Written feedback to students

Nicol (2011) sets recommendations for good practice involving written feedback to students. The feedback must be:

• Understandable, selective and specific

  Feedback usually uses a disciplinary discourse that is difficult for students to understand, therefore lecturers must use simple language. It can help students if teachers also point to examples in the submission where the feedback applies rather than provide comments with no referent.

• Timely

  Numerous studies show that students receive feedback too late to be helpful, due to their receiving it after the next assignment. Multistage assignments might address this problem. If the assignment allows drafting with feedback provided on the draft, students are more likely to see the feedback as timely and make good use of it. Providing feedback on drafts need not necessarily increase teacher time; teachers can limit the feedback that they provide when they grade the completed assignment or students might give each other feedback at immediate stages.

• Non-judgemental and balanced

  Feedback comments can be discouraging, lead to defensiveness, or reduce students’ confidence, Teachers should try to ensure that students perceive comments as descriptive rather than evaluative or authoritarian. For example: The teacher can reflect back to the students the effect of the writing, in other words, how the teacher has interpreted what is written. This helps students see the difference between their intention and the effects that are produced.

• Contextualised

  Sadler (1989) defines feedback as information about the gap between what the student did (actual performance) and what was expected (the assignment outcomes), information that is intended to help the student close the gap. Hence, alignment of feedback to the instructional context is essential for learning. It also increases the likelihood that students will actually understand the feedback.

• Forward-looking and transferable

  Lecturers could suggest goals to focus on in future assignments or specific strategies that might apply. Some feedback sheets include an “action-point” box where the instructor can outline the specific actions that would lead to greatest improvement in the next assignment. Comments should help students find alternative ways of looking at the problem rather than simply highlight misunderstandings. The intention here is to promote new ways of thinking about concepts, their relationships, and their applications.

  Source: McKeachie’s Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers, Svinicki, M, McKeachie, WJ, 2011