Portfolios allow students to see a student's work from start to finish. Best suited for creative courses such as writing and art, portfolios allow students to develop their work over a period of time. Teachers can analyze how well students do in a course based on how well they apply techniques learned in class. Portfolios also give students the opportunity to critique themselves, fix mistakes and make changes to projects in order to make them better. Many students enjoy the portfolio process because it gives them something to show a prospective employer or a graduate school admissions department.
Interviews in post-secondary education allow teachers to ask face-to-face questions of students in the class. Teachers can begin by developing a list of questions for all students and then interviewing them one-on-one. This allows teachers to get instant feedback from the learning process and most important ask follow-up questions if they don't receive the answers they want. Teachers can also analyze body language to see how students answer questions, how they might hesitate, stammer or stutter. In some cases, teachers may interview other teachers at a school to determine the effectiveness of their own teaching and to find out if students are well-prepared to further their education.
Conducting surveys allows teachers to develop a list of questions based on the goals and objectives of the course. Students can then fill out the surveys and rank each question on a numbered scale. Surveys can also include a section to give short answers to questions about the course. Surveys also allow teachers to use the information on a wider scale as part of their own academic research. While surveys provide instant feedback, teachers must recognize they may not receive truthful answers if students must put their name on the form.
Learning journals in post-secondary education allow students to put down in written form their insights to a course. The learning journal lets students reflect on the learning process, discuss their triumphs and detail their struggles with certain concepts and reading material. Depending on the course, educators can give students a prompt to follow and make them answer specific questions regarding the coursework. Some instructors may choose to put the learning journal on a blog form for the entire class to view.