Asking students for feedback on their learning experiences shows them you are listening to them and that you value continuous improvement. When students take time to share their thoughts, they are saying that they care enough to help you make their learning environment better.

Student feedback can be useful to help recognize genuine barriers to student learning and to inform incremental improvements in your teaching. It can give insights not only about what’s working and what’s unclear for students, but also how to grow as teachers. Because every class is different, student feedback can also help you to support what your students find most challenging, such as using technology, group work, or preparing for assessments.

When to Gather Feedback

There’s no wrong time! Whether it is after the first week, just before Student Success Week, or near the end of the course, feedback on individual learning activities, lessons, and assessments can help you get insights into where your students are “at.” Asking students to complete long forms frequently can lead to lower response rates (i.e., survey fatigue), so brief, easy, and convenient strategies to gather feedback are best!

Ways to Gather Feedback

At Conestoga, the Student Course Feedback (SCF) survey helps to surface how teaching and course design support learning and where adjustments might be made to enhance student success. But there are tools and strategies you can use beyond formal surveys.

Informal Polls and Check-Ins

Through quick anonymous polls using Microsoft Forms or Mentimeter, you can ask what’s helping students learn so far in the course. You can share the poll during class, embed in an LMS module, or send a link by email or announcement. This can be done anytime (or multiple times) during the semester.

TIP: You can use any question from the Early Course Check-in or Student Course Feedback for your own poll or check-in. See Student Course Feedback – Sync 2025.pdf and Student Course Feedback – Async 2025.pdf.

Stop Start Continue

One of the most accessible frameworks for gathering feedback asks students to describe what should STOP because it is ineffective or confusing, START to better support learning, and CONTINUE what is working well. For instance, a student might say: Stop using long lecture videos, Start offering more interactive quizzes, Continue providing weekly summaries.” This balanced approach helps students to share their experiences without feeling like they are criticizing. Learn more about Stop Start Continue.

TIP: You can use Forms, Mentimeter, or the free online Start Stop Continue tool to seek student feedback.

Open Dialogue

You can encourage students to share during whole class discussion or in breakout groups with class shareback. Note that students might be hesitant or unsure about sharing their feedback, but regular and specific requests can help normalize feedback as part of the learning process.

TIP: See Opportunity Education’s white paper that explores feedback loops as two-way conversations between students and teachers.

Feedforward

Unlike feedback, which reflects on past experiences, feedforward shifts the focus to possibility and proactive support. Invite students to suggest their “feedforward” for a lesson, lab, or assessment, envisioning what could be better for upcoming parts of the course.

TIP: To support feedforward goals, the Session Lab Library activities to structure your discussion. Go to SessionLab, and search for “What I Need From You” and “Seen, Heard, Respected.”

Interpreting and Responding to Feedback

When reviewing student feedback, look for patterns rather than outliers. Some feedback will be constructive, but other feedback may reflect individual preferences or mis-understanding. Focus on looking for actionable items that will remove barriers to learning.

Act on feedback where possible, and share back with students the changes you are making. This builds trust and shows that their voices matter. Even when feedback can’t be acted on, explain why, thank students for sharing, and, where possible, offer helpful “workarounds.”

Student feedback is one valuable data point among many. It should be interpreted alongside teaching observations, self-assessment, course performance data (e.g., eConestoga quiz statistics), and established course information and learning materials. You may decide to share course-related feedback with your Chair or Program Manager.

Responding to Complaints or Marks Pushback

Some feedback or communications from students may be an expression of emotion, especially when they feel overwhelmed, frustrated, or panicked. Even when student feedback resembles a complaint or criticism, it may signal unmet needs or emotional responses to unclear expectations. Listening with curiosity can reveal actionable insights, but keep in mind the contexts of the feedback. See these posts on Working with Marks Pushback and Course Concerns from Students and Reacting and Responding to Student Emails, Especially During End-of-Semester Stress.

Finally, it can be emotionally challenging to receive student feedback that takes the form of complaints or marks pushback. See these posts on How to Be Compassionate Without Being a “Yes” Person and Heart Emoji, Crying Face Emoji: A Reflection on the Emotional Facets of Teaching.

Looking to Learn More About Student Feedback on Teaching?

See these book resources, available through the College library:

• “Case Study 2: Midcourse Feedback as a Part of Sustained Dialogue and Collaboration with Students” in Engaging Students as Partners in Learning and Teaching: A Guide for Faculty (2014)
• Enhancing Learning and Teaching through Student Feedback in Engineering (2012)
• Student Feedback on Teaching in Schools: Using Student Perceptions for the Development of Teaching and Teachers (2021)