Title: Collecting course feedback from the students
Course: Digivisio DEMO: Planning and creating a MOOC > Section: Pedagogical planning of a MOOC

As in all teaching, student feedback is also important in MOOCs. For example, the feedback provides the teacher with important information on how learners experience the course, and feedback can also offer valuable ideas for developing the course. Especially in MOOCs where planning the learners' study time allocation is not always simple and easy, feedback can help adjust the workload to a more suitable level.

Next, you get to learn about the role of feedback and how to collect it at different stages of the MOOC.

It is advisable collect feedback throughout the life cycle of the MOOC. When creating MOOCs (whether it is an xMOOC or a cMOOC), implementing a pilot before the course is placed in the actual study offering is advisable. This means that as you are creating the course and when it is almost finished, a small number of students take the course and give feedback on it. Student feedback received in the creation phase of the MOOC may provide important information for putting the finishing touches on it.

When the course has been finished and it is part of the study offering, it is advisable to continue collecting student feedback and go through it regularly, as the feedback helps the teacher to improve the course. When the course has been part of the offering for a longer period, it is also a good idea to analyse the feedback in detail and examine the course critically. Due to the rapid development of digital tools and information content used in MOOCs, both the content and digi-pedagogical solutions of MOOCs should be updated regularly and at least every few years.

Feedback can be collected in many ways and with many different tools. Higher education institutions often have their own feedback tools and collection schedules, which can also be used to collect feedback on MOOCs. In addition to official channels, feedback can also be collected as part of the course using a separate tool, which enables the teacher to ask specific questions about topics on which they wish to get student feedback.

Learner:
Feedback is an excellent tool for learners to influence the development of teaching. This is why it is worthwhile for the learner to spend some time and give their opinion on the course, and also write down their thoughts about developing the MOOC.

Teacher:

Feedback is an important tool that helps the teacher to develop the course. The course is built for learners, after all, which means that learners’ experiences and development ideas are naturally a very important perspective on the creation and development of the course.

The teacher can additionally help establish a positive culture of giving feedback by analysing the feedback they receive and also responding to it by taking into account any issues mentioned in it and making the way in which their feedback has affected the course visible to learners.

TIP

A low response rate may sometimes make collecting feedback from learners a challenge. Instead of only collecting feedback after the MOOC has been completed, collecting it as part of course completion is another option. In this case, however, addressing the ethical perspective is important, in other words ensuring that giving or not giving feedback will not have a negative impact on the learner's performance or the way it is assessed.

Now fill in feedback on the MOOC in your pedagogical manuscript.
- At which point of the course life cycle will you collect feedback? During a pilot, in the maintenance phase (when the course has been launched), or at some other stage? You should note that the questions can be different depending on the stage at which the feedback is collected.
- How will feedback be collected? Will you use your higher education institution’s feedback form, a tool included in the virtual learning environment, or a third-party tool (such as eLomake, Microsoft Forms, or Google Forms)?
- How will feedback be processed and how will you respond to it? How will you inform the learners who gave feedback on this?

References

Image: Gerd Altmann, Pixabay, public domain.