Featured Theme: Ending the Semester Well 

 

 

What is that light at the end of the tunnel? Ah, the end of the semester, a time for faculty and students to set their burdens down and get some much-needed rest. True enough, but it is also a particularly important juncture for faculty and students alike. After all, this is the moment the semester has been building towards all along. Has the student transformation succeeded? Have they grown and developed as we hoped? Both teachers and students need to take stock of that. Months ago, faculty set out to do an important job well. How well did they do? How might they do even better in the future? 

 

The semester shouldn’t just “expire”—it should end well. These three resources can help you make the most of this opportunity, largely through personal, informal activities, augmented by traditional, formal evaluation. 

 

 

End of Semester Tips: How to Get Students to Love Your Course 

 

By Dr. Joanne Ricevuto, Assistant Vice President for Instructional Success, Harcum College, December 2, 2021. From Fierce Education. 

 

Estimated article reading time: 3 minutes 

 

Dr. Ricevuto provides quite a bit of practical value in under three minutes. Acknowledging the shortcomings inherent to most end-of-semester teaching evaluations, the author offers seven solid alternative ideas to get the feedback you really need. A second goal is fostering student reflection on their now-completed journey and ending the course on a positive note. 

 

Many of the activity options involve free, readily available software that is easy to use, such as Google forms, Twitter, or iMovie. Here are just three of them:
 

• Long answer Course Reflection Google form (follow the link to copy the form) 
• Students write a letter to future students of the course to set their expectations, highlight their favorite aspects, and offer advice 

• Students write an “exit ticket” of the best take-away from your class using a Twitter hashtag 

 

 

 

 

Strategies for Increasing SRTE Response Rates 

 

Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence, The Pennsylvania State University 

 

No discussion of end-of-semester activity at Penn State would be complete without advice related to the SRTE. The Schreyer Institute took an interesting approach here: they asked faculty with a 70% or greater response rate and at least 30 students in their classes to explain how they do it. Intriguing! A number of best practices emerged, organized around ten topic areas.
 

The content here consists of faculty statements of practice, typically a paragraph in length. You can quickly learn one or more tips you might want to experiment with in your upcoming evaluation. 

 

Ending the Semester 

 

Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship, Georgetown University 

Estimated article reading time: 4 minutes 

 

Given the inevitable exhaustion you and your students face by semester’s end, it can be tempting to take the path of least resistance in wrapping up your course. But the author asserts that one last thoughtful push can transform a mere course ending into something more meaningful and lasting. The author’s advice is organized on a “Looking Back—Gathering Feedback—Looking Forward” framework. 

 

Looking Back—While you have probably been fostering reflection and integration all along, the final stretch of your course provides unique vantage points for both. 

 

• Reflection on the significance of the class experience and course content (see the article link for more information about the pedagogical power of reflection) 
• A final integration of course content, drawing connections between seemingly disparate pieces of course material 

 

Gathering Feedback—In a similar vein as Dr. Ricevuto (above), augment your SRTE feedback with your own informal method. Choose any format you like and ask the questions that really matter. This can even take the form of open (i.e., non-defensive) conversation about the successes and shortcomings of the course. 

 

Looking Forward—One way to end well is to treat it as a new beginning. The author provides examples that meaningfully connect a course to the future endeavors of your students. For majors, you can explain how your course has prepared them for the courses to follow and “preview” how those courses will build upon your foundation. For non-majors, you can connect the coursework to students’ lives more generally.