Research tells us that feedback, whether written or oral, has the potential to really improve the progress students make in their learning. Feedback can also support teachers to learn along with their students, by providing evidence of how well the curriculum, and the way it is taught, is facilitating the students’ learning. As such, feedback is at the heart of learning and a valued part of the educational experience.
However, all feedbacks are not made equal.
Feedback, as we have highlighted during the online Feedback for Learning course can be just as effective when delivered verbally, and there are some simple ways to improve feedback without increasing workload.
To help support educators to facilitate higher quality feedback for the student, we share three simple questions, drawn from feedback research, which can be used to help generate specific and accurate feedback. These questions can be used with students either during the learning in the lesson, or when reviewing their work after it.
The three feedback questions to discuss with the students are:
- Where am I going? What are the goals for the learning?
- How am I doing? What progress is being made towards these goals?
- Where do I go next? What activities need to be taken to make better progress?
An additional idea we highlight, that can increase the potential of the feedback for the student further, is what the focus of the feedback is hoping to improve.
To help students to make more progress, the focus of the feedback needs to be linked to improving the learner and their learning, rather than just discussing the way they completed or achieved in the task they have undertaken. This idea is something that resonated with the participants on the online course and helped clarify for them ways they could develop their feedback practices.
The course has a large range of practical approaches that will help you develop your feedback practices.
If you think that this simple way of improving your feedback would support you and your students, why don’t you think about signing up to learn from others? We would love to see you there.