Have you considered that students might need feedback at different moments to be reassured?

Giving feedback at various times during the learning process is crucial to improve knowledge and skill acquisition. In addition, it is also depicted as a significant factor in motivating learning. Feedback is important to deal with the numerous challenges that present to students during the transition.

Offer Oral Feedback

Quite often, especially when oral feedback is given, it is not recognised by students as feedback. Make students aware that a whole class activity of discussing their essays, activities or exam papers is in fact a feedback opportunity. See Quick Win 1

Foster Ipsative Feedback

“Ipsative” refers to comparing an individual’s performance or traits in relation to their own previous performance. It focuses on personal progress and growth, as they compare an individual’s current abilities to their past performance. For instance, you can offer an intake assessment at the beginning of a course to see where students are for that topic or skill, then track their progress across a term and share with them at key points in the semester their performance. Ask your students to analyse whether or not the subsequent one showcased improved performance based solely on that student, not compared to the performance of the class. See Quick Win 2

Use Immediate Feedback in Class

An electronic ‘Classroom Communication System’ (CCS) can be used to give immediate feedback to the students on the exercise they have done. They can also compare their progress. Create online activities (multiple-choice or similar types of question) that enable students to test out their understanding and get instant constructive feedback.

Discuss Mistakes

Go over the most common mistakes made by the students. Taking examples from their assignments can illustrate these mistakes. Draw up a document for your students with examples on what to look out for. See Quick win 3

Give Feedforward Feedback

Create a recursive cycle or “feedback loop” in which students submit a draft, receive comments, revise the draft, and then resubmit it.

Use Past Questions

Giving students access to past test and exam questions provides helpful clues on what kinds of questions are likely to be asked about certain topics and themes and can provide ‘anticipatory feedback’ on how to tackle particular questions. You can present examples of past semester exams or assignments accompanied by a commentary.

You can also organise a session to explore with students what might constitute good answers to specific questions.

Have you considered that first-year students might not be used to receiving feedback?

First year students may not be familiar with feedback practices in higher education, which one of the many other aspects they have to adapt at university. By explicitly explaining the intended objectives of feedback – to identify strengths, pinpoint areas for development, guide future learning, etc. – you can help students understand its value in enhancing their academic performance and fostering a growth mindset. Moreover, clarifying how feedback aligns with course objectives and learning outcomes can empower students to actively engage with and use feedback as a means to progress academically.

Explicitly Discuss the Purpose of Feedback

Start the semester by explaining to students that feedback isn’t just about grading; it’s about guiding their learning journey. Provide a scenario where a student struggled with an assignment but, through constructive feedback, identified areas for improvement and saw significant progress in subsequent tasks. Emphasise that feedback is like a roadmap that helps them to navigate their academic path effectively.

Provide Examples of Effective Feedback

Share specific instances where feedback led to noticeable improvements. For instance, recount how a student initially struggled with essay structure but, after receiving feedback on organisation and clarity, produced a well-structured paper that earned a higher grade. Showcasing before-and-after examples can illustrate the transformative power of feedback in action.

Engage Students in Feedback Dialogues

Encourage students to share their past experiences with feedback, both positive and negative. Facilitate a discussion where students discuss how feedback impacted their learning and what they perceive as helpful feedback.

You can implement a “Feedback reflection circle”: Students are divided into small groups and guided through a series of prompts that encourage them to share personal experiences with feedback, both positive and negative. As the facilitator, circulate among the groups to offer guidance, clarify any misconceptions, and ensure that the discussions remain focused and constructive. By the end of the activity, students share key reflections with the whole class and are encouraged to apply these insights to their approach to giving and receiving feedback throughout the semester. See Quick Win 1

Facilitate Feedback Goal mapping

You can propose an activity to make students articulate their learning goals for the semester and discuss how feedback can help them achieve these goals. Start with a goal-setting session where students individually reflect on their academic aspirations for the semester. Ask them to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals related to their learning objectives.

For instance, if a student aims to improve their presentation skills, explain how feedback on presentation delivery, content, and visuals can assist them in reaching that objective. You can provide students with a worksheet or template where they can map their goals to the types of feedback that would support their achievement (See Quick Win 1). By tying feedback to their individual aspirations, students can better understand its relevance and importance.

Create an Action Plan to Integrate Feedback

During the first sessions of the semester, use an assignment to give feedback to your group. Ask them to identify strengths, areas for improvement, and reflect on adjustments they may need to make based on the feedback received.

Have students develop an action plan outlining specific steps they will take to integrate the feedback into their learning process and set deadlines and milestones to track their progress towards their goals throughout the semester. See Quick Win 2

Model Effective Feedback Practices

Throughout the semester, you can show examples of feedback comments that are specific, actionable, and encouraging. For instance, instead of simply pointing out errors in a Math’s problem, provide guidance on how to correct them and praise the student’s effort in attempting challenging problems.

Have you considered that students might only see feedback as a way of pointing out mistakes?

Embracing feedback from teachers, even if perceived as negative, might help students in their learning process to improve their performance.

Give Constructive Feedback

Use feedback-giving techniques to provide feedback in a balanced and constructive manner, minimising the perception of criticism or negativity. See Quick Win 1

Train your Students to Give Feedback

Fostering reflection and a growth mindset centered around clear expectations based on learning objectives through assessment tools such as rating scales and rubrics. Formative and shared assessment can serve for this purpose, including self and peer-assessment. See Quick Win 2

Create a Trustworthy Atmosphere

For students to embrace feedback it is vital to celebrate mistakes, promote critical thinking and trust to participate in dialogical feedback dynamics.

Communication is key in this respect. “Trust, resulting from respectful relationships, is a fundamental facilitator of dialogical feedback.” (Carless, 2013). See Quick Wins 3 and 4