SLEQ Optional Modules and Why You Should Opt In

The Student Learning Experience Questionnaire (SLEQ) continues to evolve to better support meaningful reflection on teaching and learning. To better support educators who teach in support of USask priorities and strategies, the Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching and Learning (GMCTL) presents several new and updated optional SLEQ modules. These modules can be added to end-of-course SLEQs to gather targeted student feedback on specific teaching innovations, instructional approaches, or course features.

What Are Optional SLEQ Modules? 

Optional modules are a useful way to gather deeper insights into what is working well in your course and to identify where small, high-impact adjustments could improve students’ learning experiences. They also help you collect evidence of your teaching effectiveness that may not be visible in the standard questionnaire. 

They are short sets of additional questions that can be added to the standard SLEQ. Each module focuses on an area that faculty may wish to look at more closely—such as intercultural competence, class discussions, sustainability, or use of open educational resources. These modules are:

• Fully optional for instructors.
• Designed to be brief, respectful of student time.
• Useful for teaching portfolios, reflective practice, and curriculum improvement.

This year, GMCTL is pleased to offer several new modules along with refreshed versions of existing ones. These support areas that faculty have expressed growing interest in, including building equitable learning environments, Indigenization of course content, and cost-savings for students with free textbooks.

Module	Details
EDI Dialogue	(3 Questions) Understand student perspectives on how well they were structurally supported to have good and safe classroom discussions, where they could share their ideas with others.
EDI Relational	(4 Questions) Understand student feelings of belonging in a course, including how instructors build rapport with their students. This module also includes a question about course materials being accessible in a variety of formats to ensure equitable access.
EDI Equitable	(5 Questions) Gather student perspectives on equitable engagement with course content, including Indigenous perspectives, diverse worldviews, proper citations, and choice in assessment.
Free Textbooks	(4 Questions) For courses using a free textbook this module measures student perceptions of their free textbook, both as it impacts their learning experiences and how it helps with accessibility (especially financial accessibility).
Indigenization in Teaching & Learning	(5 Questions) Measures the extent to which content supporting Indigenization is integrated thoughtfully into courses in ways that are more likely to help students work towards truth and reconciliation in their own lives. This module emphasizes a strengths-based approach to learning about and engaging with Indigenous Peoples.
Sustainability	(5 Questions) Measures student perceptions of how well a course provides opportunities to build sustainability-related knowledge and skills.

 

*A Fictional Example: Dr. Fake Name, Department of Mathematics and Statistics To illustrate how a module can support teaching, imagine Dr. Fake Name, a fictional instructor who recently transitioned her second-year linear algebra course to a free, openly licensed textbook.  Wanting to understand how students experienced this change, she added the Free Textbooks module to her SLEQ. When the results arrived, Dr. Name discovered: Students greatly appreciated the cost savings, with many noting that avoiding a $120–$200 textbook purchase reduced financial stress. Students overwhelmingly found that the textbook was excellent quality, whereas in previous terms students grumbled about the usefulness of the previous commercial textbook. In fact, students indicated that their opinion of the course as a whole was positively influenced by the free textbook. With this feedback in hand, Dr. Name felt confident continuing with the free textbook in future semesters and used students’ ratings as evidence in her teaching dossier to demonstrate her commitment to improve equitable access in her class.

 

Why Consider Adding an Optional Module?

Adding an optional module helps you:

• Capture feedback on innovations not covered by standard SLEQ items
• Support reflective teaching through evidence-based insights
• Demonstrate teaching effectiveness in annual reviews or promotion packages
• Engage students in conversations about what supports their success

Modules are easy to include when SLEQ is being configured by your college’s or department’s administrative staff. GMCTL is available to help you select the ones that best align with your teaching goals.

Interested in Using Optional Modules?

If you're ready to explore the new and updated modules, or if you’d like help choosing the right module for your course, the GMCTL team is here to support you. 

Browse all modules in the End-of-course SLEQ Question Set on PAWS, or contact gmctl@usask.ca for assistance.

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^{Title image credit: Arek Socha/quimono from Pixabay
This article was created with the assistance of AI tools, as described in the GMCTL AI Disclosure Statement.}

This resource is shared by the Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching and Learning (GMCTL), University of Saskatchewan, under a CC BY-NC-SA license.