Improving Student/Faculty Engagement: Impact of End of Lecture Classroom Surveys on Student Evaluations and Motivation

Abstract

Student success is directly tied to effective feedback criteria where the focus is on what is being learnt and how students should go about it. To provide this learning environment, it is best if the student initiates the feedback conversations. From Fall 2015–2017, end of lecture surveys were included as part of each class session for an introduction to biochemistry class for junior and senior undergraduates. In this teaching strategy, students were anonymously asked to describe aspects of the day's lecture that were (a) surprising, (b) interesting or useful, and (c) confusing on a form turned in at the end of class. While submissions could remain anonymous, students were encouraged to place their name on the form for direct email feedback after class to answer any questions they had. These comments would then be used as a springboard for subsequent lectures, resulting in an immediate impact on student engagement and the clarity of the lectures. At the end of the semester, students were surveyed anonymously regarding whether this teaching strategy assisted in their learning for the course, if they chose to receive email feedback, and if they would like other courses to use these surveys. In the Fall 2014 semester, before these classroom surveys were initiated in the introduction to biochemistry class, most of the students did not feel the subject matter was understandable, half did not feel motivated to learn, and half did not feel the professor had created an atmosphere of mutual respect. After implementation, in Fall 2015, student evaluations reflected that the subject matter was overwhelming understandable, that an atmosphere of mutual respect was established, and that the professor cared about their learning. Students truly appreciated being able to ask questions if they could not make office hours. This presentation will discuss the implementation of the classroom surveys in large versus small classroom sizes in addition to its impact on student learning/evaluations.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.