#7 - Providing Timely and Constructive Feedback
framing feedback with empathy, support, and direction
Welcome to the summer 2024 “Top 10 Essential Practices” series for new faculty! Catch up with the series introduction here and #10: Understand Your Learners., #9: Clear Learning Objectives , and #8: Using Active Learning.
Timely and constructive feedback is a cornerstone of effective teaching in higher education. It plays a crucial role in supporting students' learning and development by providing them with actionable insights into their progress and areas for improvement.
When delivering feedback, aim to be specific, constructive, and supportive. Focus on the task or assignment rather than the student personally. Begin with positive aspects of their work before addressing areas where they can enhance their understanding or skills.
Consider using a feedback framework where critique is framed in a way that makes the feedback more understandable or accessible for the students. The method might differ depending on who your students are (and your own teacher persona and comfort level with providing feedback) - some instructors really appreciate the feedback sandwich method, while others hate it. (If you fall into the latter category, this article provides a quick overview of alternative “sandwiches”.) I’ve shared the “wise feedback” strategy previously as one that I find both effective and authentic to who I am as a teacher.
This approach works because it relies on what some researchers call psychologically attuned language - language that "tries to anticipate the ways students could take unproductive psychological meaning…and address those potential misconceptions…before students have a chance to let them fester in their minds."
What is psychologically attuned language? It's communication that is humane, kind, empathetic, and growth mindset-oriented. It ensures language is understandable, avoids punitive tones, encourages dialogue, normalizes challenges, emphasizes available support, and introduces possibilities.
Why is it important? Well-intentioned outreach can unintentionally shame students, hindering support. In contrast, psychologically attuned language fosters meaningful communication, respects students, and encourages continued learning.
Put attuned feedback in practice…
As you plan your next communication - whether it’s your syllabus, self-introduction, or targeted email to a student struggling with coursework - think about ways you can take the following steps:
Foster a sense of belonging.
Highlight pathways to success.
Demonstrate genuine care for students.
Emphasize the importance of their success.
Show institutional and personal commitment to support.
Inform students about available support systems.
Here’s what an email could look like:
“Hi <first name of student>, [personalize the student]
I was looking at the quiz #1 scores for HIST 100 and saw that you didn’t do as well as expected [express high expectations but give honest feedback]. Since it’s still early in the semester [purposefully introduce hope/possibility], now is the time to try and figure out what went wrong and how we can fix it [normalize challenge]. I have some quick questions for that I’m hoping you’ll be willing to answer for me.
First and most importantly, do you know why you didn’t do well on the quiz? Did you read the notes (as well as the slides) and answer the learning objectives? Did you come to class and participate in the discussions on a regular basis (and even better, what percentage of the time do you think you came and participated?)? Do you have a study group? Lastly, did you come to office hours to discuss the material? [encourage student to introspect about existence of support systems within the course]
With this information we can figure out what happened and work together [show pathway to success] so that the rest of the course goes more smoothly!
Most important is that feedback is timely - providing prompt feedback allows students to reflect on their performance while the material is still fresh in their minds - and that students are encouraged or required to engage with and act upon the feedback they receive to foster continuous improvement.
More on feedback here: Transfer-of-learning feedback, feedback in performance-based courses, providing audio feedback on student work, and awarding points for how well students address feedback.
What kinds of feedback strategies have you found to be successful with your students? Please share in the comments!
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While learning about wise feedback is great, I was really hoping to get a bit more advice on the timely part of feedback. (Marking takes me so incredibly long to do.)