Anonymous Feedback: A Real-time Feedback to Capture Students’ Engagement in Learning Process

Teachers’ evaluation plays a crucial role in strengthening the learning process and curriculum delivery. In some situations, because of the complicated structure of the feedback proformas or the fear of being identified students might not be able to express themselves honestly. Unstructured and anonymous feedback might help resolve the apprehensions and reluctance of students to give true feedback. We conducted a study to compare quantitative and qualitative data obtained through an anonymous and standardized official evaluation system. One hundred and ten medical students of Year III of Shifa College of Medicine participated in our study during an integrated module. We created an anonymous portal on the website www.freesuggestionbox.com and provided its link to the students. We encouraged students to reflect on their learning process throughout the module and provide quantitative feedback on the anonymous portal at the end of the module. Students also provided structured feedback on a standardized official evaluation questionnaire utilizing a 21-items questionnaire and optional comments as per routine for each faculty member. Quantitative and qualitative data of unstructured and anonymous feedback were analyzed and compared with the feedback provided on the official structures feedback proformas. Broad themes after being assessed by authors were assigned codes, commonalities in both feedbacks were analyzed and any new areas highlighted by students were identified. Quantitative data obtained through each feedback was statistically similar. Students provided more information about new learning strategies incorporated in the module on the anonymous portal in comparison to the official structured feedback portal. The total number of comments on the anonymous feedback portal was much higher than the official feedback portal. Anonymous and real-time feedback may influence the way the message is received and processed and may allow faculty to immediately resolve highlighted problems, ensure active participation and reduce insecurities of medical students.