CIQ Analysis
Collected CIQs are read for their themes. A word of caution: This kind of weekly feedback is exciting, surprising, and sometimes painful. Use of the CIQ is not for the thin-skinned. How many of us teach behind a glass wall, rarely creating the opportunity to ask routinely for this sort of feedback? We leave class with all sorts of perceptions about how "it" went. I often ask myself after a particularly great class, "For whom was it 'great'?" Reading 50 CIQs a week is an often-startling reminder to me that the "same" class is not phenomenologically the "same" for all participants. "Effective exercise?" Maybe. "Disastrous lecture?" Maybe. "They are just not with it today." Maybe. All sorts of "surprises" await teachers who are willing to expose themselves to routine learner feedback and to the reasons that learners experienced the class in the manner they did.
The task is to translate the comments into themes without looking for whether I was liked or not (Brookfield, 1995). I looked for anything that helped me, within reason, constructively alter the course. If there was a problem, and especially one I caused, then I addressed it. For example, I discovered that "remedial" discussions of effective test-taking, study habits, and note taking "distanced" most learners in honors' classes yet they were appreciated by a few who did not want to admit it publicly for fear of being ridiculed by others. This discovery facilitated a discussion about what learners think they know and led to an alteration of my course content to fit the needs of this learner population.
I found it challenging to write summaries of the CIQs (see Appendix B). I took care to remain as true as I could to the spirit of the students' responses and I avoided "boring" lists of responses for each question. I worked hard to avoid the temptation to refute every response that I took as a reproach to something I did or said in class. I have found that rebuttals in the CIQ summaries run the risk of silencing learners. Instead, debriefing discussions during class with the learners is more constructive.
I set aside time at the start of the week to debrief learners on the themes that emerged in their CIQs from the previous week (Brookfield, 1995). These summaries can be either oral or written. I provided written summaries so learners could read them on their own time and have them for their learning journals and portfolios. I discussed any course changes I made as a result of studying the CIQs. Constructive discussion and even debate with learners evidenced my willingness to adapt course content and pedagogy. The idea here is not to change the course at every learner's whim, but to discuss and negotiate when appropriate. I also tried to focus on the positive themes during the debriefings.
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