Student Input
Do you allow your students to provide input for lesson plan revisions? If so, how do you regulate their suggestions?
Depending on the course, I will allow for student input. This does not mean that I will automatically accept every suggestions given to me and make revisions. But I do appreciate all feedback and evaluate it accordingly.
denise,
Thank you for your post. Overall, students appreciate having the opportunity to provide their opinion of the course direction. Periodic surveys (during the course) can be used to compile students' suggestions and feedback.
Tremayne Simpson
I certzainly allow students input to the lesson because they know what is imnportant to them.
Gerald,
Creating a "Democratic" style classroom can be advantageous for the instructor, in that the students can clearly feel that they are true stakeholders in the direction of the class. Do you have a formal or informal system of gathering student input for the class lesson planning?
Tremayne Simpson
Our mods are so short that it is difficult for me to have time to incorporate student input into lesson plans. We do have teacher evaluations and I do look at those from mod to mod. I often give choices based on the content (i.e. Which of these two documentaries most interests the class?) or, I give extra credit to students who bring in relevant topics from outside of the classroom to discuss. I teach psychology, so they could bring in a relevant newspaper article or talk about something they saw on the news.
Jane,
I also use evaluations as a source to gather student input, due to the limited time of my institution's terms. In addition, I provide quick surveys, at periodic times throughout the term, to assess their interest in the course.
Tremayne Simpson
I take student input from my evaluations. that way I know exactly what I may need to change in the lesson plan.
Bruce,
Student evaluations can work as "building blocks" in an instructor's development. I find that saving student evaluations and comparing them with later terms of instruction, can serve as a reflective, career timeline for an instructor.
Thank you for the post.
Tremayne Simpson
My primary area of teaching is off campus externship. There is a strict guideline of lessons and competencies that must be met by certain deadlines. There is little to no room for revision.
LeeAnn,
Are students given the opportunity to evaluate the course? There may not be room for changes, however student feedback could be helpful in future policy/lesson revisions, if necessary.
Tremayne Simpson
Most of the course material is preset at our school however there is a little rome for suggestions that we can implement especially during the lab sessions. If a suggestion is viable and useful why not use it?
Anthony,
I agree...if it a suggestion is viable it will benefit the course (if it is implemented). Also, students are making observations from a different perspective than the instructor, therefore their suggestions could assist in the delivery of the preset course materials.
Thank you for your post.
Tremayne Simpson
yes. I always like to hear the students ideas and feedback on how to make things better in classroom. I feel I am always learning from them!
I might not always use their suggestions, but I certainly appreciate their input.
Each course has two forms of student critique. The first is more a standard, statistics, grading format while the second is for student personal comments regarding relevancy and what might be added or subtracted from each lesson.
Norman,
Our courses have a similar student evaluation method, however the forms are separated by "course" and "instructor", with areas for open comments on each.
Tremayne Simpson
No, I don't allow students to provide input for lesson plans. Although it may appear that they are participating in the learning process, I believe it is unproductive and unnecessary.
Fred
I have limited time. I do notice they like the group activities and try to incorrporated them more often to keep them engaged.
Hello,
We have a standardized curriculum, so there is room for changing the syllabus. However, I do allow students the opportunity to create assignments, such as writing topics and quizzes.
Carol Myslinski
Hello,
If I allowed students to participate in creating the syllabus, I feel as though they would look at this act as unpreparedness on my part - I could be wrong.
Carol Myslinski
