The Mid-Semester Feedback tool is a Yale-developed survey tool created to specifically support Yale College faculty in the collection of anonymous student feedback during the midterm of the traditional fall and spring semesters. Despite the focus on Yale College, the tool is available to all schools who would like to use it.
The Mid-Semester Feedback survey opens during a pre-designated, roughly 2 week period during the midterm of the semester, and allows students to complete a separate survey for each of their courses that offer the survey. Instructors can choose whether to use the survey (which is on by default) or disable it for each course they teach.
If you are experiencing issues accessing / viewing Mid-Semester Feedback submissions on your phone / Canvas app, please try using your browser (Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari) on a laptop or desktop.
If you do not see the Mid-Semester Feedback tool in your official Canvas course site, your school may have opted not to utilize this tool. Contact your school's local support team for alternatives.
Table of Contents
This article will address the following information:
Why use Mid-Semester Feedback?
Collecting feedback from students is a critical component to ensure that you and your students are getting the most out of your course. Feedback can be structured to confirm that students are understanding concepts presented in class and are comfortable with the format of the class and activities. Your students' feedback can inform and guide you on changes that you may need to make to help students be successful in your course.
The Mid-Semester Feedback tool is a mechanism for instructors to collect valuable student feedback during the midterm of the course. Mid-Semester Feedback surveys are unique and can be customized for each course.
All Mid-Semester Feedback student submissions are fully-anonymous so that students can feel comfortable and confident in providing open and honest feedback to the instructor.
For more information on the use of mid-semester feedback and examples / recommendations for its use in your teaching, please check out the Poorvu Center's Mid-semester Student Feedback article.
Use Cases for Mid-Semester Feedback
Mid-Semester Feedback is used specifically to collect feedback from students during the midterm. Below are topics for questions you might consider when preparing your survey:
- Pacing of the course material
- Appropriateness of the assignments and activities
- Student comfort with the course content materials
- Access to content / materials / technology / other resources
- Satisfaction with Teaching Assistants / Fellows or other support staff
- Suggestions for what students would like to see improved / changed
- What aspects of the course are working well
- What problems students are having
- What successes students are experiencing
- Other suggestions / comments
How do I use Mid-Semester Feedback in my course?
To learn more about how to record and use the Mid-Semester Feedback tool in your course, please reference:
Notifying Students About Mid-Semester Feedback
When announcing the Mid-Semester Survey, you may want to reiterate that all submissions are totally anonymous.
Instructors should communicate with their students if they intend to use the Mid-Semester Feedback Tool. If you are using it, we strongly recommend that you announce the open date of the Mid-Semester Feedback survey to your students and encourage them to submit feedback for your course.
Although an event with a due date will appear on the Syllabus page under the Course Summary area and on the course Calendar, students may miss or ignore the survey if you do not discuss it with them directly.
What will my students see?
Students may see different things depending on the day when they click on the tool, and depending on whether or not you have enabled Mid-Semester Feedback in your course. Click on the topics below to see what your students will see for each scenario.
Students will not be able to submit feedback before the survey opens. However, they will see the Mid-Semester Feedback tool in the course navigation menu. If the student attempts to open the "Mid-Semester Feedback" tool [1] before the survey opens, they will receive a message [2] letting them know when the survey will become available.
As soon as the feedback open, students can click on the "Mid-Semester Feedback" tool [1] and then they will be presented with the course information [2] and your survey questions [3]. Once they have filled in their answers, they will need to click the "Submit" button [4] and then confirm their submission (click the "Yes" button [5] in the pop-up that appears) before their responses are posted.
Student who have already submitted and return to the "Mid-Semester Feedback" tool [1] will see a message indicating that their "Feedback has been submitted" [2].
Students who click on the "Mid-Semester Feedback" tool [1] after the feedback close date will see a message indicated that "The survey has ended" [2].
When an instructor opts to disable the Mid-Semester Feedback tool in their course, students will not see the Mid-Semester Feedback button in their course navigation menu at all.
Additional Resources
- Mid-Semester Feedback Submission Directions (students)
FAQ
All users with the role of "Instructor" in the Canvas course site's People tool will be able to view student submissions.
Mid-Semester Feedback submissions are NOT shared with departments, department chairs, DUS / DGS, registrar's office or any other university administrators. The feedback submitted to this tool is only visible to the course instructors.
Only users with the role of "Student" or "Auditor" in the Canvas course site's People tool will be able to submit feedback.
Guest students, viewers, visitors, etc. will NOT be able to submit.
The Mid-Semester Feedback submissions are totally anonymous, which means that you will not be able to tell which student submitted which response.
Students can only submit the Mid-Semester Feedback survey once per Canvas course.
The availability of Mid-Semester Feedback survey is controlled by the globally managed dates (which appear on the main page of the Mid-Semester Feedback tool for the instructor). These dates cannot be modified for individual courses or for individual students who miss the deadline.
For more help, please contact canvas@yale.edu.