Skip to content

How to Collect Feedback and Participate in Instructional Innovation?

Why it matters

TAs are often closer than instructors to students' daily learning state, and can more easily collect truly timely feedback. By deliberately collecting and analyzing student feedback, TAs can not only improve their own tutoring/assignments/recitations, but also provide first-hand material for course reform.

Channels for feedback

  • Use online-platform stats: git commit history, platform logs, even keyboard data while completing assignments.
  • Ask in the lab report for feelings, thoughts, and time spent on the assignment.
  • Learn about assignment opinions during tutoring.
  • End-of-term questionnaire: "which assignment did you like/dislike most, and why."
  • Survey: how does time spent differ across stages of completing a programming assignment?
  • Hold talk sessions/lunch meetings; check the anonymous board; discuss over meals (OOH).

Discussion: what defects might existing channels have? What other important channels do you think there are?

Case: Computer Systems Introduction (2023 Autumn)

  • In the later part of the semester, course pressure grew. The TA sensed it via silent and loud feedback: declining assignment averages, complaints in group chats.
  • Complete grading within ten days of the deadline and write a problem-analysis so everyone can review.
  • Once grading was a bit slow and the solution was about half a day late, students asked in the group when it would be posted — the habit of "providing solutions each time" began that year (previously done only before exams).
  • Also encountered keeping two sections in sync; and how to lay groundwork for later courses (compilers, OS, computer organization).
  • The "tea garden" computer-systems intro used two-person teams for more interesting labs.

Case: trial-running a new assignment

  • Publish only when ready (finish the assignment before publishing).
  • Found several students (from different classes), sent them the assignment, and asked them to evaluate whether the wording was clear, and to time their completion.
  • Trial-run solved many problems, e.g. signed/unsigned division instructions were untaught and not made clear; a hint was added to point to a CSAPP chapter/section.
  • Data-structures pressure grew after the mid-term, so consider the pacing.

Relationship to course reform

How can TAs participate in research and course reform? (Or: how to become a reform pioneer?)

Icebreaker: self-introduction

  • Which channels did this course use to learn students' overall feedback on the teaching?
  • Which channels have I used to learn feedback on my TA work?
  • Or talk about: what reform have I participated in, and how did it feel?

Reference: evaluation-committee materials

  • The 2023 Spring Software Engineering course research report. After seeing it, what ideas do you have?