To make sure that you respond within 24 hours,is exactly the type of "delivering efficiency" that I imagine from professors. Although, doesn't that make it necessary to check discussions every day? This has been something that has been a faculty debate with varied opinions. "Do we have to check our emails and threads everyday?"
I personally check all the time. I was just wondering if you had any advice on how to motivate others to share this view point.
Jason,
You bring up some good points. Being timely is so important. I use the rule of 24 hours. I'll get back to students or provide feedback within 24 hours unless there is an extreme circumstance.
Being specific and constructtive helps the students learn more from the assessment as well. Nice job.
I believe that the most important thing to remember is to respond as many times as possible and in a timely manner. Nothing is more discouraging to student than a professor that is not seen in the discussion for most of the course.
A close second to that would be expressing the criticism in a constructive manner. Being positive will encourage students to continue to keep working hard.
The third most important thing to remember is to be specific as to which part of the grading criteria was met and wasn't met. This will give each student detailed issues to work on.
1. The student will have to be clear on the course objectives, and what is required of them.
2. It is also important to have a positive tone. The sandwich method works well, postive - areas to improve - positive reenforcement.
3. Clear method of feedback, that is determined by the assignment or project.
Melissa
Nicole,
Being positive is important. Some people call their feedback the "sandwich" - Constructive criticism sandwiched between positive comments on the front and back end.
Consistency in your feedback and frequent, timely feedback is also important. Thanks.
The three main things to remember when providing feedback are:
1) Keep the feedback upbeat and positive. We understand there is a place for constructive criticism, but we shouldn't let that be the main portion of our feedback.
2) Be timely in our feedback. Students want to know that their work is as important to us as it is to them, and timely feedback provides that support.
3) Be consistent in our feedback. Yes, work is individual and so the feedback will focus around the individual student, but we must be consistent with each student. This is why rubrics are great, because feedback becomes less subjective and more objective.
William,
Thanks for your organized thoughts. You are right on track. Some have called your feedback in #3 as the sandwhich feedback. Positive on both sides with constructive critcism in the middle.
Thanks again.
I believe that feedback should be:
1. Timely so that the students do not get discouraged while waiting for the feedback.
2. Feedback must relate to the rubric and the objectives of the lesson
3. Feedback must be positive as possible, starting with a compliment and end with a compliment.
Michael,
I couldn't have said it better myself. You are so right. Thanks for your input.
The below provide three very important components of meaningful feedback.
1. Reflective teaching in distance learning is the implementation of empowering a student to engage with authentic assessment. Encouraging students to clarify feedback for reconstruction of knowledge from the student's learning experience influences efficacy positively.
2. Making suggestions to the student to support the student's learning process involves gentle positive reinforcement of successful learning skills. This can be very powerful when it is tied to the objectives of the students learning.
3. When facilitating the classroom it is vital to demonstrate behavior as the facilitator that students should be demonstrating to model the expected behavior. Students will engage and follow the demonstrated behavior of the facilitator. The more evident that a structured learning process is displayed the more effective the influence on the student.
Hello,
The three things I like to keep in mind when I am developing feedback for an assignment are:
1) The feedback should be timely. I try to read, grade and provide comments on assignments within a few days of the assignment due dates.
2) The feedback should be linked to the course objectives.
3) The feedback should be indivualized. I try to let them know what they did well and what the areas for improvement are for each assignment I grade. I also provide sample answers so that the students may compare their work.
Kathleen,
Thanks for your organized thoughts. The course objectivesnshould be included in the rubric and constructive feedback should be provided to enhance the students' learning,
Nice job.
As I have taught online, I have tried to continually make my classes more efficient for both me and the students. With classes of up to 36 students, it can be very time-consuming giving each student completely individualized feedback. In order to accomodate this number of students, I believe the most important thing to remember to providing meaningful feedback is to first provide a well-developed rubric. Having a well-developed/designed rubric will eliminate most questions that students have to ask about how the assignment will be graded. Second, in my comments to my students I create several grading templates based on the quality of the essay. These templates contain the assignment instructions and general ideas/reminders about the assignment to help improvement the next time. Thirdly, I add a few specific positive comments to the template about the student's assignment in order to show the student exactly what he/she did well and/or needs to improve upon next time.
To provide meaningful feedback to students, I believe the following three things are important to remember.
1. It should be in line with the course objectives. (a rubric is helpful with this.)
2. It should be specific areas of strength and suggestions for improvement are given.
3. It should be provided in a timely manner.
Jae,
Creating feedback that is quick, but meaningful is a challenge. However, your feedback should be positive, thorough, connected to the rubric and motivational.
Nice job.
1. Look for unique student strengths/interests and use feedback to encourage students to recognize and use these in the real world, 2. Make sure to use the rubric, then set yourself free as an instructor to give positive, supportive feedback to the student outside the rubric (without being overbearing), 3. Ask the student to respond to your feedback, to find out what they heard you say or what they understand your message to be. Then you can clarify and end with a more postive (while honest) message, if necessary.
Meaningful feedback should be 1.) quick - students like to know how they are doing as soon as possible, it should be 2.) thorough - use a rubric and take the time to give the student relevant feedback, and 3.)encouraging - give feedback to the student that points out what they did well, not just what was incorrect.
Sherrie,
Meaningful and relevant feedback is specific to the students' needs and motivates them to learnmore. Feedback must be consisent and frequent. Some others have posted that they take the "sandwich approach" to feedback.
Take two positive slides of bread and put constructive criticism in the middle. So, start postive, add constructive criticism and end on a positive note.
Thanks.
I think that feedback should be:
1) Immediate and specific to the student. Timing of feedback is very important to scaffold learning when the online student is on to the next project after completing one. Feedback helps them take learning objectives from one project into the next. Making it detailed to the student shows specifically what he/she did well and where improvements may be needed. It also shows the student you read his/her work and helps build a positive instructor/student relationship.
2) Frequent. Feedback can be delivered in a number of ways from commenting in a discussion forum to grading a paper. The more communication between instructor and student, the greater opportunity for learning.
3) Stay positive. No one likes to read critiques about oneself. Noting what the student did right, and positively phrasing where improvements can be made motivates him or her to dig deeper and do better on the next assignment.
Three important things to remember is to make a plan for assesment. Prio to that you must know the material you are teaching on line. Secondly you must assess your students work constantly but constructivly. Sometime all they need is a second opinion or using another way to show them critical thinking such as "What would you think if this was your loved one and they were in that situation?" Third teaching good peer assesment with out judging. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but needs to have positves with negaatives before they speak.
