2. IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER…
There is no single „right‟ way of providing feedback – the strategy
used should be appropriate for the purpose and context of the
work. Teachers need to develop a „tool kit‟ of approaches to giving
feedback which they can draw upon within a subject context.
The most important thing is:
For formative assessment to impact upon learning, students must
„connect‟ with it (Higgins et al., 2002).
How can you make your feedback count so that your students
„connect‟ with it?
3. MAKE IT RELEVANT
TO THE STUDENT…
Sharing the success criteria and linking to it in your
comments is key:
Rust et al. (2003), found in their feedback project that „students
(…) also identified exemplars and further explanation as useful in
making the assessment criteria more comprehensible‟ (p.151).
Try to avoid vague language which means nothing to your
students:
It was apparent that many of the tutors‟ feedback comments had
no specific criticism, but vague praise was common. For our
project to succeed, we needed clear statements of how the grade
could be raised if the work was to be repeated. Statements like
“use a more academic style” were clear enough for staff to
interpret, but not so for all the students, as we found in the one-toone tutorials.
4. GREAT MARKING…
Essential
· provide clear learning intentions and
success criteria.
Desirable
· encompass pupil self-evaluation and
feedback from peers.
· highlight success and indicate one or two · provide strategies for improving work
instances where improvement could
take place.
· model strategies for improvement.
through teaching.
· make feedback accessible to the learner.
· link to longer term target setting.
• written comments must be readable.
· do not use grades and marks on every
· allocate time for feedback to take place
or for learner to read written comments.
· expect some focused improvement to
take place, based on the feedback.
· make effective use of time spent in
providing verbal and written feedback.
piece of work.
5. CREATING A DIALOGUE
Use questions in your feedback to help guide your students
to their next steps. Give them time to respond so you can
check they have understood and progressed.
