Midsemester Feedback Services

CTRL offers services and resources to help you collect feedback from the students in your classes, a key aspect of inclusive teaching. We especially encourage this practice at the midsemester point, to draw on student feedback in order to implement it before the end of a course and build an even stronger learning community as the semester progresses. Midsemester feedback from students also supports your reflective professional development and can be included as part of the Student Assessment of Teaching section in your Teaching Portfolio.

Which of our midsemester feedback services is right for you?

Self-Administered Survey: If you want support developing and self-administering your own informative midsemester feedback survey, review our Self-Administered Mid-Semester Feedback Surveys Guide or view a recording of our workshop, “Collecting & Responding to Midsemester Feedback from Students.”

Midsemester Course Analysis (MCA): If you want to engage in a more intensive feedback process that involves a CTRL team member visiting your class to facilitate a 30-minute feedback discussion with your students, read more about our Midsemester Course Analysis (MCA) program and fill out a request form

The dates for facilitated midsemester analysis in the Spring semester are February 12th to February 23rd. Due to the CTRL’s limited capacity to conduct MCAs, we encourage you to submit your request as soon as possible, but no later than February 6th. 

Instructor Consultation: You can also request a consultation at any time with a CTRL Teaching & Learning team member to receive feedback on any aspect of your course, such as assignment structure, accessibility, or syllabus design.

Whichever method you choose, CTRL staff are here to work with you to interpret the feedback and develop strategies for acting on it. If you have any questions about these services or want to discuss which makes sense for you, please email ctrl@american.edu.  

Midsemester Course Analysis (MCA)

A Midsemester Course Analysis (MCA) is designed to provide students with the opportunity to contribute feedback individually and in conversation with their peers. During an MCA, a CTRL Teaching and Learning team member visits a synchronous class session for 30 minutes and facilitates a discussion among students. The discussion will address what aspects of the class are going well, what can be improved upon, and what changes you can make that will be helpful to your students. CTRL will then meet with you to debrief the results of the whole class discussion. In this debrief, we will discuss your students’ feedback, how to interpret that feedback, and strategies for implementing the feedback within your course. In the meeting after the feedback collection, CTRL provides you with an analysis of the results and the whole class discussion. This report is entirely for your use and CTRL will not share it with anyone else. 

Types of questions we pose to students: 

  • Which aspect of the course is most helpful to you? 
  • Which aspect of the course is least helpful to you? 
  • Are there any suggestions you would like to make about how to improve the course? 

Spring 2024 Important Dates and Deadlines


  • February 6th: Deadline for faculty to request an MCA
  • February 12-23: CTRL staff member facilitates MCA in-class conversation
  • February 15th-March 6th: CTRL staff member meets with instructor to debrief results and discuss strategies for implementation

Self-Administered Midsemester Feedback Surveys

If you are interested in creating your own midsemester survey, CTRL can support you in designing and self-administering a formative feedback survey to your students. First, please access the CTRL Self-Administered Mid-Semester Feedback Surveys Guide, which includes sample survey questions, steps and considerations for administering and analyzing your survey, and information on how to respond to the results and discuss the feedback with your students. In addition, we invite you to view a recording of our workshop, “Collecting Midsemester Feedback. CTRL staff are also available for one-on-one consultations to discuss midsemester surveys, as well as any other topics related to teaching, research, and learning.