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Prompting AI to Help Analyze Student Feedback

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Description

It can be helpful to analyze student feedback at any point in the semester, whether it be for responsiveness to student concerns, mid-course tweaking, or to gain ideas for future course revisions. While as the instructor, you will of course bring your knowledge, expertise, experience, and creativity to interpreting student responses, AI can be a valuable partner in helping you get started in making meaning of student feedback. The following steps will guide you through an iterative process for working with Claude to achieve your goal.

Note: Check out this CATLR tip for strategies and recommendations on gathering student feedback.

Steps

  1. Get clear about what you want to accomplish with student feedback you have gathered and why. What are your goals? Do you want to summarize large volumes of feedback quickly, or are you focused on preparing student-facing resources? Do you want to filter student feedback based on topics such as grading policy, communication, or assignments? Or is your goal something else?
  2. Gather materials that will serve as the source of Claude’s output. This might be anonymous student feedback collected through surveys, course evaluations or other methods, an anonymized version of your course syllabus, an assignment etc., whatever the tool will need in order to generate a useful response.
  3. Begin prompting. You may already have an idea for a prompt that reflects your goal. If not, try:

Initial Prompt: Please analyze this mid-semester anonymous student feedback from my [Course Title] students to identify patterns in areas of strength and areas for improvement.

  1. Review the output and revise as needed. The output generated by Claude from the initial prompt above might be too general, lacking the desired focus, or not as clear as you’d like. As needed, you may enter follow-up prompts to guide the tool to tailor the output to your needs. Consider the following potential follow-up prompt scenarios:

Prompt Scenario 1: If you are focusing on gaining a better understanding of your strengths from the student feedback, try the below follow up prompts:

Follow-up Prompt 1: Which aspects of my teaching do students appreciate the most based on this feedback?

Follow up Prompt 2: How can I build on these strengths to further enhance student learning? I am teaching a [LEVEL] [SUBJECT] course with approximately [NUMBER] students, primarily [SUBJECT MAJORS OR NON-MAJORS].

Prompt Scenario 2: If you are focusing on areas of improvement based on student feedback, try the below follow up prompts.

Follow-up Prompt 1: What areas of my teaching do students suggest could be improved, based on this feedback? Consider the diversity of student learning preferences in your recommendations.

Note: The output generated from this follow-up prompt might be in the form of multiple bullet points highlighting key areas of improvement based on student feedback. You may want to ask AI to get more specific about one particular area for improvement. You might do that by using the below follow up prompt.

Follow-up Prompt 2: Please focus specifically on the feedback related to [area of improvement ]. Given that I am teaching a [LEVEL] [SUBJECT] course with approximately [NUMBER] students, primarily [SUBJECT MAJORS OR NON-MAJORS] how might I address this?

Prompt Scenario 3: If you are focusing on taking immediate action on student feedback on a specific aspect of your course (grading policy, a new assignment, other) by leveraging areas of strength, try the below follow up prompt.

Follow-up Prompt 1: Based on the mid-semester feedback, students particularly appreciate my [strength area] and I want to focus on improving [specific issue]. Help me develop an immediate action plan that leverages my strengths in [strength area] to improve [specific issue] in the next 1-2 weeks.

  1. Continue to prompt Claude. Refine the output until you are satisfied. For example, you may want to run it several different ways to compare versions, provide it with various forms of student feedback in the form of attachments or by typing student quotes, and ask it to help you with feedback related to multiple aspects of your course.

Suggestions

Conduct Frequent, Brief Check-ins: Regularly use short surveys or anonymous reflections (e.g., weekly exit tickets or polls) to gauge student perceptions of course content, pace, and teaching strategies. Frequent feedback allows timely adjustments, improves teaching effectiveness, and demonstrates faculty responsiveness to student needs.

Ask Specific, Actionable Questions: Design focused questions that prompt students to provide clear, constructive suggestions rather than broad evaluations (e.g., “What activity helped you understand today’s concept?” or “What specific change could enhance your learning?”). Specific questions yield actionable feedback and support continuous improvement.

Share and Respond Transparently to Feedback: Discuss collected feedback with the class, clearly communicating how you will (or won’t) adjust your teaching approach based on student suggestions. Transparency builds trust, promotes student investment in the feedback process, and demonstrates commitment to their academic success.

Employ Multiple Feedback Methods and Formats: Use diverse methods (e.g., anonymous surveys, reflective journals, focus groups, or classroom dialogues) to accommodate varied student comfort levels and communication styles. Offering multiple channels ensures richer, more representative insights into student experiences.

References

Angelo, T. A., & Cross, K. P. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques: A handbook for college teachers (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass.

Cook-Sather, A., Bovill, C., & Felten, P. (2014). Engaging students as partners in learning and teaching: A guide for faculty. Jossey-Bass.

Darby, F. (2019). Small teaching online: Applying learning science in online classes. Jossey-Bass.

McKeachie, W. J., & Svinicki, M. (2013). McKeachie’s teaching tips: Strategies, research, and theory for college and university teachers (14th ed.). Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

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