Mid-Course Interviews

Overview of the Program

The Mid-Course Interview (MCI) is one way that you can receive feedback from your students at midterm about how your class is going. In this faculty-guided process, a colleague (or two) from outside your department visits your class and leads your students in a series of structured reflections on the elements of your course that are going well, and those that could use some improvement. Your colleague meets with you before they conduct the class interview to find out more about your class and your concerns, and they report to you afterward on the general themes and student perspectives they heard in the interview. The process is completely confidential, i.e. you are the only person the interviewer will talk to about the results of the interview.

During the interview, students address the following questions, both individually and through small group discussion:

1. What is working in the class to facilitate learning?
2. What is impeding learning?
3. What could students do to improve this class?
4. What could the instructor do to improve this class?

Benefits of MCI over more traditional mid-term evaluations

• Students have an opportunity to discuss their views of the class with other students, thus allowing them to see the diversity and commonality of views among students in the class.
• Students learn from the discussion about course design, elements of good teaching, assessment methods and other course aspects that otherwise remain hidden. Thus, students understand the course structure better and see how elements are designed to support their learning.
• This process gives more in-depth information and ideas for change because the facilitator can ask follow-up questions that probe deeper than a questionnaire.
• This process provides a fairly good assessment of what your students think constitutes “good teaching” in your context because they answer and discuss open-ended questions about their own learning and what is helping and impeding this process.
• This process gives students an opportunity to reflect on classroom dynamics and their own role in class success. They can talk with one another about their collective responsibility to make the class work.
• Students appreciate having an opportunity to give feedback early enough in the term for it to make a difference for them.
• The MCI does not ask students if they like the course or the instructor, or if the instructor is effective or a good teacher. Rather, it focuses on specific course components that are either working well or are in need of improvement.
• You have the opportunity to talk with colleagues about your course.
• You have the opportunity to talk with your students about your course on a new level.

Costs/risks of MCI

• It will cost you one entire class period around midterm, and part of a class period when you report back to your students after the interview.
• It will take time for you and your colleagues to meet before and after the class interview.
• You need to be willing to have one of your colleagues know that your teaching approach might be improved. (Everyone’s teaching could use improvement, but your colleague will learn the specifics of how your methods might need improvement.)
• Your students will develop the expectation that you will address those elements identified as needing improvement in the interview. You may not wish to change them, i.e. they may be a consciously designed strategy or too labor-intensive to change, but you will at least need to address student concerns after the interview is over.
• You may develop an expectation that your students’ behavior will change significantly after the MCI. For example, if students identify as a barrier to learning their own habits of not reading material before class, you may become frustrated when they continue to under-prepare for class. Having realistic expectations about the impact of this process will help everyone make it a positive experience.

Other Important Information about the MCI

The MCI process is confidential and your facilitator will be from outside your department. Feedback from faculty who participated in this program in previous semesters have been very positive and many individuals have done additional MCIs in succeeding semesters.

We recommend that you schedule your MCI between the 6th and 8th weeks of the semester. It can be helpful if you have responded to and/or graded some student work by the time of the interview.

If you want to sign up for a Mid-Course Interview, please email Theresa Klauer at [email protected] by mid-October (fall semester) or early March (spring semester) with the following information:

• Course name and number
• the day, date, and time you want the interview to take place
• the classroom building and number
• the number of students in the class

The Mid-Course Interviews last an hour, so the process will take the full period on MWF classes. For T/Th, studio, lab and evening classes, please indicate in which hour you would like the interview to take place.

You should also reserve the date on your class schedule/syllabus that you hope for the MCI to take place. Theresa will let you know the names of your facilitator, who will be in touch to set up a pre-MCI conversation with you. If you would like to volunteer to be a facilitator, please contact Theresa Klauer at [email protected].