At a Glance

Effective teaching is an evolving practice, one that benefits greatly from continuous feedback and adjustment. While traditional methods of gathering student feedback can be time-consuming, generative AI tools can make this process easier and more efficient. In this article, we’ll guide you through creating student-facing surveys using generative AI writing tools and analyzing the resulting data using ChatGPT Plus with Advanced Data Analysis. The goal is to simplify your process as you take a data-driven approach to enhancing your students’ learning experiences.

Tip: For the most accurate results, we recommend using the paid ChatGPT Plus so you can access Advanced Data Analysis to analyze your survey data.

Any content shared with publicly available AI tools should NOT include any non-public data such as sensitive information (e.g., social security numbers, credit card information, or hiring materials) and personally identifiable information to comply with MIT’s Policies & Procedures and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA). To learn more, see Navigating Data Privacy.

Plan Ahead with a Pre-Class Survey

You can use generative AI writing tools to create pre-class surveys that help you gauge students’ previous experience and their interests within the scope of the day’s discussion.

Step-by-Step Guide:

  1. Design Survey: Use a generative AI writing tool to create a survey containing questions designed to understand students’ prior knowledge and interest in the session’s topics. Revise the AI output so the survey aligns with your specific needs.
    • Example Prompt: Help me create a very brief 5-question pre-session survey that adheres to pedagogical and survey design best practices, with the aim of gauging my students’ prior experience and current interest regarding the specific class topics listed below. Students’ survey responses should help me tailor the upcoming class session to make it more interactive and personalized. Please suggest simple questions with one-word or one-sentence answers. These are the topics we’ll cover during this class session: [Describe the class topics here.]
  2. Build and distribute survey: You can use Poll Everywhere or Qualtrics to build your survey. Plan to share it with students a few days before class.
  3. Anonymize survey results: Review the results and make sure to remove any identifying information.
  4. Use AI for Analysis: Input the anonymized data into ChatGPT Plus with Advanced Data Analysis enabled. Prompt the tool to review the data and identify key patterns and themes.
  5. Revise your plan: Focus on trends and common areas of interest from the survey as you finalize your plan for the class session.

What’s the Research?

Pre-class surveys align with the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) consideration Optimize relevance, value, and authenticity (CAST, n.d.-b). Tailoring class sessions based on student responses can also enhance learning outcomes by activating students’ prior knowledge about the class topics (CAST, n.d.,-a).

Gather Feedback with a Post-Class Survey

Are you looking to quickly and systematically gather and analyze students’ feedback after your class session? Generative AI can help you generate a survey and identify trends in students’ responses.

Step-by-Step Guide:

  1. Design Survey: Use a generative AI writing tool to create a survey for collecting student feedback after class. Revise the AI output so the survey aligns with your specific needs.
    • Example Prompt: Help me create a very brief 5-question post-class survey that adheres to pedagogical and survey design best practices, with the aim of collecting feedback on the effectiveness of the teaching methods and content used in today’s class. Students’ survey responses should help me improve my future teaching. Please suggest simple questions with one-word or one-sentence answers. These are the topics we covered during this class session: [Describe the class topics here.]
  2. Build and distribute Survey: You can use Poll Everywhere or Qualtrics to build your survey. Plan to share it with students shortly after the class session.
  3. Anonymize survey results: Review the results and make sure to remove any identifying information.
  4. Use AI for Analysis: Input the anonymized data into ChatGPT Plus with Advanced Data Analysis enabled. Prompt the tool to review the data and identify key patterns and themes.
  5. Make a plan: Use the survey results to inform your work as you plan upcoming class sessions.

What’s the Research?

Receiving student feedback can help identify effective teaching strategies and areas for improvement (Marx, 2019). AI tools can help you quickly sift through feedback to uncover key insights.

Conclusion

From designing surveys that gauge student experience to interpreting feedback for future improvements, generative AI can play a valuable role. As technology continues to evolve, consider taking advantage of these AI tools to easily add a layer of data-driven insights to your teaching methods.

References

CAST. (n.d.-a). Checkpoint 3.1: Activate or supply background knowledge. UDL Guidelines. https://udlguidelines.cast.org/representation/comprehension/background-knowledge

CAST. (n.d.-b). Checkpoint 7.2: Optimize relevance, value, and authenticity. UDL Guidelines. https://udlguidelines.cast.org/engagement/recruiting-interest/relevance-value-authenticity

Marx, R. (2019). Soliciting and utilizing mid-semester feedback. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/soliciting-and-utilizing-mid-semester-feedback/