April 2000 Senate Motion 8.B. The Executive Committee of the Student Senate recommends that mid-semester feedback be encouraged in all courses. The professor will collect the feedback for prompt review on the course' s progress. Rationale: Drake University has historically emphasized the importance of student-centered interaction in the classroom. To be effective, this "interaction" should include a feedback form from the students informing professors about how the course is progressing. In an ideal world, such feedback about the course should happen already. Realistically, this always does not occur. This proposal has been constructed to increase the frequency for such interaction. This proposal has two main objectives: (1) It will encourage both students and faculty to open the lines of communication and to comment on the strengths and weakness of the current course. The current feedback will be overseen at a convenient point for the professor. Unlike the end-of-the-semester evaluation, the feedback can have an impact for improvement within that semester. (2) The faculty member can observe if the changes made, as a result of mid-semester feedback, improved the course by comparing the mid-semester feedback and end-semester evaluations to each other. In summary, the underlying theme of this motion is to proctor more open communication between the students and the faculty. Implementation: In courses where mid-semester will be utilized, students will complete a form provided by the instructor and return it to the same instructor. After reviewing the feedback, the instructor is encouraged to discuss the feedback with the students. Deans Offices and Department Chairs will not be involved with this system in any way. In addition to this process, students are encouraged to take responsibility for approaching the faculty of instruction regarding concerns in the course. Prior to the mid-point of the semester, the Provost will send a message to faculty of instruction reminding them of this recommendation.