November 2010 work in progress by J Strong, with thanks to C Hughes, TEDI and SHRS Academic and Student Unit staff at lunchtime seminar November 2010

Giving feedback:  In ECP, give a statement regarding both personal consultation and consultation, with a set time for each.  Need to manage the expectations of students  Make a reasonable commitment and stick to it. (always using judgement) work in progress by J Strong, with thanks to C Hughes, TEDI and SHRS Academic and Student Unit staff at lunchtime seminar November 2010

 1.3 Course Staff  Course Coordinator: Professor Jenny Strong Phone: Campus: St Lucia Building: Therapies Annexe (Map) Room: 809 Consultation: i will be available each Wednesday of semester from 12-2pm, prior to the lectures which run from 2-4pm. otherwise, please me, and i will respond to your queries as soon as (Map)  I told students in class that I would not respond to s over the weekends. work in progress by J Strong, with thanks to C Hughes, TEDI and SHRS Academic and Student Unit staff at lunchtime seminar November 2010

 For 2011, I will say:  Consultation: I will be available in my office each Wednesday of semester from pm, prior to the lectures which run from 2-4pm.  Consultation: I welcome consultation from students in the Course. s that ask specific questions about course material or assessment tasks will be answered to all students through the Blackboard site. work in progress by J Strong, with thanks to C Hughes, TEDI and SHRS Academic and Student Unit staff at lunchtime seminar November 2010

 For 2011 i will say:  “ s that request information which is already provided in the ECP will redirect students back to the ECP  I will respond to s in a 48 hour turn- around, but this excludes weekends, i.e. an posted at 11.45pm on Friday night will be responded to by 11.45pm on the following Tuesday night.” work in progress by J Strong, with thanks to C Hughes, TEDI and SHRS Academic and Student Unit staff at lunchtime seminar November 2010

 Some academics specify in the ECP that most s regarding the course will be answered via Blackboard site, to avoid responding to several s on the same topic  May be worth specifying that s which ask questions about matters that have been articulated in the ECP will be responded with an to refer to the ECP work in progress by J Strong, with thanks to C Hughes, TEDI and SHRS Academic and Student Unit staff at lunchtime seminar November 2010

 Pharmacy use a Blackboard discussion board for all course communication between teaching staff and students.  Try using the turn-on and turn –off functions of the Discussion Board, and tell the students in the discussion board instructions when you will be responding to the queries. E.g. I will be replying to threads in the Discussion Board only on Friday mornings. work in progress by J Strong, with thanks to C Hughes, TEDI and SHRS Academic and Student Unit staff at lunchtime seminar November 2010

 Other ways feedback is built in to course, and labelled as such:  The section 1.2 of ECP. Put the feedback in there, and make sure you highlight this in the first class  Use the first class time to really orient students to expectations work in progress by J Strong, with thanks to C Hughes, TEDI and SHRS Academic and Student Unit staff at lunchtime seminar November 2010

 1.2 Course Introduction  Course Changes in Response to Previous Student Feedback The course was again evaluated using ICevals in An overall student satisfaction rating of 3.92 was obtained. It was weird to get exactly the same overall rating 2 years in a row, especially with the improvements in the course. For 2010, the following changes have been made to the course in response to feedback from students: a). the topics for the group presentations can be chosen by the student groups in consultation with the course coordinator. Last year, students were not happy that they were randomly assigned a topic that they may have had no interest in. b) group formation for the group presentations will be made via the Blackboard system. c) every attempt will be made to record the lectures and upload them on Blackboard after the lectures are held. work in progress by J Strong, with thanks to C Hughes, TEDI and SHRS Academic and Student Unit staff at lunchtime seminar November 2010

 What is the ideal turn-around for assignments and giving feedback?  This is dependent upon a number of factors including number of students in class and number of markers, if the feedback is needed for a following assessment piece  Specify in section 4 of ECP the turn-around time for marking in the course work in progress by J Strong, with thanks to C Hughes, TEDI and SHRS Academic and Student Unit staff at lunchtime seminar November 2010

 Consider having a session in class time giving general feedback on assessment pieces, and putting it up on Blackboard  Have some past examples of assignments up on Blackboard (but make sure they are what you want. Students get very annoyed if they use exemplars as a model, and still don't do well.) Alternatively, go thru exemplars in class work in progress by J Strong, with thanks to C Hughes, TEDI and SHRS Academic and Student Unit staff at lunchtime seminar November 2010

 Other feedback ideas: always label it as FEEDBACK to students  Clickers  Use of turn-it-in, as now occurs in Pharmacy*  When students make appointment for feedback, ask them to do a self-review to bring along with them to the appointment with you  Considering putting some FAQ sheets up on Blackboard – it can cut down on the number of enquiries you receive, and ensures the students get the information they need  * more on Pharmacy’s experience with BB to come work in progress by J Strong, with thanks to C Hughes, TEDI and SHRS Academic and Student Unit staff at lunchtime seminar November 2010