Online Course Peer Review Rubric standard III.3 reads: Assessment and measurement strategies provide appropriate feedback to the learner.
When I think back to my undergraduate years, I honestly don’t remember getting much instructor feedback on my coursework. Of course, I attended a fairly large state school and I oftentimes sat in packed lecture halls with hundreds of classmates. Still, in some of my smaller-sized classes, the only feedback I received on my work was the grade at the top of the assignment. I feel fortunate to work at a community/technical college that promotes the importance of instructor-student interaction. Most of my students expect feedback on their work and take me to task if I don’t provide enough!That’s absolutely the way it should be. Instructor feedback helps students learn and improve their skills. Although it can be time-consuming, we need to focus on its effectiveness and look to provide frequent and meaningful feedback to students in various ways. Some ideas:
- Participate actively in discussion activities.
- Make specific suggestions for improving papers and other assignments.
- Make it a point to tell students what you especially like about their work.
- Provide opportunities for students to critique each others’ work — peer review!
- After an online testing period is over, allow students to see their corrected tests.
- Build feedback directly into quizzes.
Fortunately, D2L allows instructors to provide feedback to students easily in various places. Now, if only those assignments and papers didn’t pile up so quickly week after week… Providing feedback can be hard work — but the student improvements make it, oh so worth it!
