How reflection and feedback can improve your teaching

I recently came across an article that reminded me of something I read in Ken Bain's book, "What the Best College Teachers Do." Part of being an effective teacher requires us to seek feedback, reflect, and assess whether what we are doing actually supports student learning. It is how we improve as teachers. This process is most effective when done continuously rather than just at the end of the course. It involves ongoing individual reflection by the teacher throughout the course on how the class went, what worked, what didn't work, and how it can be improved. For example, sometimes we have this great idea to try something new, and it completely flops. This isn't bad. It's simply an opportunity to grow by taking some time to reflect on what happened. And if you include the students, letting them know you are trying something new and asking for their feedback at the end, you may be pleasantly surprised to learn that they really liked it. It may simply need an adjustment rather than being abandoned. I have found that moments like these in the classroom are what make us better teachers. 

Reflection and feedback work together. Analyzing feedback and reflecting can help strengthen teaching effectiveness and determine when changes are needed. Keep in mind that feedback can come from sources other than students, such as peer reviews, although these are not as widely used as they could be. 

In PA education and much of higher education, student evaluations are widely used to assess teaching effectiveness. Many factors have been identified as inherent problems with this. I'm sure you will recognize some of these.

Evaluations happen at the end of the course when student emotions and anxiety are high. 

Providing student anonymity can lead to harsh, inappropriate, unrelated, or unhelpful comments.

Students may not appreciate the impact or consequences of their feedback.

They may or may not realize their comments can directly affect a teacher's career. 

Student bias can affect evaluations, as research has shown that students decide early on whether they like the teacher. This can be based on what they have heard about the teacher ahead of time or by their initial impression on the first few days and weeks of the course. Unfortunately, research shows that their responses are linked to gender, race, and attractiveness (Adams et al., 2021). 

Students justify their failure or displeasure by retaliating on the evaluation. 

Students feel their expectations weren't met. Unfortunately, education has fallen into consumerism, and students evaluate whether they think they got what they paid for. 

However, student feedback is important and can provide valuable insights. Therefore, we must know how to work with this information along with reflection to become better educators. 

Here are three ways to use reflection and feedback 

Ongoing reflective practice

Reflection here refers to self-reflection, initiated by the teacher. It is most powerful when done immediately after class, while the experience is still vivid. It doesn't require more than five minutes or so to stop and reflect on the following: 

            What worked well today?

            What didn't go so well?

            Where did students seem to get lost or struggle?

            What is one specific change I could make for next time? 

It is helpful to create a file or document for each course where you jot down your responses to these questions. The key in answering these questions is to be specific. In other words, don't just say, everything went well. That provides no real information as to what worked well. Say something like: the opening case generated a lot of discussion. If you noticed that halfway through the lecture, the students looked bored and disinterested, document that, look at what you were doing at that time, and consider how you might change things up to keep students engaged. Jot that down too.

Then, at the end of the course, as you review your reflections with student feedback, you get a much richer picture of your effectiveness as a teacher, your strengths, and where you can improve. 

Have a strategy for how to evaluate student feedback

Reviewing student evaluations can be challenging. For all the years I have been doing this, new and even experienced faculty are Teflon (to positive comments) and Velcro (to negative ones). It's hard not to take things personally or emotionally. It may be helpful to remember the many factors that influence what students write, and we know that when people are unhappy, they tend to write more discouraging comments. Here are a few things to keep in mind. 

            Make sure you are in a good mental and emotional place to read them. I know the temptation is to look at them as soon as you receive them. I would warn against that. In my experience, if possible, releasing those evaluations to faculty after the students have left for semester break has been helpful.  

            Look for patterns. What kind of comment do you keep reading over and over again, perhaps how students either did or didn't like a particular lecturer or class project. Don't get hung up on individual comments. They are just that, an individual's comment. They don't define you – they really don't. 

            Rank those patterns as to things that require adjusting from those that don't.      Also notice those comments that unexpectedly catch your attention, a perspective or impact of something that happened in the class that you didn't realize. There are always little nuggets like this that are also very helpful as we develop who we are as teachers. For example, there were a few comments about the impact on them when you shared a personal experience.

           Create an action plan. Pick only one or two changes to make. Don't fall into the trap of thinking you have to fix all of them at once. I would recommend against that. Sometimes the best action plan is to let the course run again as is and see what happens. Here is why I say this. You probably have noticed that even though something worked great with one cohort, it doesn't mean it will work with the next cohort. So, sometimes the action is to let it run again the same way next time and observe it. 

Don't wait until the end of the course to reflect.

This follows the first point about ongoing reflection, and I would add, ongoing feedback. It's a little hard to address an issue in the course if you don't know about it until after the course is over. This is a call to consider a mid-course student evaluation, a quick survey for students to answer about how the course is going, how they feel they are doing, and whether anything is not working for them. It's essential to remember that we are not sitting in their seats, so they have a different experience and perspective on what is happening during class. This approach lets you get a snapshot of how the class feels to the students.

From a teacher's self-reflective place, a more formal practice is to look at the course at the halfway point to assess whether there are any gaps or misalignments compared to how you planned and expected the course to go. Are you where you thought you would be at the halfway point? Are the students there with you, or are they struggling to keep up or comprehend the material? Is the course flowing smoothly, or do you find yourself hurrying things along because you are or feel behind? How are the students performing on the assessments and assignments? This is really more for data gathering than for instituting changes, although small adjustments can be made if needed. 

Being intentional about reflecting on your teaching and class, as well as using student feedback to evaluate and analyze your teaching, helps us become better and more effective at what we do: supporting and fostering learning. 

Resources:

Adams, S., Bekker, S., Fan, Y., Gordon, T, Sheperd, L.J., Slavich, E., & Waters, D. Gender bias in student evaluations of teaching: 'Punishing those who fail to do their gender right.' High Educ 83, 787–807 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-021-00704-9  

Bain, K. (2004). What the best college teachers do. Harvard University Press.  

Gayeski, D. (2022, March 24). Don't let student evaluations derail your teaching. Harvard Business Impact. https://hbsp.harvard.edu/inspiring-minds/dont-let-student-evaluations-derail-your-teaching  

Gayeski, D. (2025, April 23). 6 Reasons students leave harsh reviews. Harvard Business Impact. https://hbsp.harvard.edu/inspiring-minds/6-reasons-students-leave-harsh-reviews

Primogerio, C., & del Carril, C. (2026, May 27). Making time for better teaching: 3 Strategies to turn reflection and feedback into real change in your classroom. Harvard Business Impact. https://hbsp.harvard.edu/inspiring-minds/making-time-for-better-teaching