Survey: Students Value Instructional Clarity, Active Learning

Student feedback on teaching is a key tool for college instructors, informing both their teaching practices and also their tenure process and professional evaluations. Students privately and publicly recommend courses and instructors to their peers, which can give clues into what elements of a course they liked or disliked.

Researchers from the Association of College and University Educators wanted to understand what motivated student recommendations and what factors they used to judge quality instruction. The research, published this fall, found that students prioritized evidence-based teaching practices and building relationships with their professors.

Students say: Students had overall positive perceptions of their instructors, with 89 percent rating their instructor at four or a five on a five-point scale.

Researchers identified four major themes in students’ feedback about their professor: instructional clarity, student support, perceived attributes of the instructor and active learning.

Students may not have named active learning as a pedagogical technique, said Paloma Benavides, associate researcher at ACUE, in a Nov. 14 webinar. But students would cite engaging class experiences, real-world application of content and interactive learning processes.

Demographic breakdowns revealed trends in what factors are important to learners. Latino students, for example, were more likely to prioritize student support, such as perceptions of care, extra-credit opportunities and learning resources and guidance, compared to their peers.

Older students (ages 25 and up) were more likely to consider their instructors’ teaching style and professionalism, compared to their younger peers. In addition, upper-level students were more likely to value clear course expectations and instructions and perceptions of care compared to their lower-level peers, who prioritized engagement or perception of kindness of their instructor.

Students who completed classes online, similarly, highlighted clear expectations and feedback, in addition to learning resources and guidance, compared to face-to-face learners.

Students who gave their professors a higher rating were more likely to say student support and perceived instructor attributes were important to them. Conversely, students who rated their professors below a four were more likely to hold negative perceptions when they experienced deficient course structure and clarity, a lack of support or engagement, or an overall unsatisfactory learning experience.

A common myth around student feedback is that learners are looking for easy classes to receive high grades, but the survey revealed otherwise. Students with high grades were more likely to evaluate the course negatively if they felt they didn’t learn.

Previous research has demonstrated student bias in how they evaluate their instructors based on demographic factors, but this was largely missing from the survey data. Instructor race and ethnicity or gender did not significantly impact students’ perceptions, but their tenure status, discipline and years of experience were influential factors affecting students’ feedback, particularly regarding instructional clarity and student support.

Best practices: During the Nov. 14 webinar hosted by ACUE, faculty members identified strategies that they utilize to improve learning and relationships with students.

• Inspiring ownership. Often, faculty members can be excited to teach a course because they love the content, but not all students have the same passion. Helping students find purpose in the learning objectives and giving them ownership over how they achieve mastery can inspire investment and make course material feel more relevant and engaging.
• Taking in-class feedback. Professors should listen to students as they’re in class and take time to check in about how they’re doing and what would be helpful to them in their learning. “It’s ‘chalk and talk’ when we’re lecturing and not taking the time to have those conversations with students to find out what they need,” said Alicia Abney, adjunct professor and academic adviser at the University of Kentucky.
• Holding students to high standards. “I think a lot of the time, especially as potentially new faculty, we think that our students want things to be easy,” said Jillian Wilson, assistant professor at Regis College in Massachusetts. “But what I’ve found is actually the opposite. The more that you challenge your students, the more you hold them to a higher standard, the better they do and the better ratings they give you.”
• Ask students to identify strategies. Wilson creates a midterm feedback form that asks students what she can do to improve their learning. The process helps Wilson be a more effective instructor and helps students feel heard and respected.

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