Reciprocal Classroom Interviews, sometimes called The G.I.F.T. (Group Instructional Feedback Technique), take place between two colleagues who trust each other. At its most basic level, one faculty member interviews another's students in order to acquire rough answers to the three questions posed in the panel to the right. After sharing information, the two colleagues switch roles. Information so gathered belongs to the faculty member whose class is interviewed.

How to gather information:

  1. Work with a faculty colleague or faculty development specialist whom you trust.
  2. Schedule a date and time for your partner to interview your class.
  3. Schedule two meetings with your partner, one before the visit for about 20 minutes and one after the visit for about an hour.
  4. On the day of the class visit, introduce your partner and then leave. A well-organized visit takes about 30 minutes.
  5. After the visit, read your partner's written summary, discuss what teaching approaches and techniques address the students' concerns, develop a plan for responding, and communicate to your students what that plan is. Follow up with other assessments to assure that the plan is working.
  6. Switch roles and reciprocate.

Some Caveats
  • If you don't want to know, don't ask.
  • If you can't respond, don't collect.
  • Do this early enough in the semester to allow time for changes.
  • Attend to positive as well as negative feedback.
  • Respond promptly and honestly.
  • Think through your responses carefully.
  • Follow through to see if your changes made any difference.

----T.A. Angelo and K. P. Cross, 1993. Classroom Assessment Techniques, 2nd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass., p. 334-8.

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Reciprocal Classroom Interview

Sample Form: Reciprocal Classroom Interview

Please write brief, honest, and legible answers to the three questions below. Do NOT write your name on this page.

1. Identify 1 - 3 specific things that your instructor does that succeed in helping you learn in this course.
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2. Identify 1 - 3 specific things that your instructor does that hinder or interfere with your learning in this course.
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3. Please outline 1 - 3 specific, practical suggestions for the instructor that would help you improve your learning in this course.
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Some Thoughts

During the first meeting, review the interview procedure. Provide questions, a script, or other suggestions of what you'd like to find out about your students' learning (not your teaching---this is assessment of learning and not evaluation of teaching). Your trusted partner stays away from areas you don't want to explore. During the second meeting, talk about the results. Wise partners often prepare a written digest of the interview prior to this second meeting.

Prepare your class ahead of time. Tell your students that you wish to improve their learning environment and activities. Ask them if they will agree to be interviewed by a trusted professor, one who is just as interested in quality learning as you are and whom you will instruct in their presence to maintain confidentiality when discussing the findings with you. Let them know approximately when you will talk about the findings with them.

The partner's role as interviewer includes filtering the information so that one viewpoint or class member doesn't dominate the findings. Breaking the class into groups of 4-5 to discuss filled-out forms and discussing the most common items among them is one way to filter.

Your partner can help by filtering for trends. In response, prepare a thoughtful plan of action so that students will see their consultation being taken seriously and will invest in it. When you trade positions and visit your partner's class, maintain the trust of confidentiality and present the assessment as rounded criticism. That is, be sure to include questions that reveal positive learning experiences and not only negative ones.

Your partner has sole rights his or her information and decides whether and when to make it public. Do not gossip and don't ever violate the trust by revealing this information to subvert your partner's promotion, merit, or tenure.