Design, implementation, and evaluation of Students as Partners interactive feedback model

In September of 2020, a group of dental students (DDS) and motivated faculty at the University of Western Ontario came together in response to the pandemic and established a real-time feedback model. The goal of this model was to address technical challenges following the quick transition from in-person courses to a fully online format for student learning. This initial offering formed the foundation of the Students as Partners (SaP) program to identify and address technical and curricular issues. We used an action research approach to evaluate and refine the innovation’s delivery. Preliminary data from the first cycle suggested that students were unaware of the impact of their feedback and the actionable items from their feedback. Thus, for the second iteration we focused on making the entire process more transparent by using Padlet as a way to streamline posting and responding to feedback. To evaluate the refined system, we distributed surveys to student and faculty participants to obtain feedback on their awareness and satisfaction and effectiveness of the program. For students who utilized the system, the majority indicated that they were informed of changes based on their feedback. Furthermore, students reported that our innovation provided a platform for the student voice. Faculty impressions were generally positive, and the majority of faculty respondents indicated that they implemented changes to their content/curriculum based on feedback. These results demonstrate that the SaP program’s real-time feedback system closed the feedback loop and facilitated real-time improvements based on actionable feedback. To our knowledge, this is the first study to design, implement, and evaluate a real-time feedback system for the purpose of modifying how an instructor teaches. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Course feedback surveys at the end of term infrequently result in beneficial change. However, student feedback should be considered to develop meaningful learning. In response to this problem, we report on a novel Students as Partners innovation to address instructional issues in real time with a virtual bulletin board application embedded in the learning management system. Students and instructors valued the system’s ability to close the feedback loop and provide transparent, actionable change.