Administer Good Feedback

The discussion of application will be rooted in the discussion outlined under the Theory section and specifically call back to the seven aspects highlighted there.

The application techniques will be explained in detail so that you can use them directly, followed by a more theoretical explanation at the end.

Give clear guidelines for assignments

Be open and honest with your students about your grading criteria during any assignment, whether a presentation, project, essay, or exam. If you have a spreadsheet explaining your process, give it to them. If you do not have concrete guidelines, then at least discuss with your students what you are grading after, what qualities you will look at, and what things you do not want to see. Keeping this a secret does not help your students and makes them unsure how to proceed.

Why this application?

Feedback should be centered around the discrepancy between students’ goals and behaviors and professors’ goals. Yet, often, this discrepancy arrives because of unclear guidelines, as mentioned in the first aspect of the theory section, to clarify good performance. Clear initial guidelines shift the responsibility; instead of your feedback being enlightening after the assignment, your initial guidelines are clarifying, removing that burden on feedback and allowing you to focus on individual student traits and outcomes.

Never give feedback without appreciating the effort

When grading students’ assignments, even if they are of substandard quality, there should be something indicating appreciation for the amount of effort put in. Even if a student handed in a bare minimum amount of paper, they still handed it in. This should be vocally appreciated. This does not need to be grandiose; rather, simply writing or saying “Good work!”, “I appreciate the effort!” or even “Thank you for submitting your work!” goes a long way.

Why this application?

Student performance is largely implicated by self-esteem and motivation. When feedback acknowledges student effort, it makes them feel more appreciated and competent, boosting their motivation and self-esteem. An application that does not do this also loses certain qualitative value for the student. When feedback becomes a robotic transmission of information, it becomes harder for the student to fully absorb it.

Ask for the student’s feedback

During the assignments given, ask students to provide their mid-assignment feedback. The feedback format will look different depending on the project given and is unlikely to work for exams. However, for most projects and essays, it is very feasible to ask students to send in quick self-reflective feedback, where they outline the project’s progress and state their goals. Examples of questions to ask them are:

1. What is their goal with their project?
2. What do they need to do to reach it?
3. What do they feel is going according to plan?
4. What is not going to plan?
5. What might have caused it?

Why this application?

By asking the students to provide feedback, they get trained in self-regulation, where they learn to reflect on their work, the behaviors that have shaped it, and why it might not be going according to plan. Thus, it will build their ability to recognize discrepancies on their own, and at the same time, it will give you an idea of their goals. When you become cognizant of their goals and gain some insights into their attributions for successes or failures, you get more to work off of during your feedback.

Focus on discrepancy

When providing feedback, while it is tempting to focus on outcomes based on grading guidelines, all feedback given should be rooted in the discrepancy between the student’s desired outcome and the actual outcome. If the student only reaches a certain grade below what you might want, but the student is happy with it, then it is the professor’s job not to create feedback that outlines the project as unsuccessful. Feedback should always include ways of improving and what went well, but if the desired outcome is aligned with the desired outcome, that should be recognized and applauded. It is important to make the feedback structure a dialogue, where the students can explain how they feel about the performance and can respond to your feedback. Once this dialogue takes shape, if the student’s desired outcomes mirror their actual ones, that should be recognized and praised by the professor. If the outcomes are not aligned, the professor should ask the students what caused the discrepancy, and then the professor should give their ideas and tips on closing the gap.

Why this application?

It is easy for feedback to become about reaching certain milestones. Yet, the professor can never decide which milestone is appropriate; it is always up to the student. Therefore, it is important to create a dialogue where students can express their feelings of contentment or discontentment about the performance. Then, the professor can work with the student to close the gap through collaborative feedback, which helps the student learn to self-regulate, identify problematic behaviors, and gain more insight.

Reflect on the feedback you give

When administering feedback to students, look out for any patterns or trends within the feedback given. Any trend might be due to a lack of comprehensive and understandable teaching. A lack of understanding in a specific area, a question most students got wrong, or a part of the project that is significantly weaker than other areas might all point to a lapse in the teaching. Therefore, it is important to understand the feedback you provide and get students’ input on the feedback given. If they express that certain ideas in class seem vague and unsure, that points to a discrepancy in teaching and expectations.

Why this application?

Feedback goes both ways; when students fail at something, it also reflects on the teaching. By absorbing the feedback given to students, the professor can ensure that their teaching improves. This not only gives students a better way of understanding the professor and the feedback given, but it also allows them to be understood by the professor, alleviating frustrations.