Effective feedback-RO-treforest

© University of South Wales

Delivering Effective Feedback:While you are waiting…

Cryptic towns:1. What car?2. Ostrich Stuck In Rabbit Warren3. Ding Dong Quickly4. How You Eat Dangerous Cheese


Delivering Effective Feedback:

Do’s and Don’ts for Feedback

Richard Oelmann

CELT Seminar(Pontypridd 29/2/16)


Richard Oelmann

• Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching

• Senior Learning Technologist

• Previously – taught on Primary Initial Teacher Training

• Previously – Deputy Head Teacher


Overview

• Why give feedback• Types of feedback• Do’s and Don’ts when giving feedback• Examples of feedback content• 10 strategies to engage students with

feedback by the HEA• Further reading


What is feedback?

• Any response you make to student's efforts eg

Marks/Grades Written, annotations, comments Face-face, oral

• What about: Facial expressions, Tone of voice

• Even failure to give feedback is a form of feedback


What is feedback?

Also:

Students' reactions to our feedback can, in turn, serve as feedback to us.


Types of feedbackFeedback or Feedforward

Feedback is sometimes distinguished from feedforward.– Feedback is intended to explain how a final grade was

assigned– Feedforward is made earlier in the process and is

intended to point student in the right direction for completion.

–However, there's nothing that says you can't include both types of information in any comments you make. Even grade-related comments are useful if they help the student to understand what to learn from the current assignment and how to do better in the next one.


Types of feedbackFormative or Summative Formative feedback is diagnostic information given before the work is completed. Like feedforward, it is intended to help the student revise and improve the work.Summative feedback is a final analysis of the work, on which final grades are based. It can also point toward improving future work of the same type.


Why is feedback so important?

• Contributes to learning - when it is noticed• Contributes even more to learning when the

learner reflects on the lessons for next time• Advice originating from the student's own

recent work is more likely to be given attention, understood and acted upon

• Fuels constructive reflection by the learner.


Why is feedback so important?

Feedback to the students on their assignments is the single most powerful influence on student achievement.

Gibbs and Simpson (2004)

Importance and quality of feedback shows up on almost all student evaluations of teaching.


Feedback from the student's perspective

What seems very clear to a tutor isnot always seen that way by thestudents.

• Neha – Information value of feedback"I'm taking a course in writing, but the instructor's comments are all abbreviations! Like, what does 'AWK' mean, anyway? She gives me a grade, but I don't see where it came from. How can I do better if I don't understand?"


Feedback from the student's perspective

Jack – Diagnostic value of feedback"My instructor gives great feedback on our work. He has a list of common mistakes that tells us what do to about them. He uses the terms to mark. That way, I know how to correct my own mistakes."

• Dan – The timing of feedback"I had an instructor who gave us assignments, but didn't give us feedback until it was too late. What good was that?! The instructor blamed it on having to check his marking with the course supervisor."


Your personal context and characteristics • Are there colleagues with whom you need to be

consistent?

• What is your natural tendency as a feedback-giver? Is this kind of feedback always what is likely to help students the most?

•


Quote

This feedback felt that the work had really been looked at and evaluated personally.

A student in Ribchester et al (2008)

• Think about the times you have received feedback on your own work.

• Was there a time when you found the feedback to be really helpful? Or unhelpful?


Giving Effective Feedback

The Do’s and Don’ts


Timing


Amount


Mode


Audience


Choosing feedback content

Choosing the content of your feedback involves choices about:

• Focus,• Comparison,• Function, and• Valence – how things all tie together.


Focus


Comparison


Function


Valence


Examples of feedback contact


How to know if your feedback is good?

Student response is the criterion against which you can evaluate your own feedback.

Your feedback is good if:• Your students do learn—their work does improve.• Your students become more motivated—they

believe they can learn, they want to learn, and they take more control over their own learning.

• Your classroom becomes a place where feedback, including constructive criticism, is valued and viewed as productive.


10 strategies to engage students with feedback by

the HEA

www.heacademy.ac.uk/resource/feedback-toolkit-10-strategies-engage-students-feedback

https://

https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resource/feedback-toolkit-10-strategies-engage-students-feedback




HEA – 10 Strategies

Make it worth their while Build activities focussing on feedback into

class/tutorial time Be seen to monitor whether students are

reading and acting on feedback Involve students in actively doing something

with feedback Give audio feedback, with marks at the end


HEA – 10 Strategies

Give feedback without, or before, marks Embed dialogue with students as part of the

feedback process Let feedback from one stage of an assessment

feed into the next Make sure your feedback is worth reading Make sure your feedback is high profile


Thank you

http://celt.southwales.ac.uk/does/af/

www.slideshare.net/RichardOelmann



http://www.slideshare.net/RichardOelmann


Feedback content – Focus – Notes (Not for screen presentation)


Further Reading

• HEA Feedback Toolkithttps://www.epigeum.com/downloads/uct_accessible/us/06_mark/html/course_files/3_10.html

• Feedback Toolkit: 10 feedback resources for your students

https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/resources/10_feedback_resources_for_your_students2.pdf

https://www.epigeum.com/downloads/uct_accessible/us/06_mark/html/course_files/3_10.html





References

• How to Give Effective Feedback to Your Students by Susan M. Brookhart

Chapter 2. Types of Feedback and Their Purposes

• Marking, grading and giving feedback to students; giving students feedback https://www.epigeum.com/downloads/uct_accessible/us/06_mark/html/course_files/3_10.html

• The Higher Education Academy – Assessment and Feedback




Feedback about the task - Notes

Feedback about the task includes information about errors—whether something is correct or incorrect. Feedback about the task also includes information about the depth or quality of the work, often against criteria that are either explicit (for example, criteria from a scoring rubric) or implicit in the assignment (for example, a written assignment should be well written). Feedback about the task may include a need for more information (for example, "You should include more information about the First Continental Congress in this report"). Feedback about the task can also include information about neatness or format.Feedback about the task has been found to be more powerful when it corrects misconceptions than when it alerts students to lack of information (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). If a student doesn't know something, further instruction is more powerful than feedback. One problem with feedback about the task is that it may not transfer to other tasks because it is specific to the particular assignment. In that sense, although it contributes to better learning for the task at hand, task feedback does not contribute to further learning as much as the second type, feedback about the process used to do the task.


Feedback about the process - Notes

Feedback about process gives students information about how they approached the task, information about the relationship between what they did and the quality of their performance, and information about possible alternative strategies that would also be useful. Some successful learners are able to translate feedback about the task into feedback about the process. That is, given outcome feedback (knowledge of results), they can generate their own cognitive feedback (linking characteristics of the task and their process with those results)(Butler & Winne, 1995). In effect, when teachers give feedback about the process, they are scaffolding this kind of transfer for all students. This is a very powerful way to address the needs of all students, helping them to acquire this "learning how to learn" skill. (See Chapter 7 for more about this.)


Feedback about self-regulation - Notes

Self-regulation is the process students use to monitor and control their own learning. Self-regulation can lead to students seeking, accepting, and acting on feedback information—or not. Effective learners create internal routines that include figuring out when they need more information, or an assessment or suggestions, and strategies for getting this feedback. Less effective learners depend more on external factors, such as whether the teacher decides to give any feedback on this or that assignment, for their information. Students are more willing to expend effort in getting and dealing with feedback if they have confidence in themselves as learners, called self-efficacy, and confidence that the information will be useful and thus worth the effort. Therefore, feedback about self-regulation is effective to the degree that it enhances self-efficacy.


Feedback about the person - Notes

Feedback about the person ("Smart girl!") is generally not a good idea, for two reasons. First, it doesn't contain information that can be used for further learning, so it's not formative. Second, and more insidious, feedback about the person can contribute to students believing that intelligence is fixed. This implies that achievement is something beyond the student's control. The belief that intelligence is fixed removes the connection between student effort and achievement (Dweck, 2007). It leads to a kind of academic fatalism. In contrast, feedback about the processes students use to do their work fosters the belief that achievement is related to specific strategies, specific kinds of effort that are under the student's control, and not to innate ability. This is not only better for learning—it's true! Figure 2.6 presents examples of good and bad choices about the focus of feedback.


HEA 10 things - Notes


Make it worth their while!

• This presents a strategy which aims to engage students in self-assessment and thereby develop their ability to make informed judgements on their own work.

• The strategy involves giving feedback without marks, and suggests an interesting approach to motivate students to engage in critical reading of the feedback you have given as they may be able to gain a few more marks in the process.

• Phil Race is confident that engaging students in critical reading of feedback means that most students will self-assess to a mark which is within 5% of the tutor mark, but the strategy could be time-consuming if a significant number of students had guesstimated marks are outside these parameters. Nevertheless, it is an interesting approach, and one that is probably worth a try. – Enabling and Motivating Student Self-Assessment -

Phil Race, Smart Feedback


Build activities focussing on feedback into class - or

tutorial - time • Students are encouraged to draw on the feedback received to

identify their: – Strengths - 'the things that you did well and that you can

continue to do in future assessments' – Needs - 'things that you think you need to do before the next

assessment to give you the best chance of improving your marks'

– Opportunities - ' things that you got wrong or missed that could have helped you to gain more marks' and

– Barriers - 'what you think could make it difficult to do the extra things you think necessary'. (Sykes, A.E., 2010, p.9)

• They are encouraged to build the points emerging from this into an Action Plan for future development.

• It can be found at: – SNOB Analysis - University of Salford -

http://www.careers.salford.ac.uk/cms/resources/uploads/File/Making%20the%20most%20of%20Feedback(1).pdf - page 9


Be seen to monitor whether students are reading and

acting on Feedback • The strategy gives students a specific reason to look at

and read the feedback they receive, and to work with key guidance for improvement from one assignment to improve their work on the next. In this way FeedBACK is turned into FeedFORWARD.

• The expectation to comment on progress made in attempting to improve on each of their chosen points, students are encouraged to be self-critical and to evaluate their own progress.

• By commenting on the points raised, and responding to students’ self-evaluation, within your next feedback, you place value on their engagement in the task of acting on feedback and are seen to be ‘monitoring’ their involvement.


Involve students in actively doing something with the

feedback • Don't just assume that students know what to DO with

their feedback comments; ensure that they know how to use them to enhance their learning:

• encourage reflection on what the feedback means and how they can act on advice;

• encourage students to compare tutor feedback with their own impression of their work;

• involve students in evaluating their next assignment using points arising in previous feedback;

• develop Action Plans.

• An example Feedback Action Plan can be found in; Race, P. (2008) Building on feedback: document adapted from ‘How to Get a Good Degree: 2nd edition and ‘How to Study’ published by Blackwell in 2003. Available online from: http://phil-race.co.uk/students/


Give audio feedback, with the marks at the end

• Students have been shown to respond well to audio feedback - in pilots they have reported that they find it more personal, more detailed, and expressed in a way that it makes it easier to understand what is being said about their work. There are reports that students are altogether more likely to listen to feedback than to read feedback, and to return to the same piece of feedback more frequently when it is audio feedback.

• Thus some experience suggests that just by giving recorded audio feedback, students are more likely to pay attention. However, another strategy which can be incorporated is to keep the actual mark for the work until sometime towards the end of the audio feedback, so that they have to listen through to find out their grade.


Give feedback without, or before, marks

• 'If the mark is good, they smile and file ... If it’s low, they frown and bin it' (Race, P. 2012)

• If feedback is given by itself, without, or ahead of, the mark, there is a strong probability that this will encourage them to read the feedback as the only way to get a sense of how well they have achieved. One 'window' might be between your initial marking of the work and the completion of the full moderation process of second marking and scrutiny by the External Examiner.

• Could your initial feedback be given immediately to students, clearly flagged as provisional feedback, before the final results are released?

• A more extended strategy involves building reflection n feedback into the process by which students receive their marks:

• University of Westminster (2010) Case study 8: Reflecting on feedback, in Effective Assessment in a Digital Age, JISC. Available online at: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/elearning/digiassess_rereflectingfdback.pdf


Embed some dialogue with students within your feedback process

• Traditionally feedback can feel like something which is done TO students; tutors write feedback which is given to students as passive recipients, a process which does not empower or engage students, especially when combined with the difficulties they may have in understanding the feedback we write. The NUS is in favour of strategies in which we ask students to indicate what aspect of their work they would like feedback on, and include reference to this within our comments.

• To do this, encourage students to think about feedback IN ADVANCE and target your feedback accordingly - when they submit an assessment ask them to:

– either indicate what they would like feedback on, which may be an academic skill (e.g. structure of argument) they are trying to develop;

– or to indicate what aspects of an assessment they found difficult.

• However, it will also be important to draw attention to key issues in the work which they may have missed. (Irons 2007, p.76).


Let feedback from one stage of an assessment feed into

the next • Within some courses, there is a tradition of assessing only

by one long assignment at the end of a module. Given the length of time between assignment submission and completion of the university moderation processes, there can be some considerable delay before students receive 5

• their feedback, their attention may have moved on, and the assignment feedback may no longer feel relevant.

• This can be tackled by the use of two-stage assignments in which both stages 'count' but where feedback from Stage 1 feeds into the work for Stage 2. Students will at least then read the feedback for Stage 1, and hopefully act on it. Having done so, they will hopefully see the value also of reading the feedback for stage 2.


Make sure your feedback is worth reading!

• Throughout this Feedback Toolkit, various features of Effective Feedback are explored. Have a look at those, and try to make sure your feedback reflects as many as possible of such features. For an overview, visit the page 'What makes feedback effective?'

• Listen to student views of what they do and do not find useful in feedback - a good overview is found in the Higher Education Academy video in which students discuss their experiences of feedback - Avaliable online at: http://vimeo.com/channels/154640/9319496


Make sure your feedback is high profile

• One of the findings emerging from the current focus on feedback is that students do not always recognise the different forms of feedback that teachers provide. So, when giving or discussing feedback, in tutorials, in class, in email or online forum discussion, don't be afraid to say "This is Feedback!"

• Similarly, if it is not yet normal practice where you work, explore whether it would be possible to send students their feedback by email. They are much more likely to read the feedback if it is PUSHED to them than if they have to seek it out and collect it.

Effective feedback-RO-treforest

Education

Transcript of Effective feedback-RO-treforest