course Feedback

Steps for reflecting and acting on feedback

Step 1: Reflect on your own

Recall your goals for conducting MCF. With these in mind (and with an openness to any other information that might surface), review the students’ comments, organize these, and reflect.

Step 2: Reflect with a colleague

We encourage you to discuss the feedback with a trusted colleague or someone from the teaching and learning centre (Vancouver CTLT or Okanagan CTL) to get an impartial point of view, particularly on anything that you have concerns about.

Step 3: Select your actionable changes and plan your response

Make final decisions about how you will respond to students’ feedback (i.e., what changes are you committed to making? What suggestions are you choosing not to respond to during this course and why?) Determine what you wish to communicate to your students.

Step 4: Discuss with the students

It is essential to let students know you read and have reflected on the feedback they provided. Otherwise, they will question the value of taking their time to provide feedback and may choose not to provide feedback in the future.

You could respond during a synchronous class session, via an announcement in Canvas, an asynchronous discussion thread, or create a short video response.

Consider the following points when sharing feedback with students:

  • Thank the students for their time and let them know you value their feedback.
  • If you will not be making changes to the course, acknowledge the feedback and briefly explain the reasons for your choice.
  • Use the opportunity to highlight what is working well and, as appropriate, to clarify your rationale for using certain teaching strategies.
  • Encourage students to provide follow-up feedback now and/or on the end-of-course evaluation.

UBC faculty example

It is essential to let students know you read and have reflected on the feedback they provided.

In this video, Dr. Farinaz (Naz) Havarei shares her experience on implementing mid-course feedback in her online courses. Naz explains how this is an opportunity to adopt and enforce a learner-centred approach in her teaching — addressing her students’ needs. Otherwise, they will question the value of taking their time to provide feedback and may choose not to provide feedback in the future.

Naz Havarei is an Assistant Professor at the School of Nursing at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver).