Formative Feedback Loop

What can a popular video game teach us about the value of feedback in eLearning?  

What makes us pull back on that second bird just a little farther, or adjust our aim?

It is the observation of the result of the first attempt that guides the player in making informed adjustments to the second. In other words, it is the feedback received from the initial failure that provides the information needed to move toward success.

 
This type of formative feedback has long been considered crucial to teaching especially when paired with low stakes assessments. The concept of a low-stakes assessment is one where the value comes from the learning and the instructor feedback, rather than the score itself. This is an instructional design technique where a learner has the ability to receive feedback from their instructor and adjust their behavior or understanding according to that feedback. It’s also important to note that this is an environment in which failure and iteration are an integral part of the learning process, only to be interrupted by the inevitable success.

 

  

Automated Feedback

One of the great advantages that elearning brings to the area of formative assessment is the ability to design automatic feedback loops into your course. In much the same way that video games provide automatic feedback to a player’s actions and choices, Canvas provides multiple ways to create automated feedback loops for your learners based on their actions and choices. Take the time to build feedback loops once and you can reuse them for every learner over multiple quarters.  

 

Direct Feedback

Assignments and discussions are other areas in Canvas where instructors can provide feedback to learners. This is direct feedback because you are providing it to the students in real-time in direct response to the work they've submitted.  While not as convenient as automated feedback, this type of student feedback can be just as important in the learning process as the initial instruction itself, and should be given just as much time and attention because it guides the learner through the loop of failure, feedback, and learning. Without the feedback, there is no loop. This is also why it’s important to allow learners multiple attempts at formative assignments and assessments. ** Especially in online courses where much of the direct instruction is pre-written, think of student feedback as the main place where you are adding value as an experienced professional and instructor. 

 

*Speedgrader allows you to provide individualized feedback directly with certain assessments that have been submitted through Canvas.

 

Feedback Tools

One workflow that I’ve found useful when providing direct feedback is to create a collection of common responses for a given assignment or project.  Write your most common responses and save them in a separate text file or Doc so you have a library of ready responses that you can use as a starting point and customize as necessary.  This will save you tons of time over re-writing the same responses time after time and allow you to give more thought out direct feedback to your students.

Another good workflow is to use the inline video tool to give verbal direct feedback to your students.  Depending on your typing skills this could be quicker and more natural than writing out all your responses.  I’ve also seen teachers use a screencast tool like Jing Links to an external site. or Panopto to create video responses to common mistakes or questions so you have those ready to go when multiple students are experiencing the same issue.

After exploring these ideas and their implementation in Canvas, click Next to share your ideas and experiences about automated and direct feedback.