Good Practices of Feedback

Prepare students for feedback

Make sure that students and teachers have a shared understanding of what feedback is, and what is it for. Explain to student explicitly on the criteria and expectations, and feedback can only benefit their learning if they act on them. This is best done during the first lecture of the class while going through the assessment process and criteria.

Align feedback with assessment criteria

Make sure critical components of the intended learning outcomes as listed out in the assessment rubric are included in the feedback. Assessment rubric can form a framework of what to assess and how to assign grade, but sometimes a more global feedback to students such as their learning progressions over time is also encouraged.

Give feedback in a timely manner

Give feedback to students as quickly as possible. The main purpose of feedback is to give students advice on how to improve. Students must have enough time to digest and incorporate the suggestion to their next assignment. It is important to give feedback while the assessed work is still fresh in students’ mind before they move on to new tasks. Delayed feedback is often of little use to and even being ignored by students.

Be specific, relevant and manageable

When feedback is cryptic, such as “Why”, “Missing”, “More” or simply ticks and crosses, it is difficult for students to grasp whether the response is positive or negative, and what might have done to improve it. It is important to give specific and constructive comments that clearly point out what and where the matter is. It is helpful for students when teachers provide guidance in manageable chunks and give students some direction on how to work it out, such as directing to a specific example given in class or sections in the lecture notes, etc.

Don’t praise for praise’s sake

Use praise judiciously. Feedback characterized by praise had little impact on learners’ performance but had the potential of providing learners with over-inflated perceptions of how they executed tasks. Other than complementing students’ work, suggestion on further development or improvement can provide genuine help to students.

Tone down negative comments

When commenting in student’s weakness, focus on the particular task or performance, not to the student.  Tone down the negative comment and compliment about the parts that the student did well.  Avoid normative comparisons with other students.

References:

• Nicol, D. (2010) From monologue to dialogue: Improving written feedback processes in mass higher education. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education 35 (5), 501 – 517.
• Nicol, D., Macfarlane-Dick, D. (2005) Formative assessment and self-regulated learning: A model and seven principles of good feedback practice. Studies in Higher Education.