Empowering students to make use of feedback
Teachers need to empower their students with the right skills so that they are able to navigate through the online environments and make use of the assessment tools they are required to use to: deliver assessment evidence, receive and give feedback, reflect on feedback, etc.
Here are 8 tips for you to empower your students to make use of feedback in online learning:
When learning takes place in an online environment, it is essential that we build an online space where students can follow the course. For instance, you can use a LMS (Learning Management System) such as Moodle or Google Classroom, where you place all your activities and materials. This space should also support the assessment process. It is advisable that this space is organized and functional, allowing students to upload learning evidence, and allowing the teacher to give multimodal feedback.
You will dedicate quite some time to creating, organizing and giving feedback through the LMS. If your students don’t have the required digital skills to access this content, it they will not be able to use it. Dedicate time to teach them how to access and save the feedback they receive.
For many students, assessment has traditionally been associated to negative feelings. Many learners usually feel pressured, either by themselves, their families, their peers or even their teachers. For many others, assessment has traditionally been a mechanism to tell them they aren’t good enough, not smart, or not meant to success. Dedicate one-on-one time to identify how your students feel when they are assessed, and support them in managing these feelings.
Students are typically used to doing an assessment task (an essay, an exam, a report…), getting a mark for it and moving on to the next task. With these dynamics, it’s hard for them to see a connection between learning and assessment.
Tell students that when you give them feedback, your intention is to help them learn. Dedicate time to work with them and have them reflect on how feedback helped them learn. Have them do these reflections out loud, so that everyone realizes how meaningful this is for them.
Teaching by the example is one of the most effective ways of teaching. If your students see who important feedback and assessment for learning are to you, they will start feeling the same way.
Experiencing something is one of the best ways to learn. When they receive formal feedback, ask them to do some sort of activity or reflection to guide them in the sense-making process. Make them take notes of what they did right, what they did wrong, and how they plan to make improvements.
Using feedback for learning requires self-regulation skills, which take time and work to develop. If students are not used to working with assessment this way, it will take time and support to get used to it.
Learn how to give feedback through your Learning Management System (LMS)
