Policy on Feedback
This is an important general note about feedback; specifically, feedback from you to us.
During the term, there are many aspects of the course which you may come to like or dislike. Some of these aspects (e.g., the marking scheme for the course) were given careful thought by the instructors, and there are good reasons why they are handled in a particular way. Generally, we are not likely to change such aspects of the course, but we can explain why the course is run the way it is. Other aspects may have come about for historical reasons, or because we simply did not realize that they could raise concerns. Generally, we will be open to changing these aspects to improve the course.
Don't wait until course evaluations!
You may feel like you have to wait until the official "course evaluations" at the end of the term to voice your concerns, but that is not the case. In fact, the sooner you discuss your concerns with us, the sooner we can make changes that will benefit everyone, for the current term.
Please feel completely free to get in touch with us with any suggestions or comments that you have about any aspect of the course (conduct of lectures and tutorials, content and/or marking of assignments and tests, comments or concerns about individual instructors or TAs, etc.). In particular, don't hesitate to let us know if there are aspects of the course that you particularly like, so that we can keep them that way (it always helps to get positive feedback), or if there are specific aspects that you dislike, so that we can make changes (or discuss with you our reasons for doing things the way we do).
Don't be shy!
We realize that it can be difficult sometimes to talk to someone directly about concerns you have about that person, which is why we propose the following mechanism: if you have suggestions or concerns about your TA, please get in touch with your instructor to discuss them. We can then pass on your message to the TA in a completely anonymous fashion (and your TA will probably take it better coming from us).
Similarly, if you have a specific suggestion or concern about your instructor, don't hesitate to talk to us directly. If that makes you uncomfortable, please talk to your TA or to another instructor of the course so that he/she can pass it on to us. Failing that, feel free to use any means that make you more comfortable to give us feedback, but remember: we must be able to reply to your feedback (either to explain ourselves or to discuss possible changes with you), otherwise your feedback is useless.
Don't be unreasonable in your expectations!
Note that this does not mean that we will accept unfounded complaints! If you have complaints or constructive criticism that you have thought about and are ready to discuss in a reasonable manner, that's great. If you are merely unhappy about your marks (or for whatever other reason) and you have nothing constructive to say (e.g., "this course is terrible", with no thought about why or how it is terrible), then you should think it over until you come up with something more concrete that we can work with.
Remember that feedback does not mean "venting", but information that we can use to make the course better, that is, you must be able to explain why you feel unhappy about the course (without this, complaints are useless).
Talk to us!
But do think about it and let us know! The only way that we can make the course better is if you let us know what needs improving and why (and if you have ideas on how to do that, even better).
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