Effective feedback between professors and students is necessary to facilitate learning. It improves understanding, while also encouraging growth through clear guidance. Utilizing effective feedback strategies ensures student academic needs are met on an individual basis and encourages more active student participation.
Clear is Key
Despite our best efforts, some things get lost when a message is delivered via email or in written form. Typed or written feedback can leave specific aspects like tone and purpose, up for individual interpretation. Being intentional and providing effective feedback can help avoid miscommunication altogether. One way to ensure feedback is effective is to be explicitly clear. Try to avoid vague terms and confusing jargon. Remember, you are the expert in this area. However, this might be the first time some students are interacting with this subject matter.
Another way to avoid confusion is by recording your feedback. Canvas provides the choices of written, audio, or video feedback. You can learn more here. This can save time and ensure your tone and intention are clearly stated. Likewise, offering a meeting to discuss feedback is also a good solution. There are numerous tools like Zoom and Loom that can be helpful for this task. Both virtual and in-person meetings can provide opportunity for successful dialogue and goal creation. It is important to not exclude feedback to only grade-related discussion. Contacting a student who has not been present during the course or has missed multiple assignments also accounts for effective feedback.
Student Feedback
While feedback from the instructor is a core component, student feedback can be equally beneficial to both the instructor and fellow classmates. Providing opportunities for student feedback can provide a bountiful opportunity for peer learning. Students bring a new outlook on course content that might resonate better with classmates than a variant form of feedback. This can be accomplished in person, or through an array of tech tools. Flip, Padlet, Zoom, and online quiz platforms are just a few of the many outlets available. A commonly forgotten form of effective feedback is student input regarding the overall course experience. Student feedback about the class culture, course delivery, content, and instructional areas of improvement can be used to enhance future course modules.
Achievable Actions
Ensuring feedback is centered around achievable actions is crucial. If the feedback presented provides no measurement of what was done well, what can be improved, or what is lacking, how can students move forward? Providing a blanket feedback statement leaves a large area for confusion. Suggestions and open-ended questions are two ways to present achievable actions. Specific suggestions provide a clear route for improvement and open-ended questions allow for creative brainstorming. Likewise, over-analyzing or picking apart students through feedback can be discouraging. When providing effective feedback, try to find key areas that need addressing. Then, construct a measurable description of how to remedy or improve the specific area. The overall goal of effective, constructive feedback should be to encourage inquiry and improvement from the students. Keeping feedback clear, concise, and achievable helps set students up for future success.
References
Importance of Providing Meaningful Student Feedback (no date) University of South Carolina. Available at: https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/cte/teaching_resources/grading_assessment_toolbox/providing_meaningful_student_feedback/index.php.
Providing effective feedback to students in online courses (2021) National University. Available at: https://www.nu.edu/blog/how-to-provide-effective-online-course-feedback-to-students/.
Strategies for providing feedback in online courses (no date) Strategies for Providing Feedback in Online Courses | University of Illinois Springfield. Available at: https://www.uis.edu/ion/resources/tutorials/pedagogy/feedback-strategies.