We offer help every semester for faculty who wish to reflect on the successes of their teaching and identify specific areas for improvement in their courses. We have two different programs to collect anonymous feedback from students:

Both programs are formative and work as mid-course check-ins, and a teaching consultant will meet with the instructor to summarize the results and provide ideas for their teaching. The collected student feedback won’t be utilized as course evaluation; instead, it aims to benefit both the instructor and students, helping instructors make improvements in the class, ideally for the remainder of the semester. Soliciting mid-semester student feedback is also a wonderful way to demonstrate attention and caring to students. Faculty who have participated in our feedback sessions have found it valuable. 

There are also differences between two programs, as shown in the table below. We recommend choosing a method that works best for you by thinking about the course context and your questions for students.

SGIFFeedback Survey
– Synchronous
– Students will discuss in small groups
– Takes ~25 min during the class
– Works better for smaller classes (fewer than 35 students)		– Asynchronous
– Student discussion is not required
– Doesn’t need to take class time
– Suitable for both small and large classes
SGIF and Feedback Survey Comparison

Small Group Instructional Feedback (SGIF) 

The SGIF process is particularly useful if the instructor is teaching the course for the first time, teaching a revised course, or implementing a new pedagogical practice or learning technology. This process, which is offered at many institutions nationally, is designed to foster dialogue between students and instructors, and to offer students a transparent but anonymous way to surface their concerns about the course in a thoughtful way. The SGIF process is a guided focus group approach and is not intended for gathering more generalized feedback about your course. 

Three Duke faculty shared how the SGIF process helped them identify meaningful yet manageable changes to their courses.

The SGIF process is as follows:

A flow chart showing SGIF's process as follows: Instructor requests a SGIF -> Planning meeting -> Consultant visits the classroom to conduct SGIF -> Debrief meeting -> Instructor addresses feedback with students.
SGIF Process
  1. The instructor initiates the SGIF process by completing a request form.
  2. A Teaching Consultant from Learning Innovation will meet with the instructor in order to provide an overview of the program, address any questions or concerns, and schedule the SGIF, which will last about 25 minutes.
  3. Teaching Consultants from Learning Innovation will facilitate the SGIF session in the class at the agreed-upon time (either in person or online, depending on the course format). We’ll ask students to join small groups, reflect, and reach consensus on their answers to the following questions:
  • What is going well for you in the course so far? 
  • What do you think could be improved in the course? 
  • A custom question for that particular course, based on discussion with the instructor. See below for some examples of custom questions.
  1. The Teaching Consultant will meet with the instructor to review a report summarizing anonymized outcomes of the SGIF and to help determine how to best respond to students. 
  2. In the next class, the instructor thanks students for giving feedback, acknowledges that the feedback is received, and discusses potential changes for the rest of the semester.

Some examples of the specific questions faculty have asked in an SGIF include:

  • How can the next Problem-Based Learning activity be improved?
  • Thinking about the assignments, class discussions, lectures, and support for you as a student, how do you feel about the mix of undergraduate and master’s students in the class?
  • What skills do you wish were covered in this course? 
  • What can the instructor do to make this a space that everyone feels comfortable engaging in (at a more consistent level)?

Complete the request form to get started. Note that the earliest possible date for a scheduled SGIF is one week after receipt of the form.

Feedback Survey

LILE can also administer an anonymous feedback survey to collect mid-semester feedback from students. A consultant will distribute the survey, review student responses, and discuss the survey results with the instructor to better understand feedback and offer pedagogical suggestions. Only the consultant will be able to access the raw data, so anonymity is ensured and students should feel comfortable sharing their honest feedback.

Different from the synchronous SGIF session, the survey collects data in an asynchronous way and doesn’t take up as much class time. Administering the survey can also be an option when the SGIF slots for the current semester have been filled up.

The feedback survey process is as follows:

A flow chart showing Feedback Survey's process as follows: Instructor requests a survey -> Planning meeting -> Instructor informs students of the survey -> Consultant administers the survey -> Debrief meeting -> Instructor addresses feedback with students.
Feedback Survey Process
  1. The instructor initiates the survey process by completing a request form.
  2. A teaching consultant from LILE will meet with the instructor to develop survey questions. The survey will be developed based on an existing template, but you can customize the survey to your course context and interests. The survey should take no longer than 10 min to complete.
  3. The instructor informs students about the survey, explains its purpose, and stresses the survey’s anonymity.
  4. The consultant will email students to distribute the survey, including an explanation of the survey purpose and data privacy. Students will be asked to respond to the survey within one week.
  5. The consultant will review the survey data and write a brief summary. Then the consultant will meet with the instructor, discussing survey findings and suggestions.
  6. In the next class, the instructor thanks students for their survey responses, acknowledges that the feedback is received, and discusses potential changes for the rest of the semester.

Complete the request form to get started. Note that the earliest possible date for a scheduled survey is one week after receipt of the form. 

If you have any questions, contact us.

For additional resources on teaching evaluation, see LILE’s Best Practices for Teaching Observations.

To collect feedback on student engagement, or evaluate a class activity, as well as collect midterm feedback on your own, download LILE’s survey templates.