Suggestion 106. Have students send you a telegram evaluation

IF YOU WANT TO:

• Know if the class is understanding you or not

• Know if the students are bored or confused

Having students send you a telegram evaluation.

A professor of public health says, "Midway through the course, I ask the students to write a telegram--strictly limited to 20 words or less--describing the most pressing problem they are having in the course. I tell them that they can address their telegram to me directly, to future students in the class, to the department chair- person, or to a friend or parent."

She finds the technique particularly effective if she reads the telegrams aloud anonymously and opens the class for discussion.

Another teacher also uses the letter or telegram approach to evalua- tion, but asks that the telegrams describe the course to date.

Note: See also suggestion No. 109 on how to acknowledge mid-term feedback from students.

Limitations on Use of Suggestion

  Discipline:  None
Course Level:  None
 Course Size:  None
        Mode:  None

Copyright 1983 by the Regents of the University of California

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