Two weeks left in the semester--that means two remaining Critical Incident Questionnaires.
Perhaps the chief benefit of this tool, so far, has been simply to establish a regular routine of weekly, anonymous feedback from students--making formative assessment a more natural part of my pedagogy. Our goal for using the CIQ has obviously been more than that, though. And, frankly, the more I think about it the less I like to discuss this tool in terms of feedback because I think I've inadvertently given my students the impression that the CIQ is mainly there to help me tailor the course to their needs and interests instead of being a tool to help them reflect on their learning processes.
When Amy and I revised the wording of the questionnaire this semester, I think we made an important step forward. The document needs to more clearly emphasize the content of the learning experience rather than principally the students "feelings" about the experience. Of course their feelings matter very much, but I think the wording of the original CIQ emphasizes feelings in a way that my students seemed to view as a gauge for moment-to-moment pleasure with the class moreso than a deeper connection to the purpose and work of the course.
As we work through the raw data of our CIQs, I hope to find clues into my own readings and misreadings of the teaching and learning process and to formulate better ways to model, teach, and reinforce critical reflection and reflexivity.
On my reading list:
- Katherine Adams on the CIQ
- Schon's Educating the Reflective Practitioner (I need to review this in the light of what we've been doing over the past year.)
- Our article on critically reflective community-enagement pedagogy
Image source: Ruth and Dave
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