Types of Feedback
Written Feedback
Providing written feedback to students’ work is of the most commonly use practices in many courses/programs. Written feedback is normally conveyed by comments written on the student’s submitted work. For large class, providing individual feedback may not be feasible due to the workload, teacher can consider preparing a group feedback sheet to cover some common themes and misunderstandings. In this case, suggestion on how to improve can be covered during the lecture time or tutorial sessions. Written feedback can also be a score sheet that contains ticks in boxes against a particular criterion or characteristics to indicate whether the work being assessed has that attribute.
It is important to note that written feedback is a one-way message sent by the teacher/marker to a student, it is essential for student to be able to interpret and understand the message, otherwise, that feedback is redundant and ineffective. Hence, the feedback given needs to be specific and points directly to the part it applies to avoid ambiguity.
Feedback is only effective if the students act on it. To enhance students’ engagement to the comments, it is best to supplement them with a dialogue, such as in-class discussion on some common errors, peer-review discussions facilitate by tutor; and face-to-face meeting if it’s appropriate.
Tips for Written Feedback Comments [Nicol (2010)]:
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Understandable: |
expressed in a language that student will understand |
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Selective: |
commenting in reasonable details on two or three things that the students that the student can do something about |
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Specific: |
Pointing to instances in the student’s submission where the feedback applies |
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Timely: |
Provided in time to improve the next assignment |
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Contextualized: |
framed with reference to the learning outcomes and/or assessment criteria |
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Non-judgmental: |
descriptive rather than evaluative, focused on learning goals, not just performance goals. |
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Balanced: |
pointing out the positive as well as areas in need of improvement |
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Forward-looking: |
suggesting how students might improve subsequent assignments |
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Transferable: |
focused on process, skills and self-regulatory process, not just on the knowledge content |
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Personal: |
referring to what is already known about the student and her or his previous assignment |
Face-to-face Feedback
Face-to-face feedback to student could be taken in the form of a group feedback to cover common issues in the assignments, or an individual meeting when detailed explanation and guidance on how to improve is required. The individual session can engage student more effectively and encourage dialogue, however, it is important to ensure that communication is two-way in the session and students are able speak freely so that teacher can understand from students’ perspective.
Feedback in digital environment
Digital environment can increase the way that students receive comment about their performance.
Online Feedback on Written Work
In Learning Management Systems such as LMES, Canvas, Moodle and Blackboard, the system’s built-in assignment submission tools include grading and feedback functions, which will return to the students instantaneously. Student can access the grades and feedback at any time and place, where direct link from feedback to appropriate learning resources is possible.
The use of the Track Changes / Comments features of Microsoft Word allows the marker to give comments directly link to the part where students need to pay attention.
Personal Response Systems / Clickers
The Personal Response System (PRS) is one of the most effective tools in providing in-class instantaneous feedback, in particular large class with over hundreds of students. Prof. Eric Mazur’s peer instruction technique is an effective way of engaging students in class and will be able to access and provide immediate feedback to their understanding of the concept matter by using clickers in his teaching.
Clickers can be used during class to confirm student’s understanding of the topics being taught. This could be done by giving a few concept questions during lecture for student to response. Teachers can clarify any misunderstood or unclear concepts immediately to the whole class, and the log of the PRS record can provide a means to keep track on students’ progress, as well as a feedback to the teachers on his/her own teaching.
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