Contributed by Henry Newkirk, Instructional Designer II (HSH)
What is feedback? As an instructional designer, I often encounter misconceptions about the differences between grades and feedback. Grades are measurements of how well students do on assignments and assessments. Effective instructional feedback is so much more, and it should include the following characteristics:
- Feedback should provide students with specific information to guide learners in how to improve their learning throughout the semester.
- Feedback should also be explicit with actionable expectations that students can understand.
- Feedback must be timely, and provided throughout the course when there still remains opportunity for the student to improve their understanding.
Feedback is most useful when it is part of your teaching plan, and aligned with the learning objectives for your lesson, unit, or course. Just like the way in which most instructors plan their tests, papers, and projects, you should also have a plan for yourself that determines what type of feedback you will provide and how you will deliver that feedback to students.
There are many different strategies for providing learner feedback and not all of them rely on the instructor. For this article, we will focus on peer review and its use as a form of feedback to students.
Listed below are (7) ideas for peer review in a face-to-face classroom or an online learning environment. When carefully designed and executed, peer-to-peer reviews of papers, presentations, projects, etc. can provide tremendous benefits to learners. The key to successful peer review is preparing your students to be effective reviewers. Below are some tips to get you started.
Strategies for Preparing Effective Peer Reviewers
- Introduce peer review to students within your syllabus, and in any start-of-semester lesson materials. Make sure that you explain the reason for using peer review, including its benefits for the reviewer and reviewee.
- Teach students to be critical thinkers as they review their classmates' work.
- Create a set of questions or an outline of specific items for students to look for as they review each other's work.
- Coach reviewers to avoid generalized platitudes, such as "Great, Terrific, Excellent Job" when providing feedback to their classmates. Those words alone are unhelpful and provide no specific information for students about how they can improve.
Are you interested in using peer reviews, or simply shoring up your approach to instructional feedback in your classes? Contact your instructional designer to schedule a consultation in which to discuss additional options that suit the specific needs of you, your curriculum, and your students. You may also find some of the resources listed below a great do-it-yourself starting point for learning more about effective feedback.
Resources
Angelo, T. A., & Cross, K. P. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques: A handbook for college teachers (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Angelo, T. (2011). Efficient feedback for effective learning: How less can sometimes be more. Retrieved from http://planning.iupui.edu/assessment/institute-files/2011-institute/monday-2011/angelo-feedback.pdf
Columbia University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences Teaching Center. (n.d.). How to provide constructive feedback—That won't exasperate your students. Retrieved from http://www.columbia.edu/cu/tat/pdfs/feedback.pdf
Friend, C. (2013, January 1). Grading, assessment, or feedback? [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://chrisfriend.us/grading-assessment-or-feedback/
The Higher Education Academy. (2012, July). 10 ideas for enhancing feedback with technology. Retrieved from https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/system/files/resources/10_ideas_for_enhancing_feedback_with_technology.pdf
LeVan, K. S., & King, M. E. (2016, November 14). Teaching students how to manage feedback. Faculty Focus. Retrieved from https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/teaching-students-manage-feedback/
Stenger, M. (2014, August 6). 5 research-based tips for providing students with meaningful feedback. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/tips-providing-students-meaningful-feedback-marianne-stenger
Sweetland Center for Writing, University of Michigan. (n.d.). Using peer review to improve student writing. Retrieved from http://lsa.umich.edu/sweetland/instructors/teaching-resources/using-peer-review-to-improve-student-writing.html
Twigg, C. A. (2015, November–December). Improving learning and reducing costs: Fifteen years of course description. Change. Retrieved from http://www.changemag.org/Archives/Back%20Issues/2015/November-December%202015/course-redesign_full.html
Wiggins, G. (2012). Seven keys to effective feedback. Educational Leadership, 70(1), 10–16.
