Student Teaching Consultant Feedback Request Form
The Center for Teaching Excellence is committed to promoting reflection and collaboration on teaching and learning experiences. One of our programs, Students as Learners and Teachers at a Hispanic Serving Institution, aims to transform teaching and learning spaces in direct response to the experiences, knowledge, and insights from our students. We aim to promote student success by encouraging collaborative teaching and learning partnerships between students and faculty members from across academic disciplines. We also care about developing a collaborative dialogue with staff members across programs and student support resources that promote student success and belonging.
By collaborating with our students, the initiative aims to foster student agency of their learning, integrate teaching approaches that center student voices and experiences, and build a culture of openness to student feedback, reflection, and revision on teaching and learning across UTRGV and beyond. Our student consultants’ disciplinary background and professional aspirations varies (e.g., Business Management, Interdisciplinary Studies, English, Nursing, Manufacturing Engineering, Biology, Music, Business Administration, Theater, Integrated Health Science, Early care and early education, Psychology, Spanish translation and interpretation, Finance, Mathematic, Computer Engineering, among others), which informs different perspectives on what meaningful and engaging teaching and learning experiences mean across academic disciplines. Student consultants also participate in rigorous, interactive, and reflective workshops through the CTE centered on best practices for eliciting and receiving feedback, analyzing teaching and learning approaches, and facilitating rhetorically informed, empathetic, collaborative, and reflective feedback on teaching and learning experiences. They are ready and eager to engage in teaching and learning conversations with you!
For Faculty
If you are a faculty member interested in requesting feedback from our student partners, please consider submitting a feedback request via our instructor Feedback Request Portal.
For Staff
If you are a staff member interested in requesting feedback from our student partners, please consider submitting a feedback request via our staff Feedback Request Portal
The purpose of the portal is for faculty and staff members to request feedback on initiatives, resources, and/or teaching documents, such as assignments, course syllabi, and other media (e.g., lecture videos, infographics, etc.). The questions provided in the portal are required as they are used by the student partners to get a better idea of the partner’s views, intentions, and choices. Most importantly, faculty and staff members can ask specific questions for feedback linked to their intentions and student learning objectives.
Student partners use a variety of resources to respond to the feedback request. These include templates for transparent assignment design, syllabus language analysis, and program/resource analysis. These templates contain guiding questions drawing on SaLT HSI feedback lenses, such as engagement and accessibility, relevance of the curriculum, grading policy/feedback and assessments, representation, and implicit biases (Cavazos et. al, 2023). Student partners draw on the guiding questions and faculty/staff members' responses to the portal to provide effective and meaningful feedback and engage in reflective dialogue with faculty and staff members.
We care about the quality of the feedback provided and the support and guidance our student partners receive to develop confidence and agency in their professional journeys. For this reason, we have established a guided process to support our student partners in building a sense of solidarity and belonging as they review materials thoughtfully and critically. Please learn more about the review process below. Please expect an email from one of our student partners between three to four weeks from the moment you submit your feedback request.
- Upon submission to the portal, student partners are assigned to review your materials in pairs each serving as primary and secondary reviewers for the materials you have submitted for feedback.
- Once student partners complete a draft of their feedback, they receive feedback and commentary from the director of the program, Dr. Alyssa G. Cavazos, and Student Partner Leaders, who also review your materials. Additionally, during weekly meetings, student partners also engage in collective conversations about the materials and their feedback to ensure feedback provided is empathetic and actionable by eliciting reflective thought centered and growth and impact for student engagement and success.
- Student partners subsequently revise their feedback informed by feedback provided and professional development sessions in the program.
- Once student partners review your materials and revise their feedback, you should expect to receive an email from one of our Student Partners asking to schedule a one-on-one meeting to discuss the feedback.
- Following the meeting, you will receive an email with the written feedback so you can have as a resource and future reference. Additionally, we will also send a link where we ask you to reflect on the feedback you received to inform and enhance our program. Upon completion of these activities, you will receive a Certificate of Student-Faculty/Staff Partnership which you can use as supplemental documentation toward employee evaluations, annual review, and tenure and promotion materials.