From the joy of the little gold star to the dread of red ink, we have been trained from an early age to seek feedback from our instructors as a means of growth. Whether teaching to a live and/or lively class of 26, to a blended class of 30, or to an online class of 12, providing feedback can be a challenge. Gone are the times that right/wrong will suffice for feedback. With the growing trends of competency-based education and growth mindset, ensuring our students have meaningful guidance is at the forefront of our teaching role.
Delegate"Feedback is an important intervention for the online educator because it is an opportunity to develop the instructor-learner relationship, improve academic performance, and enhance learning." Leibold and Schwarz (2015)
In this age of instant gratification, it is not enough for students to get meaningful guidance eventually, students are seeking feedback that they can use to improve NOW. Douglas et al. (2016) found that a delay in feedback from the teacher resulted in negative class ratings from students because they felt the feedback came too late to actually use.
The good news is that research is pointing to students to help relieve the grading burden. Ching and Hsu (2013) conducted a study that engaged students in providing formative feedback to each other in a project-based online learning environment. While the work of Ching and Hsu( 2013) did show that coaching students on how to give effective feedback would be necessary, the results clearly indicated that students appreciated the feedback and were able to use the suggestions from their peers to improve their projects.
And for those teachers worried about being judged for the use of "child labor", Liu and Carless (2006) have great research that supports the use of peer feedback to promote learning to higher levels:
Once you are able to train your students to give feedback and reduce your workload, the next "letting-go" moment comes in with the use of big-picture, rubric-based feedback. Whether you are reviewing the steps a student took to complete a math problem or circling fragments in an essay, the inclination to go line-by-line in student assignments to provide specific feedback may be a time-waster. Jones and Blankenship (2014) found that students preferred and felt more able to use big picture feedback. The students in this research study indicated that in-text feedback was less helpful than comments on their overall work. When used with a rubric - which had more finite details - students reported that big picture feedback gave them ideas on how to improve.
Tech Support
Finally, when you have embraced a new paradigm of grading, you may be ready for one-last suggested tweak to your practice. Orlando's (2016) research into the use of video for providing feedback shows that students felt they retained more of the suggestions when they heard the teacher's feedback - as opposed to when they read the teacher's feedback. Instead of inserting comments for specific incidents of feedback, imagine using a program like Screencastify to record your thoughts and comments for students.
The cautionary tale behind this suggestion, however, is that Borup et al. (2017) found no link between increased social presence and use of video feedback when compared to text feedback. And, while Borup et al. (2015) showed that video feedback fostered supportive and conversational feedback, both students and teachers preferred the efficiency of text feedback.
In Summary
While changing times have increased the demand for feedback, challenging students to become part of this process has the benefit of reducing teacher workload and amplifying student learning. Furthermore, whether through pen and paper or video dialogue, using rubrics and big picture feedback to guide student performance results in more digestible applicable information for students while also saving teachers from having to insert line-by-line commentary.
References:
Borup, J., West, R., & Thomas, R. (2017); An analysis of instructor social presence in online text and asynchronous video feedback comments; The Internet and Higher Education, Volume 33, pages 61-73
Borup, J., West, R., & Thomas, R. (April 2015); The impact of text versus video communication on instructor feedback in blended courses; Educational Technology Research & Development, Volume 63 (Number 2), pages 161-184And for those teachers worried about being judged for the use of "child labor", Liu and Carless (2006) have great research that supports the use of peer feedback to promote learning to higher levels:
"One important way we learn is through expressing and articulating to others what we know or understand. In this process of self-expression, we construct an evolving understanding of increasing complexity. One aspect of this process is providing learners with opportunities to explore and articulate criteria and standards in the context of working on specific assessment tasks. In order to clarify notions of quality, learners need to analyse real, illustrative exemplars. This is where examining the work of peers offers meaningful opportunities for articulating discipline-specific knowledge, as well as criteria and standards. " Liu and Carless (2016)Big Picture Grading
Once you are able to train your students to give feedback and reduce your workload, the next "letting-go" moment comes in with the use of big-picture, rubric-based feedback. Whether you are reviewing the steps a student took to complete a math problem or circling fragments in an essay, the inclination to go line-by-line in student assignments to provide specific feedback may be a time-waster. Jones and Blankenship (2014) found that students preferred and felt more able to use big picture feedback. The students in this research study indicated that in-text feedback was less helpful than comments on their overall work. When used with a rubric - which had more finite details - students reported that big picture feedback gave them ideas on how to improve.
Tech Support
Finally, when you have embraced a new paradigm of grading, you may be ready for one-last suggested tweak to your practice. Orlando's (2016) research into the use of video for providing feedback shows that students felt they retained more of the suggestions when they heard the teacher's feedback - as opposed to when they read the teacher's feedback. Instead of inserting comments for specific incidents of feedback, imagine using a program like Screencastify to record your thoughts and comments for students.
The cautionary tale behind this suggestion, however, is that Borup et al. (2017) found no link between increased social presence and use of video feedback when compared to text feedback. And, while Borup et al. (2015) showed that video feedback fostered supportive and conversational feedback, both students and teachers preferred the efficiency of text feedback.
In Summary
While changing times have increased the demand for feedback, challenging students to become part of this process has the benefit of reducing teacher workload and amplifying student learning. Furthermore, whether through pen and paper or video dialogue, using rubrics and big picture feedback to guide student performance results in more digestible applicable information for students while also saving teachers from having to insert line-by-line commentary.
References:
Borup, J., West, R., & Thomas, R. (2017); An analysis of instructor social presence in online text and asynchronous video feedback comments; The Internet and Higher Education, Volume 33, pages 61-73
Ching, Yu-Hui; Hsu, Yu-Chang; Peer Feedback to Facilitate Project-Based Learning in an Online Environment; IInternational Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, Volume 14 (Number 5), pages 258-276
Douglas, Tracy; Salter, Susan; Iglesias, Miguel; Dowlman, Michele; Eri, Raj (2016); The Feedback Process: Perspectives of First and Second Year Undergraduate Students in the Disciplines of Education, Health Science and Nursing; Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, Volume 13 (Number 1)
Jones, Irma S.; Blankenship, Dianna (2014); What Do You Mean You Never Got Any Feedback?; Research in Higher Education Journal, Volume 24
Leibold, N.; Schwarz, L.M (2015); The art of giving online feedback; Journal of Effective Teaching, Volume 15(1), pages 34-46
Ngar-Fun Liu and David Carless (2006); Peer feedback: the learning element of peer assessment; Teaching in Higher Education, Volume 11 (Number 3), pages 279-290
Orlando, J (2016); A comparison of text, voice, and screencasting feedback to online students; American Journal of Distance Education, Volume 30 (Number 3), pages 156-166
Great blog. As a math teacher one of my most commonly used teaching tactics is error-analysis. This is when students are required to find and correct the error in another students work. In a way this is the same as delegating feedback. I tend to keep the work anonymous so students will working equally across the board. But I still have to go back and recheck each student's error analysis. I will be using the delegation feedback more often in order to decrease m workload and enhance student learning and participation.
ReplyDelete