Mid-Semester Student Feedback Enhances Student Learning

Student feedback can facilitate teaching improvements. The most common form of student feedback is obtained from end of semester student evaluations. Unfortunately this feedback does not benefit the students who provided the feedback. Mid-semester student feedback overcomes this limitation. The feedback obtained may be used by the instructor to make adjustments to the course in progress.Mid-semester evaluations have been conducted in a third-year fluid mechanics course and the sequel unit operations laboratory course over a four-year period. The results of this study indicate that soliciting mid-semester student feedback encourages a more responsible attitude by the students as they reflect upon the course. Making use of a third party facilitator to obtain this feedback results in constructive suggestions by the students. Implementation of some of these suggestions results in an improved learning environment and can lead to improved end of semester evaluations.