Use Student Consultants to Provide Mid-Semester Course Design Feedback

Use this brief to learn how to expand the reach of faculty and staff by using student consultants to provide course feedback.

While it is essential for faculty to proactively design a student and learning-focused course, they often benefit from in-the-moment advice about the changes they have made to their teaching practice. Most institutions meet this need by offering peer or staff observation services through their centers of teaching and learning. While this approach gives faculty student and peer feedback about their teaching practice it also runs into three challenges that limit its efficacy.

By relying solely on professional staff and faculty to provide this service, the scale of the program is limited by funding and staffing constraints. However, even at institutions with capacity this approach may not always yield the most informative results. Research indicates that inconsistent relationships with authority figures, particularly during K-12, creates a trust barrier between underrepresented students and staff.

Get the Strategies

Use comprehensive professional staff to support program success

One way to solve these issues is to hire and train student consultants to observe faculty, conduct student focus groups, and provide actionable feedback to instructors.

Many institutions such as Bryn Mawr College, University of California, Merced, Berea College, Brigham Young University, and Minnesota State University, Mankato offer some version of such a program through their centers of teaching and learning (CTLs). These programs build on students’ prior experience in educational roles such as peer tutors, teaching assistants and create a unique experiential learning opportunity for them.

Learn How They Do It

Create a portfolio of service options

One unique element of the Students Assessing Teaching and Learning (SATAL) program at University of California, Merced is the level of customization available to faculty. When requesting the services of a student consultant faculty can specify the type of observation that will be most helpful to them. This includes class observations, focus groups, and exit interviews with graduating seniors to assess the skills and knowledge acquired after completing a major or minor in the relevant program.

After completing the desired service, students write a summary report. Faculty use this data to modify their teaching practice and learn of any unintended consequences of their course design. Research at Bryn Mawr College has found that faculty and student participants benefit from such programming. It increases faculty capacity to experiment with new pedagogical approaches, gain real-time feedback about their teaching approach, and become more connected to students. Similarly, student consultants report building greater confidence, capacity, and agency as learners by participating in the program.

Learn About the Options

Experiential learning opportunities benefit students and consultants

The program at University of California, Merced has also been successful in providing faculty with tangible advice to help create a more learner-centered teaching environment. For example, some instructors have incorporated review sessions into their lectures by asking the class to collectively create an outline of topics prior to major exams. In program feedback, many instructors noted that students in their classes were more willing to share honest feedback with their peers than with the instructor themselves.

In addition to providing feedback to faculty and serving as a mediator between students and instructors, student consultants also participate in other CTL programming. At the University of California, Merced student consultants assisted with an institutional review board-approved research project that aimed to help students provide helpful feedback in course evaluations.

Learn About Experiential Learning Opportunities

Download the Brief