Abstract:

Currently the monitoring and the evaluation of the quality of teaching as well learning become more important than ever. The poor quality of teaching at the level of higher education can create a large number of significant problems, ranging from the decreasing number of students and the poor level of student’s motivation or satisfaction to poor attendance in lectures. It is necessary to modify the methods of teaching by means of new technology as well as methodology. Teachers, as well as students, have to adapt to inevitable changes, developing the required skills and competencies which are necessary in the modern world.

During the last decade, it has been observed that the number of students with a very passive attitude constantly increases. They are less motivated to participate in non-obligatory courses or lectures and, in extreme cases, they have no motivation to finish their course of study at all. To change this situation it is necessary to modify the dynamics of the courses by taking into account the interests of the students and by following the different ways of study that they pursue.

For this reason, the first target for the teacher should be the awareness of the students’ points of view and the taking into account of the methodology of teaching. In order to achieve this goal effective feedback conceived of as a key tool for the improvement and development of necessary knowledge and skills of students should be used. Feedback also enhances learning-related achievements and the performance of students and teachers, and for this reason, it may be classified as one of the top five factors which affect the said learning-related achievement. Feedback is also an important factor to foster study-related inspiration and a powerful tool in designing teaching.

However, feedback cannot concentrate only on one-way information given by the teacher to students. Effective feedback has to be considered as a two-way information exchange and it may provide very useful information in various ways. In the majority of cases, the only way to improve is to find a way to “open the eyes when pushing the ball into the basket” otherwise students may spend long years on training without any improvement at all. For this reason, in any method, the key issue should be to give the teachers and the students a chance to provide and receive effective feedback.

This paper focuses on the ways to provide effective feedback in order to improve the quality of teaching based on experience, the available research and the results of the analysis. The results are obtained owing to students’ grades and the opinions of the students at the AGH University of Science and Technology, Poland. In this work, we combine the information regarding the different types of teaching: lectures, seminars and laboratories, by analysing a questionnaire completed by students. It is obvious that without clear information from the students as well as a proper approach for evaluating the quality of teaching it is not possible to ensure the appropriate quality of teaching and to improve the relationship between teachers and students.

It has been observed that in order to provide effective feedback the task goals should be addressed directly, in a manner which is clear and easy to understand whereas quite often the goal is not defined at all. On the other hand, feedback should include constructive criticism which motivates people to improve the quality and the performance.

Keywords:

Enhancing learning, active learning, effective feedback.