PG's Ponderings

Seven Keys to Effective Feedback Grant Wiggins Advice, evaluation, grades—none of these provide the descriptive information that students need to reach their goals. What is true feedback—and how can it improve learning? Who would dispute the idea that feedback is a good thing? Both common sense and research make it clear: Formative assessment, consisting of lots of feedback and opportunities to use that feedback, enhances performance and achievement. Yet even John Hattie (2008), whose decades of research revealed that feedback was among the most powerful influences on achievement, acknowledges that he has "struggled to understand the concept" (p. 173). And many writings on the subject don't even attempt to define the term. To improve formative assessment practices among both teachers and assessment designers, we need to look more closely at just what feedback is—and isn't. What Is Feedback, Anyway? The term feedback is often used to describe all kinds of comments mad...

We have a number of feedback tools. These questions are also useful: What did you like best about this year’s course? What did you like least about this year’s course? What would you suggest that I change? What surprised you most about the work covered? What don't you understand or need help in? Make a list of some of the new things that you learned or found out during the course. Why do you remember those particular points? What do you want to remember about the course work? When do you think you will use what you learned during the course? How did my teaching help you to understand the course? What would have made the learning environment in our class better for you during the year? Katie Lepi's 7 Effective Templates for Teacher Feedback (Edudemic.com, 17 May 2014) is also a very useful resource.