Students await eagerly and respond accordingly to feedback. Feebback is extremely important. Feedback should start off positive, then follow up with what they can in improve in: timliness, effort,prepardness, etc. Feedback is also a teaching moment. I think as an instructor we are not performing our job properly if the students cannot walk without having something to build off of when doing their next task.
robert,
Timely, constructive feedback that is connected to the learning objectives is the way to help students succeed. Nice job.
robert,
Then make sure your constructive criticism is on target and helps students meet the learning outcomes. Thanks.
Josh,
Right. Students need to understand why points are deducted during the evaluation process and rubrics provide that understanding. Thanks!
Lisa,
Feedback and the assignment should be connected. The items you mentioned ate connected to meaningful feedback. Keep up the good work. Thanks for your input.
I believe that the three important things to remember when developing a meaningful feedback are:
1) Feedback should be timely. With many online courses taking place in an accelerating environment (as short as 5 weeks) it is crucial to give the students an opportunity to improve.
2) Feedback must be detailed and formative. My students always receive a personalized response and a rubric.
3) Feedback must be objective. Students must be graded fairly and the rubric is a great tool to ensure this.
Bob,
I have to agree with you on this one. There are times where it is impossible to make a compliment. I would also consider it insincere to make a compliment when a student has done nothing worth complimenting.
One thing that I think students find very important is to know where exactly they lost their points.
I think it is also important to use the feedback as a teaching opportunity. We can point out where the information can be found that the student was missing, for example.
The biggest thing for me is that the feedback have substance. A "good job" isn't enough. They should be told what exactly they did good-pointing out specifics. And then again being very specific about what could have been better.
Byron ,
The rubrics you use should be clear and help students understand the expectations. This along with positive, meaningful feedback will help the students succeed. Thanks.
Gauri ,
The personalization of the feedback makes it more meaningful. This makes it easier for students to learn and improve upon their mistakes.
Thanks.
Sunil,
Positive feedback that is connected to the learning outcomes is essential to help the students improve. Thanksnformyour input.
I believe the feedback should match the type of assignment and projects, that the feedback should be specific and personal, and should refer back to objective rubrics.
Important components of feedback include a timely response, individual attention and clear grading rubrics to support the feedback.
(1) Feedback is personalized
(2) It focuses on strength as well as weaknesses
(3) It explains where there is opportunity to improve and sources for learning/improvement
Sunil,
Timely feedback that is positive and helps students achieve the learning outcomes is essential. You have provided a great description. Thank you.
Three important things to remember when developing a meaningful feedback are:
1. Connecting the feedback to learning objectives or rubrics: This is extremely important not just for the student, but also for the instructor. It is essential for the instructor to judge how much the student has learnt in the area of the learning object. For the student, it is extremely important to know how his/her work has been evaluated against the learning object. Such feedback becomes a very transparent and honest assessment of the student's work and will not have any ambiguity in student's mind. This will eliminate unnecessary questions in the mind of the student.
2. Be positive with constructive criticism in the feedback: This not only motivates student to keep connected with the course, but also inspires them to stretch themselves a little more with efforts in terms of research, real business examples, etc., to make his/her assignments/projects meaningful. I have had extremely good experience with students by motivating them work harder and harder to make their assignments/projects more meaningful.
3. Provide timely feedback. This is extremely important for the instructor to be on top of the game. This is to make sure that the students don't keep reminding the instructor to provide the feedback and grades on time. This will greatly help to create a pleasant experience for the students, and positively impacts their assessment of the instructor.
Thanks,
Sunil
Three important things to remember when developing a meaningful feedback are:
1. Connecting the feedback to learning objectives or rubrics: This is extremely important not just for the student, but also for the instructor. It is essential for the instructor to judge how much the student has learnt in the area of the learning object. For the student, it is extremely important to know how his/her work has been evaluated against the learning object. Such feedback becomes a very transparent and honest assessment of the student's work and will not have any ambiguity in student's mind. This will eliminate unnecessary questions in the mind of the student.
2. Be positive with constructive criticism in the feedback: This not only motivates student to keep connected with the course, but also inspires them to stretch themselves a little more with efforts in terms of research, real business examples, etc., to make his/her assignments/projects meaningful. I have had extremely good experience with students by motivating them work harder and harder to make their assignments/projects more meaningful.
3. Provide timely feedback. This is extremely important for the instructor to be on top of the game. This is to make sure that the students don't keep reminding the instructor to provide the feedback and grades on time. This will greatly help to create a pleasant experience for the students, and positively impacts their assessment of the instructor.
Thanks,
Sunil
Robert,
Well, keep trying to find something positive. Maybe it's better than the last time or "Thanks for continuing to try!" ;-)
Thanks again.
Robert,
Thanks for providing more detailed information. As we continue to learn from each other, we need additional thoughts on assessment and feedback. It's so important.
Thank you Dr. Crews, but there are times when none of those statements would be true. I might be able to say, "your name was spelled correctly," but I believe that would not be appropriate for a graduate student's feedback.
Simply put, patronizing a student with a compliment when they have done little or nothing worth complimenting is insincere. I would realize a false compliment and might even be insulted, wouldn't you? I think it would be better to explain the problems with the assignment response to the student by phone or email. It appears the students who deliver these very poor responses are thoroughly confused or have not devoted enough time to answering the questions, maybe both. In these situations, I discuss each question with the student and allow a redo of the assignment, with an appropriate redo penalty. I hesitate to allow resubmissions of assignments for some students when other students had only one attempt. That would not be applying my summative assessment fairly or consistently. In fact, it may be considered a violation of academic integrity on my part. Additionally, we should not offer every student multiple attempts at the same assignment just to let them get it right. Consequently, allowing the redo of an assignment must occur only under certain circumstances and be available to all students.
Bob
