How To Develop Better Student Feedback

How do you develop better student feedback? Better yet, what is student feedback? Where do you start? 

During my first year of teaching, developing student feedback was one of my challenges as I dived into the complexities and high demands of the education profession. I chanced upon seeing in my PLN Twitter Community this wonderful image made by Lisa Westman (@lisa_westman) that captures very important and interesting information about feedback. 

As you can see, feedback stems from these characteristics: consistent, specific, user-friendly, goal-referenced, time and on-going, tangible and transparent, and actionable. With these characteristics in mind, it is evident that feedback is not merely providing a simple, "yes, I agree", "this is awesome!", "i think you can do this better", and other similar statements. In order for feedback to be effective, it has to be clear, targeted, specific, detailed, with supporting evidences, including the characteristics that have been mentioned. 

There are also other ways to deliver feedback for effective learning. Below is an example. 

This visual representation of the article, 20 Ways To Provide Effective Feedback for Learning , provides the importance of having purposeful and meaningful feedback. For example, students are more encouraged when:

• teachers conduct one-on-one conference based on their individual needs,
  
• feedback communication is provided in different ways or forms (verbal, non-verbal, written), 
• critique is focused on a specific one to ensure clarity and greater impact,
• proper and positive feedback is being modeled to ensure consistency on how it looks like and feels like,
• feedback is given through regular "check-ins"

Below are more great resources on Effective Feedback:

• ​Seven Keys on Effective Feedback
• 5 Research-Based Tips for Providing Students with Meaningful Feedback
• 60 Second Strategy: TAG Feedback
• Boosting Engagement with Notices and Wonders
• Crafting Feedback that Leads to Learning