E-Coaching Tip 20: Debriefing Technique with Students - What One Change Would They Recommend?

Wouldn't you like to know specifically which of the course activities and experiences really worked for your students' learning? Which activities really had an impact on their knowledge, their skills and their ways of thinking? The best way to do this is to ask! Here's how you might do this:

Create a "place" for this debriefing. Create /start a new discussion thread topic for this feedback. Or you may want to use the less formal Cybercafe area. Post an announcement asking one or more of these questions. Be sure to let them do this -- after their final projects, etc. are completed.

What was the best course experience -- reading, activity, project, and discussion -- for you personally? And why?
What would you have liked to have studied in more detail, or explored more widely?
What course activity do you strongly recommend to keep for the next offering of this course? And Why?
What one change would you recommend?

Every term students are asked to fill out a Teacher Effectiveness Questionnaire (TEQ) giving feedback about their learning experience, but by necessity the question items are quite generic.

What we are suggesting is a simple debriefing of the course and how it worked for your students. Students really do have a soft place in their hearts generally for students who might be taking the course after them. Tell them that Duquesne is constantly working on improving the courses and that their comments really do make a difference!

When faculty use this Debriefing Technique, they are often pleasantly surprised! Students often respond that the best parts of the course are those that are the least work for the faculty: and that activities on which you might spend a great deal of time are not that important after all!

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