In scenario 1, I would compliment his performance thus far and specifically on the assignment, referring to a difficult question he answered correctly. I would then begin to address those areas that needs improvement. Afterwards, I would encourage and motivate him to keep performing above the bar.
In scenario 2, I would compliment her effort and her timeliness in submitting the assignment. I would express empathy and then show her different strategies to help her have better outcomes for the next assignment.
Herbert,
In both instances, my feedback to the students would initially concur with any student comments that I agreed with.
After providing positive feedback, then I would encourage development in specific areas.
With Mike, I may use the phrase "if you want to continue to be the best" or other "high achieving" vocabulary. With Kathy, I would share a personal story about my weakness and how I overcame, so she would know that she is not alone I would also give extra praise and encouragement to let her know that 'I believed in her'.
Lauree Lee
Regardless of the scenario it is important that all feedback precise and timely enough so that it’s helpful but neutral enough so that it’s not perceived as harshly critical. This is particularly difficult in our current culture, where anything short of lavish praise can be viewed as an insult.
We look at feedback as an opportunity to make someone work better rather than feel better, we’re more likely to do it successfully.
Rebecca,
Rubrics are very important tools for the student AND the instructor to ensure unbiased assignment feedback and a clear framework for students to successfully complete their assignments. Good point about the rubrics.
Herbert Brown III
Students are often unaware of their actual level of expertise. With Mike, I would start with the rubric. The rubric is an objective format on which to evaluate work, and students can see where they did well and where they need some improvement based on the points they earn on the rubric. After providing that objective piece of evaluation, I would give Mike specific examples from his assignment to illustrate where he lost points and why. I would also point him to specific resources that he can use to fill in those gaps, of course offering my assistance as well.
With Kathy, I would also start with the rubric, which again shows her an objective view of how she did on the assignment. I would probably offer her the same information I did Mike: specific elements from the assignment that illustrate where the gaps in performance might be. I would also provide her with information on resources that could help her, and probably praise her for her clear understanding of where she is in terms of her performance. I would acknowledge that knowing where your skill gaps lie is the first step in improving those areas.
Rebecca
Christy,
All good points. We do need to work to build up our students and encourage them. It can be difficulty to complete online coursework so the positive feedback and encouraging words go a long way toward the students' success.
Herbert Brown III
I would provide timely feedback and word it in such a way that it would build confidence within the learners and encourage them to continue to pursue the objectives of the course.
Many times it is necessary to provide criticism. We must be careful to select the correct tone when providing this type of feedback to prevent insulting the student or discouraging them from doing further work in the class. Positive reinforcement will help the student’s self-esteem and keep them interested in participating in the class.
I use e-mail to discussing their contributions to discussion forums, and to advise them of their score and provide feedback. If further discussion is necessary, then that is best done by phone or in person.
A good point re-enforced in this on-line class is the recommendation to seek feedback from students on a regular basis. That is usually done at work with internal & external customers and the same can be applied to students. Soliciting their feedback can help establish a baseline of how the course is progressing in their opinion and provides the instructor with the opportunity to focus in the areas where the students are weak. In addition, this feedback could help the instructor adjust the delivery of the class material.
Another good point observed in the discussion thread is the frequent need to “teach basic study skills to many students to help them be successful.†A simple step that can do wonders!
Scenario 1:
I would return the assignment highlighting errors in Mike’s assignments that caused points to be deducted.
The first step in providing feedback will be done via email. If Mike continues to believe he did an excellent job, I will make a phone call to discuss the assignment. Many times students need to hear the instructor’s verbal explanation then they have a better understanding of why their assignment was not as excellent as they thought.
Scenario 2:
In Kathy’s case, encouragement is warranted. I would give Kathy a phone call to find out why she did not do well and ask her how I can help.
My focus on actionable feedback would be to encourage her by letting her know she can always improve on the next assignment. I will give her study tips on how to complete the next assignment. I would encourage her to immediately ask for help when she doesn’t understand something in the course.
I completely agree with this comment. At the beginning of each course, I challenge my students to review study skills and set up a study plan that will work for them and keep them on task with regard to their online work.
Providing timely feedback to both students, through the use of an e-mail system, is the first step. A suitable response to guide Mike would include: highlighting the positives, encouraging him to continue to follow the rubric, and proofread or review the posted assignment prior to submission to make sure it satisfied all the course objectives listed on the rubric. Kathy shows signs of a disinterested or overwhelmed student. Her feedback would include: encouragement, rubric guidance or instructor help, stressing the importance of quality work for success in the class.
In addressing the communication styles for Mike and Kathy, it is important to understand the root cause attributing to Mike's lofty expectations (over confidence) and Kathy's unsureness or lack of confidence in the completion of the work assignments. In this instance, both communication styles will be designed to understand the rationale behind each students perception and address it appropriately. An email to each student focusing on the content of the work submitted would be my first choice to indicate specifically where the errors or omissions occurred, including a few examples to clarify the mistakes and offer suggestions to prevent similar mistakes from occurring in the future. Building confidence and offering support are the two main ingredients in helping both Mike and Kathy in their developmental journey. Kathy, on the other hand, having submitted a good work product should be congratulated on her performance and also asked why she felt that the work product might not have been adequately completed. In both cases, I would work to establish a good dialogue with each including an invitation to discuss the assignment in greater detail by telephone. Although the students differed in assignment outcomes, the communication approaches used to reach out to the students would be similar even though the messages might be different.
With Mike, I would first look to see if there were areas where his self-evaluation parallels or is at least similar ("closest") to mine. I would start with the areas that he did the best on, compliment him on what he did and reinforce exactly how his performance met the rubric criteria. I would then talk a little bit about the rubric as it related to the areas where he didn't do as well as he thought that he did. I would then start to review those areas, specifically as they did/did not meet the criteria. A "here's what I was looking for..." might help clarify in his mind, where he "went wrong". I would choose to end the session by summarizing where he did well (in following the rubic); where and why he fell short in other areas and how he could improve in the future. My goal would be that the assesment experience (1) was a "positive" experience (2) from which he walked away with "tips" that would help him in following similar other rubrics and that he would be optimistic that he would be able to do well in the future.
With Kathy, I would commend her on her honesty and self-assessment skills. I would then pretty much follow the same approach that I did with Mike. My goals would be similar to those mentioned for Mike. I would end by thanking her once again for her honesty and commenting on her self assessment skills; how they will really help her in the future because if she knows what a rubric is asking for and she can accurately assess what she needs to do to meet/exceed requirments; she should be able to do as well as she chooses based upon her "efforts". She "has the tools" and the choice of whether or not (or to what degree) to use them is hers.
The best student feedback is constructive timely feedback that provides students with meaningful comments about what what worked and areas of improvement. I often provide feedback ASAP so student can learn and apply suggestion for next assignment.
Scenario 1: Choosing portions of his work that are good examples of the work he did not do so well in and using them to illustrate how to improve his work may do the job. Also, giving examples of how to improve certain portions of the work. The key is to make sure you point out positive accomplishments in order to not alienate him.
Scenario 2: I would target the reasons why, accurately knowing her performance was sub-par, she did not improve them prior to turning in the work. Again, giving her praise on portions of the homework she DID do well, in addition to encouraging her to do that caliber of work in future activities.
Erin,
I have tried to provide a combination of recording and "inking" comments on written work and posting that feedback. I personally found that the hand written "inked" comments in word were as effective for many students as the recording. So now I provide an inked copy (using a tabletPC and MS Word) as I would a normal paper copy in a traditional class and offer as you suggest to talk to them through skype or other means to add personal clarification if needed. I don't want to use Word reviewing features (other than comments) so they can't just accept changes and I have done their work. This requires them to read the proofreading marks and make the proper corrections and changes on their own and places the learning directly on the students.
Herbert Brown III
Kimberly,
Well put. Positive feedback is so critical in all learning, but especially online learning where students may already feel somewhat disconnected from their learning. Providing them details of somethings they did well and showing them clearly how they can improve will help them be more successful in the future without turning them off of their learning.
Herbert Brown III
Scenario 1 - I would commend Mike on his completion of his assignment but unfortunately it did not meet the criteria listed accord to the scoring rubric. I would use my tool available in Word for feedback and insert comments and suggestion so Mike would be able to see where improvement is needed. I would also suggest Mike re-read the guidelines for the rubric and answer any questions he may have pertaining to it.
Scenario 2 - I would commend Kathy on her comprehension of the scoring rubric and she did assess her assignment on point. I would suggest for future assignments she may want to give herself more time in preparation and use the rubric guidelines as a template of what requirements are needed to successfully meet all criteria listed.
Positive re-enforcement is an approach that is successful in most cases. Students need not be discouraged during times of unsuccessful attempts.
Mike: I would compliment the good points of his work but point to the areas for improvement. I know Mike wants to do better and is capable. This is generally conveyed in my comments. Mike is invited to resubmit his paper with the additions/corrections for further review with a slight penalty.
Kathy: We both know that she is capable of better work. I would encourage her to spend more time on the work based on my critical comments and resubmit the paper. I apply a small penalty for resubmissions but encourage improved work. Often it is a matter of spending more time on the project and doing additional research.
Good question! Like many in the forum, I would clearly reiterate my assignment expectations (in the form of assignment directions and a rubric), and point out how his assignment varied from these expectations. I always start out with positives and encouragement, then criticism, then reiterate positives again (the "sandwich" approach that so many have referenced).
For example, I might write something like: "Great work here, Mike! You did a fabulous job with organization, and the content was very sound as well. However, you can see on the attached rubric that 10% of your grade is for grammar and mechanics, and I'd like to go over a few ways in which I think you can better succeed in these areas." Then I list one or two examples from his work, the fixes, and ask him to work on these specific things in the future.
I find if I ask students to work on 2 or 3 specific things, they don't get too overwhelmed. The key is stopping myself in being too thorough, as most papers could yield 20 areas of improvement. I try to stick with three: one grammar-related, one content-related, one organization-related.
With Karen, I will do much of the same: sandwich approach, applauding her efforts, and pointing out a few specific and critical ways in which she can improve her performance. I always point students towards more information (for example, my MLA module in my LMS), and offer to meet with them face-to-face via Skype (or talk on the phone) to go over their assignments in detail.
I struggle with time. I'd like to be very thorough when grading papers, but like right now, I have 50 papers to grade, plus more ongoing work, and so I often cut and paste from a generic set of grading comments, edit to curtail it to the student, and hope that will work. it usually does; I usually see vast improvement in my students over the course of a semester.
Has anyone ever tried recording their oral comments as feedback? I did this one semester, finding I could talk a lot faster than write, but my students reported so much anxiety at having to listen to my oral feedback that I have never tried it again. Any thoughts on this technique?
Scenario 1: Mike turns in a self-evaluation of his performance on an assignment that indicates that he thought he did an excellent job and met all of the criteria in the grading rubric. When you grade Mike's assignment, you see that he has not done as well as he thought he did.
"Mike, thanks for your self-evaluation. In my feedback, I want to concentrate on the four areas of the rubric and provide a more detailed, descriptive of each area to explain how a student may truly achieve excellence in each area. First, let's look at ..."
Scenario 2: Kathy turns in a self-evaluation of her performance on the assignment that indicates that she knows she didn't do a good job on the assignment. When you grade it you find that she accurately evaluated her performance.
"Kathy, I appreciate in your self-evaluation your openness to feedback so that you may improve. This is the first step in learning and achieving the excellence you desire. In the rubric, the first area assesses ...."
