Quickly Gathering Student Feedback Techniques
Minute Paper:
The following is from Angelo & Cross, 1993
Students answer 2 questions: What was the most important thing you learned during this class? and
What important question remains unanswered?
Muddiest Point:
The following is from Angelo & Cross, 1993
Students respond to 1 question: What was the muddiest point in class today? Well suited to large, lower
division courses but not to those which emphasize integration, synthesis and evaluation
Classroom Critical Incident Questionnaire
The following is from Brookfield, n.d.:
Last 5-minutes, students answer the following questions:
 At what moment in class this week did you feel most engaged with what was happening?
 At what moment in class this week were you most distanced from what was happening?
 What action that anyone (teacher or student) took this week did you find most affirming or
helpful?
 What action that anyone took this week did you find most puzzling or confusing?
 What about the class this week surprised you the most? (This could be about your own
reactions to what went on, something that someone did, or anything else that occurs).
Three open questions
The following is from “Gathering and acting on feedback,” n.d.:
This strategy can be adapted to different modalities and purposes. There is nothing magical about the
number three however this number of questions usually provides a manageable amount of feedback
without taxing student or staff resources unnecessarily. This uses students' individual written responses
to open questions asked at the end of the class. The questions might be written on the board or an
overhead transparency or they may be provided as an actual questionnaire. The questions you choose
to ask will be determined by what you want to gather feedback on. However they are typically along the
lines of the following-:
"What was the most useful thing you learned today?"
"What was the best thing about today's class?"
"How could I change my teaching to help students to learn more from this class?"
In some cases it might be appropriate to ask very specific questions such as;
"Which of the set pre-readings was most helpful in preparing for today's class?"
"How did today's computer learning task help you understand the concept of...?"
In larger classes the time required to read written responses from every student can be a barrier to
using this technique. In such cases sampling procedures can be helpful. There are many ways to select a
random sample of students. One simple technique is ;
"Please pass these questionnaires along the row, could every fifth person take one and fill out
the questionnaire. In a few minutes I'll ask you to pass your questionnaire back along the row to
the end so I can collect them. While those people are filling out the questionnaire would the rest
of you...."
Other techniques used include selection based on sub-groups in the class, for example "All those in a
Tuesday tutorial group....". If sampling is used then the usual caveats apply in that there is only a
probability that the results of your sample are representative of the whole population.
Group responses: An alternative to sampling in larger classes is to divide the class into groups of 5-10
students and collect the collated responses to the questions from each group of students after the
individual students have contributed to a group discussion.
"I want you each to write down your answers to these three questions. In a few minutes I want
you to discuss your answers in your groups. Once everybody has had their say I'd like one
person in each group to write down their group's response to each question."
This technique is useful as it ensures discussion and some degree of consensus amongst the students
before they respond. At the same time it streamlines the amount of feedback that the teacher has to
read. In some settings, this technique can be equally well adapted to verbal presentation of group
responses.
Angelo, T., & Cross, K. P. (1993). 50 CATs by Angelo and Cross. University of Denver Office of Academic
Assessment: Publications and Articles. Retrieved July 12, 2012, from
http://www.du.edu/assessment/media/documents/AngeloandCross199350CATs.pdf
Brookfield, S. D. (n.d.). Critical Incident Questionnaire (CIQ). Dr. Stephen D. Brookfield. Retrieved July 11,
2012, from http://www.stephenbrookfield.com/Dr._Stephen_D._Brookfield/Home.html
Gathering and acting on feedback. (n.d.). Retrieved May 8, 2013, from
http://www.itl.usyd.edu.au/feedback/gatheringfeedback.htm#three