MET:Descriptive Feedback

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This page was created by Danielle Chrisman (March 2014)

Overview

File:DF Cartoon.jpg
Cartoon borrowed from this website

Feedback is information that is shared between a teacher and student, in order to help the student to improve from their current level of achievement, and to achieve their learning goals. Feedback should be detailed and targeted towards the individual student. It has been shown that “descriptive feedback is the most powerful tool for improving student learning” [1]

Feedback allows teachers to give students advice on how to guide their learning, how to improve a skill, and how to close the gaps in their learning. When you think of a learning goal as a destination on a GPS system, the feedback provides students with a recalculated map to reach their destination.

Feedback is the “most powerful single moderator that enhances achievement”[2]. Therefore, in order for students to be successful, or increase their success level, feedback must be given. Beneficial feedback must be timely, specific, and descriptive[3].

What is Descriptive Feedback?

When giving students feedback, it is important to not give them simply a grade, but rather specific feedback that describes their successes, and clear information on how they can improve their skills[4]. Feedback that is simply evaluative does little to improve student learning, and actually can impair the process[5].

Descriptive feedback is part of Assessment for Learning, rather than Assessment of Learning. It has “the specific purpose of helping students improve while they are still gaining knowledge and practising skills”[6]. This means that feedback needs to be targeted to supporting student development from their current level of achievement, and making clear recommendations on how to master learning goals. Effective feedback should cover three questions:

  1. Where am I going?
  2. How am I going?
  3. Where to next?[7]

Descriptive feedback should engage students in metacognition and enable them to self-assess their own work. This will support improvement from their current level of achievement by allowing them to redirect their learning process to reflect their individual needs. Descriptive feedback should guide teachers in assessing what needs to be retaught, what different learning strategies will support learning, and next steps.

The feedback can fall into one of four categories, task level, process level, self-regulation level, or self level[8]. The following chart[9] gives some clarification on the four areas of focus:

Level of Focus Clarification Examples
Feedback about the task or product Information about how well a task is accomplished may focus on building surface knowledge and having correct information Identifying whether work is correct or incorrect providing suggestions for improving the level of detail
Feedback about the processing of the task Information about the processes used to perform the task or develop the product Commenting on students’ choice of strategies, application of strategies
Feedback about self-regulation Information about the students’ ability to self-monitor and direct their learning Feedback on students’ decisions to seek help, quality of their self-assessments, choice of goals and next steps
Feedback about the self as a person Positive or negative information about the student as a person Praise about the self (“You’re great”, “Good”)


Descriptive feedback is going to focus mostly on the first three levels in the chart above rather than feedback about the self as a person. Although feedback about the self is important, descriptive feedback should be more task oriented.

Descriptive feedback can be written, oral, or may even be a question to a student while they are working. Essentially descriptive feedback is relevant to the task students are performing, and allows them to re-focus, improve their mastery of the skill, and further engage in their learning. “It’s the quality of the feedback rather than its existence or absence that determines its power”[10].

Using Feedback for Design

The descriptive feedback that is given is important to both the students and the teachers. It is crucial that when designing instruction or a learning environment, that the need for feedback is forefront in the mind. Students must be given time to reflect and adjust learning based on feedback given.

Designing Instruction

When teachers are designing lessons and instructional strategies, it is important to determine where descriptive feedback, and time to take action occur. “Multiple opportunities for feedback and follow-up [should be] planned during instruction to allow for improvement in learning prior to Assessment of Learning”[11]. Designing lessons that give students time to adjust to feedback given before evaluation is crucial.

Designing to give continual feedback can be daunting and time consuming. It is important to design with the teacher and the learning goals in mind as well. One strategy is to give feedback at critical points during the learning. It is also “critically important that teachers model feedback, and explicitly teach students how to provide effective feedback to each other (peer assessment) and themselves (self-assessment)”[12]. Modelling how feedback is given enables students to peer assess, and to look more critically at their own work.

Designing Environment

It is important that the environment is designed to enable feedback. In the classroom it is important that there is a safe environment where students embrace feedback rather than seeing it as failure. Students must feel comfortable to take risks, and to grow from mistakes. Even more importantly, a well-designed feedback system imparts a steady stream of information to the learners about their progress and where to go to reach their goals[13].

Designing for Technology and Feedback

The Ontario government has designed an e-learning initiative that is “designed to benefit students and educators by broadening the range of learning opportunities available to all students”[14]. As technology infiltrates education, technology needs to adapt to ensure descriptive feedback still occurs in a meaningful way. Technology needs to allow teachers to give students feedback on questions, rather than just a right or wrong answer.

When using an Learning Management System platform, there is often a place to give final comments and feedback on work, but rarely feedback on a paper itself. The current go to solution is to take the document and edit within Microsoft Word (or similar software) to add comments and give worthwhile feedback. The design of these programs needs to allow for descriptive feedback in order for learning to be meaningful.

Learning Management System programs such as Desire2Learn (D2L), and Blackboard Learning System , attempt to increase modes of communication between students, and between student and teacher. This allows more feedback methods in an attempt to increase feedback. When completing online quizzes, there is often little to no feedback given, rather a simple right or wrong answer which in turn trains students to ignore feedback given. The growing popularity of MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) is giving more individuals access to education. It is incredibly difficult to give large numbers of students meaningful feedback due to time constraints. It is important when working online to teach the important skills of peer assessing, and self-assessing. Online courses need to be designed to incorporate this learning skill, so that individuals can still receive descriptive feedback, although perhaps not by the instructor, and garner a Collaborative Learning approach.

Keys to Giving Descriptive Feedback

There are seven keys to making descriptive feedback effective. Descriptive feedback is goal oriented, tangible and transparent, actionable, user-friendly, timely, ongoing, and consistent[15].

Goal Oriented

Students are working towards achieving a learning goal, so feedback given should be focused on achieving the goal, and the actions the student can take to achieve it[16]. Students can often be unclear about what the learning goal or success criteria is[17], so it is crucial that teachers relay this information to improve achievement rates, and as an important part of Assessment as Learning.

Tangible and Transparent

It is important that learning goals are evident to students. By teaching them material with no understanding of where the learning is going, students struggle to be engaged and interested in their learning, which is critical to their success[18].

Actionable

Descriptive feedback needs to be able to be put into use. It must provide recommendations that students can put into use in their practice. The feedback must describe something that a student can do to close the gap between their current level and mastery, and it must be specific.

User-Friendly

The feedback has to be in language that students understand. If students cannot understand what is being said than they will not be able to put the advice into use. When feedback is attached to a learning goal, it is crucial that the language used is not based out of curriculum documents, but rather uses student-friendly language.

Timely

It is important that when giving feedback, that students receive it when it is still possible for them to put it to use. “Feedback needs to come while the students still think of the learning goal as a learning goal – that is, something they are still striving for, not something they already did”[19].

Ongoing

File:FB Loop.png
Feedback Loop from Ontario Ministry of Education

This is where the feedback loop[20] drives design of instruction and environment. Feedback needs to be a continuous part of instruction, where feedback is given, which will affect the teacher’s instruction, and the learner’s focus. This dictates the instruction, which then leads to more descriptive feedback.

Consistent

The feedback given must be consistent when regarding a learning goal. If students cannot rely on the information that is given to them, than they will not be able to accurately put it to use. The message teachers give needs to be the same, and supported with anchor charts, descriptive rubrics[21], and bump-it up strategies.


Resources

Cantrill, C., Filipiak, D., Garcia, A., Hunt, B., Lee, C., Mirra, N.,…, Pepple, K. (2014). Teaching in the Connected Learning Classroom. Retrieved from http://dmlhub.net/sites/default/files/teaching-in-the-CL-classroom.pdf

EduGAINS. (n.d.). AER GAINS Video Library: Descriptive Feedback. Retrieved from http://www.edugains.ca/newsite/aer2/aervideo/descriptivefeedback.html

Lamp, A. (n.d.) Effective Feedback. Retrieved from http://sci430.wikispaces.com/Effective+Feedback National Writing Project. (n.d.) Digital Is: How We Write. Retrieved from http://digitalis.nwp.org/

Ontario Ministry of Education. (2010). Descriptive Feedback Assessment for Learning Guide Video Series Viewing Guide. Retrieved from http://www.edugains.ca/resourcesAER/VideoLibrary/Feedback/ViewingGuideFeedbackAfLVideoSeries.pdf



References

  1. ↑ Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, C., Marshall, B., & Wiliam, D. (2003). Assessment for learning: Putting it into practice. Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press.
  2. ↑ Hattie,J. (1999). Influences on student learning. Inaugural Lecture August 2: Professor of Education, University of Auckland. Retrieved from http://www.education.auckland.ac.nz/webdav/site/education/shared/hattie/docs/influences-on-student-learning.pdf
  3. ↑ Ontario Ministry of Education. (2010). Descriptive Feedback Assessment for Learning Guide Video Series Viewing Guide. Retrieved from http://www.edugains.ca/resourcesAER/VideoLibrary/Feedback/ViewingGuideFeedbackAfLVideoSeries.pdf
  4. ↑ Ontario Ministry of Education. (2010). Growing Success Assessment, Evaluation, and Reporting in Ontario Schools: First Edition Covering Grades 1 to 12. Ontario: Queen’s Printer for Ontario.
  5. ↑ Tunstall, P. & Gipps, C. (1996). Teacher Feedback to Young Children in Formative Assessment: a typology. British Educational Research Journal, 22(4). 389 – 404.
  6. ↑ Ontario Ministry of Education. (2010). Descriptive Feedback Assessment for Learning Guide Video Series Viewing Guide. Retrieved from http://www.edugains.ca/resourcesAER/VideoLibrary/Feedback/ViewingGuideFeedbackAfLVideoSeries.pdf
  7. ↑ Hattie, J. & Timperley, H. (2007). The Power of Feedback. Review of Educational Research. 77(1). 81-112.
  8. ↑ Hattie, J. & Timperley, H. (2007). The Power of Feedback. Review of Educational Research. 77(1). 81-112.
  9. ↑ Ontario Ministry of Education. (2010). Descriptive Feedback Assessment for Learning Guide Video Series Viewing Guide. Retrieved from http://www.edugains.ca/resourcesAER/VideoLibrary/Feedback/ViewingGuideFeedbackAfLVideoSeries.pdf
  10. ↑ Stiggins, R. J., Arter, J. A., Chappuis, J., & Chappuis, S. (2004). Classroom assessment FOR student learning: Doing it right—using it well. Portland, OR: ETS Assessment Training Institute.
  11. ↑ Ontario Ministry of Education. (2010). Growing Success Assessment, Evaluation, and Reporting in Ontario Schools: First Edition Covering Grades 1 to 12. Ontario: Queen’s Printer for Ontario.
  12. ↑ Ontario Ministry of Education. (2010). Descriptive Feedback Assessment for Learning Guide Video Series Viewing Guide. Retrieved from http://www.edugains.ca/resourcesAER/VideoLibrary/Feedback/ViewingGuideFeedbackAfLVideoSeries.pdf
  13. ↑ Saphier, J., Haley-Speca, M., & Gower, R. (2008). The Skillful Teacher: Building Your Teaching Skills. Acton, MA: Research For Better Teaching, Inc.
  14. ↑ Ontario Ministry of Education. (2010). Growing Success Assessment, Evaluation, and Reporting in Ontario Schools: First Edition Covering Grades 1 to 12. Ontario: Queen’s Printer for Ontario.
  15. ↑ Wiggins, G. (2012). Seven Keys to Effective Feedback. Feedback for Learning, 70(1), 10-16. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept12/vol70/num01/Seven-Keys-to-Effective-Feedback.aspx
  16. ↑ Wiggins, G. (2012). Seven Keys to Effective Feedback. Feedback for Learning, 70(1), 10-16. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept12/vol70/num01/Seven-Keys-to-Effective-Feedback.aspx
  17. ↑ Wiggins, G. (2012). Seven Keys to Effective Feedback. Feedback for Learning, 70(1), 10-16. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept12/vol70/num01/Seven-Keys-to-Effective-Feedback.aspx
  18. ↑ Ontario Ministry of Education. (2010). Growing Success Assessment, Evaluation, and Reporting in Ontario Schools: First Edition Covering Grades 1 to 12. Ontario: Queen’s Printer for Ontario.
  19. ↑ Brookhart, S. M. (2008) How to Give Effective Feedback to Your Students. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
  20. ↑ Ontario Ministry of Education. (2010). Descriptive Feedback Assessment for Learning Guide Video Series Viewing Guide. Retrieved from http://www.edugains.ca/resourcesAER/VideoLibrary/Feedback/ViewingGuideFeedbackAfLVideoSeries.pdf
  21. ↑ Wiggins, G. (2012). Seven Keys to Effective Feedback. Feedback for Learning, 70(1), 10-16. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept12/vol70/num01/Seven-Keys-to-Effective-Feedback.aspx
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