Introduction
Providing students with effective feedback is an important component of teaching. It has the potential not only to facilitate students’ immediate learning but also to enhance their academic and personal development. Providing meaningful feedback is often time consuming, and it is tempting to make do with brief descriptive (e.g., needs work) or evaluative (e.g., Good Job!) comments. These comments do not, however, add to students’ understanding of what they can do to improve.
According to the University of New Brunswick Teaching and Learning Services, feedback should help students become aware of their best strategies for learning and how to use them independently. That is, students need to be able to evaluate their own work. Therefore, for feedback to be useful, students must know (a) what constitutes good work, (b) how their current work compares to good work, and (c) what to do to close the gap between the two.
Feedback that improves student performance
Characteristics of Effective Feedback
Effective feedback on assignments and tests provides students with information that will help them improve their performance. It should be characterized by being:
- Clear – uses language that is understandable and unambiguous
- Specific – focuses on behaviors, not general characteristics, and provides examples of alternatives
- Timely– is given as soon as possible, certainly within 14 days of the assignment or test
- Frequent – gives students multiple opportunities to incorporate feedback and demonstrate improvement
- Actionable– tells student what to do in order to improve, rather than on merely justifying a grade
- Realistic – prioritize comments and focuses on what can be changed within the context of the course
- Supportive/constructive– is balanced and includes positive statements that indicate what the student is doing correctly as well as incorrectly
- Tailored to the assignment or test– related to the goal of the assessment and in accordance with the grading rubric
- Targeted and Concise – directs students’ attention to the 2 or 3 areas where they are likely to make progress, without over-commenting or “picking apart” their work
- Focused on work – gives suggestions for improving work, rather than criticizing student and asks questions that will further guide students’ work
Strategies for Giving Feedback
Guideline for offering meaningful and effective feedback to students include the following strategies:
- Create a culture of feedback by establishing a respectful and positive learning environment in which feedback is expected and valued. This includes helping students understanding the roles that mistakes, practice, and revision play in learning. Creating a Positive Class Climate
- Engage students in the feedback process so that they will be motivated to use the feedback provided. This might involve engaging students in a discussion that solicits feedback about feedback or in conversations about what makes feedback useful.
- Incorporate peer review into the feedback process. This can be done through in-class learning exercises. The process is most effective when students are clear on the purpose of peer feedback and how they can provide it effectively, which can be facilitated by providing students with a rubric and an example that is evaluated based on the rubric. Peer Review by Students
- Develop alternatives to writing comments on every individual student’s work. Look for common mistakes and provide feedback to the entire class orally and/or in a shared written document or have the class read and evaluate sample student work together.
- When giving feedback, be sure that comments and suggestions align with overall course objectives, as well as with the goals of the assignment. This alignment can be accomplished by creating a rubric based on these objectives. Creating Rubrics
- Vary mode of feedback delivery by using (a) Audio/video feedback that involves talking through rather than writing out feedback; (b) One on one meetings during office hours or other scheduled times to talk with students about the feedback and their reactions/responses; (c) small group meetings in which students read each other’s work and share their feedback along with that of the instructor.
Sources
Feedback that improves student performance
University of New Brunswick Teaching and Learning Services
Communicate High Standards and Confidence In Students Through Feedback
Carnegie Mellon University Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence and Educational Innovation
Receiving and Giving Effective Feedback
University of Waterloo Center for Teaching Excellence
Importance of Providing Meaningful Student Feedback
University of South Carolina Center for Teaching Excellence
Feedback for Learning
Columbia University Center for Teaching and Learning
How to Give Feedback
MIT Teaching + Learning Lab
Giving Students Feedback
Princeton University McGraw Center for Teaching & Learning
Providing Effective Feedback
Northern Illinois University Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning
The Sound of Fury: Why to Avoid Giving Feedback in All Caps
Chronicle of Higher Education
How to Give Your Students Better Feedback With Technology
Chronicle of Higher Education
Giving Good Online Feedback
University of Michigan Online Teaching
Feedback Strategies
University of Nevada/Reno Office of Digital Learning
The RISE Model for Providing Feedback
According to its developer, Emily Wray, the RISE model is a structured system for providing positive and productive feedback. It can be used by instructors or peers to provide feedback to students, or students can use it to evaluate their own work. RISE is an acronym for four stages in the feedback process (Reflect, Inquire, Suggest, Elevate). These stages are related to Bloom’s taxonomy and involve supportive behaviors that encourage students to improve. Each of the four RISE stages corresponds to levels of cognitive processing in the taxonomy, moving from Remember through Understand, Apply, Analyze, and Evaluate, to Create:
Reflect: At this stage, the evaluator recalls factual information and explains the work in their own words, articulating what stood out and why and pointing out what was done well. According to the model website, these are some examples of stems to use at this level:
The choice to X made me think/feel Y.
I relate/concur/disagree with X because Y.
What affected me most was X because of my perspective as Y.
Inquire: At this stage, the evaluator seeks greater clarity by asking questions to gain a deeper understanding of the work. According to the model website, these are some examples of stems to use at this level:
Can you further explain X?
What is the relationship between X and Y?
How would addressing X with Y impact Z?
Suggest: At this stage, the evaluator uses specific criteria to appraise the work and introduces concrete ideas or alternative approaches to improve it. According to the model website, these are some examples of stems to use at this level:
Explore tweaking X for Y effect.
I encourage you to revisit/revise X in order to Y.
Consider supporting information from X resource.
Elevate: At this stage, the evaluator encourages the creator to imagine potential beyond the current task, develop new goals, and consider future growth. According to the model website, these are some examples of stems to use at this level:
What if you re-purposed X as Y for Z?
Next time, consider X before Y to achieve/avoid Z.
Perhaps expand this in X capacity to further address Y.
The developer of the model emphasized that the structured nature of the interactions allays anxiety about giving feedback and creates opportunities for providing meaningful feedback with confidence. As a result, the ideas shared are more thoughtful, which can be more helpful to the recipient. When used by students to evaluate peers, “The four tiers of the model prompt students to reflect, then build their constructive analysis through inquiry, providing suggestions to help elevate each other’s work”. RISE Rubric
Sources
Rise Model
How RISE Works
RISE Model for students
Using the RISE Model to Provide Feedback
The Institute for Learning and Teaching Colorado State University/Fort Collins
RISE Rubric
Hick, Troy Edutopia
Make It Count: Providing Feedback as Formative Assessment