ABSTRACT
Most teachers have great interest in improving their courses, their interactions with students, and other components of the teaching and learning process. Although some student feedback can come from school-wide end-of-course evaluations, these typically focus on assessment for contracting, merit pay, and promotion, rather than on improvement. In any case, since institutions, not individual faculty, typically control college-wide evaluations, the rest of this column ignores them, focusing instead upon mechanisms that provide extensive, useful feedback to individual faculty. Another effective mechanism for receiving feedback simply involves asking, either in class or outside. When soliciting feedback, a possible reaction from some students seems to be questioning a teacher's competence. Perhaps the most basic observation is that faculty desiring feedback must ask, either indirectly or directly. Within a class, a faculty member can observe student reactions to presentations and in-class activities.
