The following information was previously included in a June 2025 Assessment Guide created by the Teaching and Learning Center.
Student Experiences of Teaching (SET) surveys are typically administered to students in your class at the end of a term. These surveys are optional and allow students to provide anonymous responses to a series of questions about their experiences in your course. SET surveys are designed to give instructors and teaching assistants (TAs) feedback on a variety of topics, including student learning objectives, instructional materials, student workload, the learning environment, and other course elements. This resource is designed to provide instructors and TAs with recommendations for how to communicate with students about the SET surveys and encourage student feedback.
Include an explanation of SET in your syllabus
Embed SET surveys in your syllabus and explain the importance of SET feedback to make improvements to the course. You can even include it in the syllabus as a course assignment. If you are unable to make changes to the syllabus, a note on Bruin Learn can also work. Note to TAs: make sure to check with the instructor of record before implementing this strategy. It is important that course assignments be standardized across sections of a course.
Explain to students how their responses will improve the course
While students may already know about SET surveys from an email or from previous terms, it’s helpful to explicitly explain how you will use their responses to improve the course and your teaching. This information can be provided throughout the quarter, especially at the beginning of the course, during a discussion of the syllabus, or in the weeks leading up to the end of the term. Evidence suggests that students may not understand if and how completing SET surveys affects instruction since they are administered at the end of the term, and thus, current students are unlikely to benefit directly from whatever feedback they provide at that time. Therefore, provide specific examples of how you have previously used student feedback from the SET surveys either to shape the current class or to revise other classes you teach. Consider also letting students know how you incorporate their feedback into your tenure, merit, and promotion materials or teaching award applications, and that departmental leadership has access to their anonymous responses.
Specify what type of feedback is most useful in improving the course
When completing the end-of-term surveys, consider asking students to comment on what aspects of the course they perceive as most impactful on their learning experience. Encourage them to provide suggestions about course design and assessment that could improve engagement with the course material and enhance their learning and performance in your course. Discuss with your students the value of completing the SET surveys to give them space to reflect on what they have learned and how they learned it. Remind students to be candid, constructive, and to provide as much detail as possible.
Create a culture of care
Show your students throughout the quarter that you value and care about them. Instructors and TAs who create classrooms where there is mutual respect between students and instructors/TAs, wherein students feel they are a valued part of the class, tend to have higher SET survey response rates. For example, try modeling behaviors such as using formative evaluations of teaching and highlighting changes you have made as a direct result of analysis of the data. For resources on how to foster a culture of care, please refer to TLC’s Teaching bulletin on Fostering and Sustaining Student Belonging Throughout the Term.
Use mid-quarter feedback surveys
Checking in with students through a midterm survey has been shown to be helpful in improving response rates for end-of-term SET surveys.
Changes to the classroom climate
In addition to structures you can put in place to increase response rates, the classroom climate makes a difference when it comes to SET survey response rates. If you need support finding ways in which to engage students more actively, the Educational Development Programs and the Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholar Engagement units in the TLC are here to help.
Increase student engagement
Students who feel engaged in their courses are more likely to respond to their SET surveys; therefore, consider encouraging meaningful participation in your courses for all students throughout the term.
Acknowledge fatigue
When discussing SET surveys with students, acknowledge that they likely have a number of surveys to complete and may even be experiencing survey fatigue, and express your appreciation for their time and effort.
Questions about SETs in Teaching and Learning
The UCLA Teaching and Learning Center has staff dedicated to providing support in assessment, course design, and effective teaching practices for instructors and TAs. If you have any questions about SET surveys or are interested in getting help interpreting your SET ratings, please contact us at assessment@teaching.ucla.edu.