Why use a student intake survey?
Who are we? Why are we here? What will we each contribute? These essential questions guide teaching in any context. An intake form is one common way to get students to answer these questions and start building relationships from day one.
Design a student intake assessment to ...
- establish rapport
- gather student data to inform your teaching
- help students connect to course goals
- help students identify relevant support resources
- highlight class diversity and promote community
What does it look like?
A student intake assessment is essentially a survey that provides you and your students the big
picture of the course and its participants. Many intakes include questions related to these general
categories:
- Participant Information: preferred name, educational background, personal interests
- Course Goals: assessment of background knowledge, motivation for taking the course
- Learning Strengths/Challenges: assessment of strategies, attitudes, beliefs about learning
- Support: students’ preferred ways of getting help
This sample student intake assessment was designed via Google Forms to gather information about the diversity of the class in terms of language background, cultural expectations regarding teaching/learning, and peer interactions.
How is it implemented?
- Instructor completes and makes available to class on first day as a model.
- Students complete via Google Form before the next class period.
- Instructor shows summary of results in the following class period (removing confidential information, of course). Results can be used to highlight class diversity, strengths, support resources, and to explicitly communicate course expectations.