With teaching semesters coming to an end, we are closing this section of the Teach Online Toolkit out by looking at feedback. Becky Hartnup looks at why is it so important for remote learners, and how can you can embed it, and Roy Speirs provides tips on giving good feedback.

Feedback for remote and online learners
Becky Hartnup shares advice on providing effective feedback, and why it's so important. 

Best practices for giving effective feedback
Roy Spiers from Central Law Training Scotland gives his tips on communicating feedback

Courses and Resources

Discover more courses and tips, on our living resources page!

Over these weeks of the Teach Online Toolkit, the recurring themes have been: Preparation, Teaching through technology, and Connecting with your students. You can recap on the sessions, and on the external courses and resources we’ve suggested, here:

  Preparation
Read our advice on preparation.

Teaching through technology
Catch-up on our tips for effectively using EdTech.

Connecting with your students
Explore our previous posts on connecting with your students.

Feedback for remote and online learners by Becky Hartnup 

Meaningful feedback is key to learning, but can be difficult to deliver in a remote environment. However, interviews with students show that feedback is highly valued by remote learners. Feedback is just as essential to remote learning as it is to face-to-face, but it also performs some additional, specific functions.

In a remote learning environment, students are less clear on what is expected of them. By providing your students with early feedback you help reduce their uncertainty and prevent wasted effort. Overall, the students I interviewed suggested that they were more anxious when they transitioned to remote learning than when they were in a traditional, on-campus environment. They had no previous experience to base their expectations on.

We all give subtle feedback cues through our facial expression and body language. Remote students miss out on these, as well as the informal feedback of conversations after class or in corridors. So it is more important to build in regular and timely feedback opportunities to help them appreciate their own strengths and learning gaps. Reflecting on feedback and feeding their learning forward into future assignments supports your students development.

Away from campus, students have fewer opportunities to benchmark themselves against their peers. Some students become very anxious about whether they are ‘doing ok’, which makes them more cautious. Feedback can give them the confidence to stretch themselves: it is safe to be ambitious, as your feedback will act as a safety net.

"It was more stressful than I was expecting. There was little assessment until quite a long way in. Each time I felt really like I didn’t know how I was doing and that I might get a really nasty surprise."

– Health Student

Remote learning requires high levels of self motivation. Feedback connects you with your students and makes learning into a dialogue. It suggests you care enough to respond. For some students, it engages the intrinsic motivations of connecting with their competitive nature and their need to achieve, for others it simply acts as a recognition of the work that they have put in, making it feel worthwhile.

Knowing what is expected, being aware of their own abilities, having a safety net, feeling motivated – all encourage student engagement, which makes learning more effective and satisfying.

Tips on providing feedback to remote learners

Face-to-face teaching is full of opportunities to provide your students with feedback, in addition to formal, explicit feedback on an assignment – for example you may guide your students in discussions, respond to their questions, and even have informal conversations at the end of a lecture.

If you are teaching remotely you may have found this more challenging. Your students may also be more uncertain about how to approach you for guidance and may be missing the more general feedback that comes from being surrounded by fellow students. By planning ahead, you can structure your teaching to build in more feedback points. As Aurelie Soulier recommended, it can be useful to flag these to your students so that they are aware that they are aware of them. Here are some suggestions:

1. Timely feedback

Let your students know when they can expect to receive formal feedback on assessed work. Timely feedback is more effective. It is more meaningful to students, and supports their learning better. There are also practical benefits. Timely feedback on formative assessments can influence a student’s approach to their next assignment. For summative assessments, students experience high levels of anxiety, which make them less patient. Be realistic in the timelines you commit to, and if for some reason your feedback is delayed, let your students know in advance, preferably with a personal message, even if the email is bulk delivered.

As well as formal feedback, create a feedback rich environment. Set discussion activities, either in live sessions or using forums. These give you insight into your students’ understanding, and provide an opportunity for you to use guided questions to encourage critical thinking and extend their learning.

"In an online forum, when you put a point across, to get a tutor responding to that and making you think further, moving the conversation on or pushing in a different direction, for me that’s a good learning experience."

– Education Student

Students may also need feedback at other times. Let them know how they can proactively approach you for feedback. This may be as simple as replicating office hours, or your institution may use technology to facilitate this. Bear in mind that some students are more uncomfortable giving and receiving feedback through digital channels, either because of uncertainty with the technology or because it feels more visible and happens less organically. Position it in a positive light by stressing the advantages of seeking early feedback, particularly on major projects.

2. Managing expectations – and effects

Make it clear what form the feedback will take, and how extensive it will be. If a student has completed a major piece of coursework, they will expect more than a grade and a couple of words. Your opinions are important to them and they are seeking your recognition.

Feedback can leave students confused, upset or angry. If your students have negative emotions, it can prevent your feedback from having the effect you intended. When you are providing feedback, be sensitive to the challenges that students may be experiencing. Think about the tone and timing of your feedback. It can be helpful to work through an ideal answer with a group, addressing common problems as well as being prepared to provide specific and personal feedback to individuals. Your students may need support in order to interpret and process your comments. Students may have questions, particularly if they are disappointed in the feedback they have received or if they do not understand it.

3. Multi-source feedback

Feedback does not always need to come from you. The benefits of peer feedback are widely recognised. Group work will often generate informal conversations as students support and guide one another, but you can also set specific activities to encourage students to provide peer feedback to one another, or to reflect on how they will apply feedback they have received.

If you are going to use this approach, is useful to provide students with best practice on giving constructive feedback. This can also help students to critique their own work more effectively.

There are many online tools that enable students to check their understanding and knowledge as they progress through the course. Adaptive learning tools can provide more personalised feedback. This active learning approach can be particularly useful for STEM students who are transitioning into higher education and less used to self study. Your EdTech team may be able to provide you with more information on the quiz or polling functionality in your VLE/LMS or point you to available courseware solutions.

Getting feedback

Students aren’t the only ones to benefit from feedback. Hearing from your students helps you to see the world through their eyes. It can enable you to reflect, adjust your approach, and perhaps add more support or clarification. Remote learning may leave you missing out on important cues. It can be difficult to assess whether your students are bored or engaged, excited, or struggling, which makes it difficult for you to respond.

What channels can you set up to encourage your students to provide you with feedback on the new approaches you are adopting? You may need to consider how to create a culture of trust where they feel it is acceptable to share constructive criticism as well as to identify what is working well for them. Sometimes anonymous channels or chatbots help students be more honest. However you also need to consider your own emotions. Sometimes it is easier and more effective to receive feedback at a departmental level, making it less personal, and allowing positive changes to be applied consistently.

Tips on giving effective feedback from Roy Spiers

Whether you are providing feedback yourself, or giving your students advice on best practice to help them with peer assessment, these tips should hopefully be helpful:

• Words matter. Take care over expressing yourself clearly and constructively. Student confidence can be fragile.
• Be relevant. Check back over the exact wording of the assignment before giving feedback.
• Be honest, of course, but even in the worst piece of work, do try to find one positive.
• On the flip side, even the most impressive work can be improved upon, let your student know where.
• Give time and thought to feedback, your students will have given both to their piece of work.
• Be precise. Explain where an improvement can be made, why it is needed; and what makes it important.

Week 11 marks the end of our Teach Online Toolkit. We’ve covered a wide range of subjects, from Getting Started, to Student Engagement, and Group Work, and have had some great tips from experts such as Roy Spiers, Giskin Day, and Aurelie Soulier. We hope you’ve found the content informative, and even inspiring! Whilst this is the last session of the Teach Online Toolkit for now, our next focus will be on the strategic delivery of digital education, including various pieces on effectiveness and outcomes. Take the time now to go over some of the sessions from the past weeks:

Preparation

It’s safe to say that the importance of preparation has been present throughout the Teach Online Toolkit. Not only should you prepare your lectures and modules in advance, you should prepare yourself and your students for what is expected, and how things will change. Read our pieces on preparation:

Teaching Through Technology

The rapid transition to a digital campus thrust several institutions and lecturers into the realm of education technology with very little experience. So teaching through technology is a topic that is at the forefront for many. Catch-up on our tips for effectively using EdTech here:

Connecting With Your Students

Another key takeaway from several of our experts and lessons was the importance of connecting with your students. Be it encouraging them to connect with one another, or reaching out to them to maintain the human touch, there are several ways you can connect:

We'd like your feedback

Thank you for joining us for our Teach Online Toolkit sessions over the past 11 weeks. We have really enjoyed curating these blogs for you, and hope they've provided you with some guidance in such uncertain times. These posts will remain on our blog, so you're able to refer back to them whenever you may need too! We would also love to hear your feedback for us. Let us know how you've incorporated our tips into your teaching, if there are any topics you would like us to cover in the future, or any experts we should reach out to for advice. Use the comments section below to let us know or email saskia.watts@vitalsource.com.