Recognition and Feedback
The most important thing when going to my days as an online learner is recieving feedback. When students submit assignments they afraid to go on to the next one until receiving feedback from the one prior. They need the recognition to let them know that they are on the right track. I hope we are all staying on top of this and providing fast responses to our students.
Cynthia:
The benefits of immediate feedback apply to both on-the-ground learning environments as well as online learning environments. Feedback in an online environment can be delayed. Most institutions require Instructor to provide feedback within 24 to 48 hours.
Satrohan
One hint for instructors in giving written feedback is to use the "track changes" function in MS Word under the "Tools" link.
This allows for you to add comments, correct grammar and spelling errors so the student can easily see it.
Just telling a student he/she had spelling errors does not help unless you can show them. For example, many students use "its" and it's incorrectly. Instead of giving a general comment, by using the track changes function, you can tell them exactly what they did incorrectly.
Of course, you can also highlight good points in their paper too.
Kathryn
Kathryn:
The "track changes" function dos serve the purpose you have indicated. Our experience has shown that a reasonable percentage of Instructor's we have supported in the development of course content find the results of this function to be confusing when there are many changes. The same applies to students as determined from course evaluation reports.
Satrohan
What a great idea! I have never used this feature and now that I'm aware of it, I'm going to certainly use it as a tool in my classes. Thanks for the advice!
Just be careful with the tool - you'd be surprised what you may find "tracked" in a document. I would think you also want to give a short tutorial to your students on the tool - how to accept the changes and how to turn it off. Without turning it off and accepting the changes, the document will be difficult for the student to go back to down the road as it is a mess (highlights, crossouts, etc). However, usage of this tool is a great idea!
Thank you kindly, Michelle, for sharing this with us.
Satrohan
I agree. Because we do not see these students in a traditional classroom, written feedback is critical. And the feedback must have some "meat" or it is a waste of time for the student. Even when a student does well, they need to know what they did well so they can repeat those efforts.
Great thread. I try to provide detailed and timely responses to each of my students. I try to focus on where they lost points, and also provide hints on what could be done to gain points for future assignments. I find that this encourages some students as opposed to discouraging them into giving up.
Providing effective feedback is very important--regardless of whether it is for the online student or the residential student. As you point out, students need to know what they can do to improve in the class.
Thanks for the post Nitin.
Feedback is very important for all students to gauge how they are doing in the class. Without enough feedback they may not realize they are not correctly absorbing the information or they may not be getting enough out of the course.
That is so true Amanda. I have faculty in the psychology program give learners detailed feedback on their participation in discussions during the first three weeks of the course in order to ensure they understand the expectations of participation in discussions and how to continue to improve their performance. Tina
Recognition and feedback is most effective when used both ways. In other words students certainly need feedback & information from the instructor to know they are achieving the goals and learning objectives of the subject/topic matter. Instructors need to receive feedback from students to make sure the course content is being presented within the guidelines and standards of the curriculum. Instructors should also be cautious feedback is designed to motivate not criticize students.
Sandra,
You have some good points here. I like how you mention that instructors need feedback too to help us ensure we are on track and effective. Being a reflective practitioner helps ensure we can be the best instructor we can be.
Herbert Brown III
