Mid-Course Reviews (MCR) for Graduate Students
Are you a graduate student instructor interested in quick, anonymous feedback on your teaching from your students at Columbia? Request a CTL Mid-Course Review! Mid-Course Reviews (MCRs) are run by trained graduate student Teaching Consultants, who ask your students about what they find to be the most helpful and the most challenging aspects of your course, and then debrief their findings with you. CTL Mid-Course Reviews are confidential, formative, and designed to support you in your teaching practices.
MCRs count towards completion of CTL’s Teaching Development Program for graduate students.
Interested in an MCR?
MCRs can be requested early in each semester. The request form for MCRs will re-open on the first day of Summer A term. MCRs are most effective when completed in weeks 4-7, so we encourage you to request your MCR early!
What to Expect
MCRs allow graduate student instructors to receive an assessment of how their teaching practices impact students’ learning in their course. A trained Teaching Consultant from the CTL conducts the MCR with students during the last 25-30 minutes of the class, while the instructor is out of the room. The Teaching Consultant will act as a facilitator, asking students to actively discuss their ideas, so that the feedback the instructor receives is about high priority issues. The consultant will also encourage students to be as specific as possible in their responses to what is helping or hindering their learning in order to provide the instructor with actionable suggestions for adjustments. After the consultant’s conversation with students, the instructor and consultant meet to discuss the students’ feedback and ways to address and implement their suggestions, allowing the instructor to make changes, if necessary, before the course ends.
The CTL is here for graduate students.
The Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning provides an array of support for graduate students in both their current and future teaching responsibilities.