Giving effective feedback
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While feedback is an incredibly helpful tool, there are instances in which the feedback that is provided is not as effective as is needed for positive student growth.
The most effective type of feedback is
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Additional Resources
From the CTLA Teaching & Learning blog - two great posts with plenty of tips and tricks for grading and feedback!
Here are a few guidelines regarding the best use of feedback:
Goal-oriented. Feedback should be tied to specific, measurable learning goals, objectives, or standards. When giving feedback, link your comments to the expectations laid out in the assignment prompt and rubric. Directly reference the prompt and rubric components, using similar language where possible. Help students understand where they are in relation to the stated goals.
Prioritized. Feedback should be concise and focused on the areas of strength and growth that will have the greatest impact on the student's learning. It isn't feasible or advisable to provide feedback on every aspect of student work. Concise, prioritized feedback is more digestible for students and easier to internalize and implement. You will have to make judgment calls on where to focus.
Actionable. Feedback should be so specific that the student immediately knows how to take action. Your comments should clearly describe their successes and shortfalls and directly reference the student's work in order to point the student to their next steps. To advance students' metacognition and enable them to self-assess their work, ask probing questions that will spark thoughtful reflection and a new understanding for how to develop their work.
Student-Friendly. Feedback should be personalized and engaging to ensure it reaches the student. To aid student acceptance of feedback, respond like a reader who is seeking to understand what the student has written. An encouraging, positive tone will go far in helping students accept your feedback and apply it to future work. Be sure to use language that is clear and not too technical.
Ongoing, Consistent, and Timely. To be effective, feedback must also be ongoing, consistent, and timely. This means that students need ample opportunities to use feedback and that feedback must be accurate, trustworthy, and stable. When feedback isn’t timely, students are disengaged and demotivated. It’s important to build regular feedback loops into your teaching practice.
From The Importance of Feedback for Student Learning
Goal-oriented. Feedback should be tied to specific, measurable learning goals, objectives, or standards. When giving feedback, link your comments to the expectations laid out in the assignment prompt and rubric. Directly reference the prompt and rubric components, using similar language where possible. Help students understand where they are in relation to the stated goals.
Prioritized. Feedback should be concise and focused on the areas of strength and growth that will have the greatest impact on the student's learning. It isn't feasible or advisable to provide feedback on every aspect of student work. Concise, prioritized feedback is more digestible for students and easier to internalize and implement. You will have to make judgment calls on where to focus.
Actionable. Feedback should be so specific that the student immediately knows how to take action. Your comments should clearly describe their successes and shortfalls and directly reference the student's work in order to point the student to their next steps. To advance students' metacognition and enable them to self-assess their work, ask probing questions that will spark thoughtful reflection and a new understanding for how to develop their work.
Student-Friendly. Feedback should be personalized and engaging to ensure it reaches the student. To aid student acceptance of feedback, respond like a reader who is seeking to understand what the student has written. An encouraging, positive tone will go far in helping students accept your feedback and apply it to future work. Be sure to use language that is clear and not too technical.
Ongoing, Consistent, and Timely. To be effective, feedback must also be ongoing, consistent, and timely. This means that students need ample opportunities to use feedback and that feedback must be accurate, trustworthy, and stable. When feedback isn’t timely, students are disengaged and demotivated. It’s important to build regular feedback loops into your teaching practice.
From The Importance of Feedback for Student Learning
Canvas can help!
.Use Canvas tools to provide grades and detailed feedback:
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Dropout Detective
What is Dropout Detective?
Dropout Detective is a web tool that integrates directly with Canvas to provide a “risk index” of how likely it is that each online student will drop out or fail their online course(s). The program analyzes past and current behavior to predict future performance. In addition, this program pulls together the various aspects that calculate the student’s risk of dropping or failing out of the course. The dashboard makes it easy to quickly determine which students may need intervention in support of their academic success.
Information for faculty about Dropout Detective
Dropout Detective is a web tool that integrates directly with Canvas to provide a “risk index” of how likely it is that each online student will drop out or fail their online course(s). The program analyzes past and current behavior to predict future performance. In addition, this program pulls together the various aspects that calculate the student’s risk of dropping or failing out of the course. The dashboard makes it easy to quickly determine which students may need intervention in support of their academic success.
Information for faculty about Dropout Detective
Giving student grades
In this video you will learn how to use the Gradebook in Canvas, specifically:
- How to use the Gradebook (Overview of all gradebook functions includes the following as well);
- How to set a Missing Submission Policy;
- How to set the Late Submission Policy;
- How to use the Student Name Menu to change name sorting order, show inactive or concluded enrollments, or view a student's Grades page
- How to use the individual assignment menu to sort assignments, "message students who", curve grades, set default grade, Hide or Post grades, enter grades as value, download submission, or re-upload submissions: NOTE: The video does not show that you can now enter Speedgrader from the assignment menu now.
- How to export the gradebook and how to import the gradebook.
- Where to find the individual view and Gradebook History page.
CTLA Recommendations and Best Practices
- Set up your "missing submission policy" so that you will not have issues of grade inflation at the end and students know where they stand.
- To award all missing submissions with a grade of 0, the Missing submission grade can be set to 0%.
- This should be set up at the beginning of the semester as it will not work for previously graded assignments.
- If you have a late policy where there is a daily deduction of percentage points, then you can use the Late Policy. Be sure to read the guide very closely.
- Where is mute? Mute has split into two functions.
- The Grade Posting Policy can be set to manual for your whole course or individual assignments so that you choose when the grades and feedback can be seen by students.
- Hiding grades hides grades posted in the past from students.
- There is now a "Post Grades" to change from manual to automatic or to unhide grades.
Feedback is generally divided into two categories: evaluative feedback and descriptive feedback. Evaluative feedback, such as a letter grade or written praise or criticism, judges student work, while descriptive feedback provides information about how a student can become more competent."
"Teaching More by Grading Less (or Differently)"; Jeffrey Schinske and Kimberly Tanner