UK Instructors Show the Value of Responsive Teaching
A common refrain in educational circles is that we don’t teach the course; we teach the students in the room. This suggests that in addition to adopting evidence-based and “best” practices for curricular design and teaching, it’s just as important that we get to know our students as learners. This idea is reflected in the first principle of the University of Kentucky’s current strategic plan — putting students first.
With this mindset, the classroom becomes a dialogic space where we collaborate with students to make their learning meaningful, purposeful and successful.
Our student body is wonderfully diverse, with unique identities, interests, perspectives and goals. No two classes, it’s often said, are the same. Instructors have always known the value of better understanding their students, but since the pandemic’s disruptions in 2020 they have increasingly sought ways to refine their courses and teaching based on student feedback. Among the strategies instructors have employed, many have reached out to CELT for its midsemester student feedback service.
Before 2020, CELT typically facilitated the midsemester feedback process for 40-50 course sections each academic year. For the 2020-21 academic year, however, CELT facilitated feedback for 131 sections, and for the 2021-22 academic year that number rose to 171 sections. Along with DIY methods that other instructors have employed, these numbers point to a larger story about how instructors are seeking to involve student voice in decisions around curricula and teaching strategies, all the while inviting students to reflect intentionally on their own learning strategies in the class.