Cedo 525 - Week Two - Review + 3 Strategies

Feedback That Fits

As a teacher, I often wonder if I am providing good feedback to my students. Am I being too rosy and cheerful to the point of seeming insincere? Are my comments and coaching constructive and well-received by students? I read an article titled 'Feedback That Fits' by Susan M. Brookhart. The article is on the ASCD Web-site and offers insight into ways to provide effective feedback to students.

Brookhart states that good formative feedback leads to the student perceptions of understanding and control over their learning. But what does this really mean? Well, the student has to be able to hear or comprehend the feedback offered and apply it to the process. If a student hears feedback that can be applied to the current process and will garner greater reward it will become an effective and useful motivator.

There is a balancing act between the form of feedback and the content. If the format is not timely or correct for the learning experience it can become detrimental to the student outcomes. Brookhart differentiates that feedback should be more immediate than delayed with certain activities. As a sailing instructor, it is best that I provide feedback during the sailing drills than delay until a later time. Immediate, constructive feedback allows the student to understand how they are doing in the process and apply that feedback to help them become better at sailing. If I delay the feedback to when the process is over then the student does not have the opportunity to apply or try a different method and this can lead to frustration.

Brookhart discusses the mode of feedback. Should feedback be written or oral? Is it productive to deliver feedback in a group or in one-on-one settings? It all depends on what you are teaching and what the students should be learning. One-on-one interactions can make the student feel like an individual who matters – but the feedback, no matter what the mode, should be non-judgmental. The feedback should relate to the goals of the class or process and help the student work towards that end.

Group feedback is useful in that it challenges the students to collaborate and apply it towards the class. At work I often ask employees to discuss material covered and how it relates to issues our customers face in the health care industry. The feedback I offer during this process is often in the form of posing questions during the group discussion. The overall purpose is to shape and promote the individual and group outcomes during the process and employees wind-up providing feedback to each other without there being a judgmental, authoritarian figure.

Not being judgmental ties back in with what the students hear during feedback. Brookhart concludes the article with examples of feedback that does not work and what can work better. Feedback does need to address the process, acknowledge what the student has done well and focus on ways for the student to build upon what they have done already. I found a lot of value in Brookhart's article and it has provided a fulcrum to help me balance the timing and content of feedback for all my students.




Objectives, Feedback and Recognition

The second week of CEDO 525 finds us examining 3 strategies: setting objectives, providing feedback, and providing recognition. Reading are from chapters 1-3 of “Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works”. Although I have already touched upon feedback, the three strategies intertwine and technologies are present which support them.

Objectives

The purpose of asking students to discuss the class objectives helps clarify and set the learning direction. Objectives narrow the focus and establish a framework for the learning experience. Objectives should be flexible yet specific enough that they are measurable. Educators can use KWHL charts where they ask students at the beginning of the unit to define what they know, what they want to know, how they will learn and at the end, what they learned. Another tool is the online survey which can help the teacher understand what the students already know and what areas the teacher should emphasize in the course.

Word Processing software and Web-sites can be used by students to generate and update KWHL charts and teachers with class rubrics. Rubrics can be shared with students via e-mail, class WIKIs or collaborative Web spaces. The rubric is a guideline which helps students stay grounded in terms of tasks, activities and measurable outcomes. At work I provide employees with a course syllabus and the assessment criteria in advance and discuss during the first class meeting.

It is incredibly important that students and teachers are in accord about what the objectives and assessment criteria are for the course. Objectives create a common understanding and agreement which establish the ‘contract’ between students and the teacher. Objectives need to be clearly communicated and provide a basis for evaluation which establishes a contract or agreement between the teacher and students.

Feedback

Feedback, as previously discussed, is another strategy which promotes student learning. Feedback should be non-judgmental and technologies, in general, can permit students to focus on the content. It should not be overlooked that students should have the ability to provide feedback to teachers and peers. Word processing applications such as MS-Words or Adobe Buzzwords allow tracking of version changes and comments. Documents can be shared amongst groups and individuals for generating individual and peer feedback.

Data collection tools permit immediate feedback from students. In an online virtual classroom a teacher may share Q&A sets and note individual as well as group responses to gauge student learning. Some data collection programs can chart the results which the teacher may share with the class. Automated grading software is beginning to become more viable as a quicker way to provide grade results to students. The lag time for teachers grading assignments and getting them back to students can create gaps of uncertainty for the student as they forward within the unit/course.

Web resources which host games are increasingly seen with value for learning and feedback. The image of games as being recreational or just a plain waste of time is getting an extreme makeover in teaching. Games challenge students, provide immediate feedback. When used by groups of students, games can be a source of competition and encourage greater learning.

Communications software consisting of Blogs, Wikis, e-mail, Instant Messaging and Video Conferencing can all be utilized by students for peer-to-peer review or with the instructor. Blogs and Wikis are asynchronous, generally seeded with topics by the instructor and require student reflection for posts. Instant Messaging and Video Conferencing afford synchronous, real-time interaction for feedback. All of these technologies promote prompt, feedback and the opportunity to suggest actions for students to improve their practice.

Providing Recognition

Providing Recognition is a way to positively acknowledge students’ accomplishments towards attainment of a goal. Recognition can be in the form of praise or tangible rewards but the overall strategy is to help the students feel positive and motivated towards greater accomplishment. It is important that the recognition is related to specific criterion for it to be sincere and authentic.

Technologies can be used for recognition beyond the ‘Great Job!’ or a plus symbol across the top of a quiz or essay. Recognition can be extended through peer group accolades via data collection technology as well. Picture students using rubrics reviewing other students work and the results shared with the class. And, the student being evaluated by peers may remain anonymous until the results are posted with the class.

Multimedia is an easy and practical way to provide recognition in the form of certificates of achievement. Most word processors and many online sites permit one to create individualized certificates for students. Web showcases can extend the paper version of a certificate by sharing it on the school Web-site or via electronic copies sent home to parents. One does save on the printing of the certificates but the recognition can reach a larger audience within the student community and home.

Communications software such as e-mail and Video Conferencing allow for a more personalized and social recognition experience. Audio files can be recorded by teachers or students, attached to e-mails and played over and over by the recipient and even shared with family members. Video conferencing connects two or more endpoints together promoting real-time sharing and recognition amongst students and teachers. Face to face meetings with video promote personalized, genuine recognition from peers or teachers in a real-time social setting.

All three of these strategies make sense whether or not one has access to some of the technologies mentioned above. One can employ them in a traditional, face-to-face classroom or extend with various technologies. Just by being aware that these technology tools exist and can support accepted strategies, adds to the bag of tricks teachers can draw upon with students.