Become a Critically Reflective Instructor*
Strategy: Obtain feedback from students on their engagement in the course
Time: (1) About ten minutes of class time
(2) Depending on the number of students, the results may take some time to enter, code, and tabulate, creating categories of responses. The results can also be grouped in broad categories and use stick-counting to tabulate the results, picking out exemplar quotes.
Materials: The [PDF] Critical Incident Questionnaire poses five questions to be answered without having students write their names. The questions are:
- At what point today did you feel most engaged?
- At what point today did you feel most distanced?
- What was most affirming today (this could be something that the instructor or a peer did)?
- What was most puzzling or confusing today?
- What surprised you today?
Process: During the course of the semester (e.g., 1st week, 4th week, 7th week, 13th week)
- Distribute the “[PDF] Critical Incident Questionnaire“
- Students complete the one-page form anonymously: have a student collect the papers.
- Compile the results for each question in an Excel spreadsheet
- Report results to the class members at the next class session.
Note: The CIQ’s use is suggested for each class session by Brookfield (1995). If feedback is requested for a group of class sessions, the language of the questions should be modified, e.g., instead of “today” use “in the last three classes.”
* Brookfield, 1995
