Posts Tagged ‘Feedback’

Providing Feedback that Moves Learning on

Interesting that through his research Wiliam has found that students respond more positively to feedback when comments are given rather than grades or grades and comments.

Teacher praise is far more effective if it is infrequent, credible,contingent, specific and genuine (Brophy, 1981).

“…feedback is rather like the scene in the rear view mirror rather than through the windshield.” Feedback functions formatively only if the information fed back to the learner is used by the learner in improving performance.

Comparison with sports coaching is illuminating and something I relate strongly with. Feedback on the “how” is important.

“The secret of effective feedback is that saying what’s wrong isn’t enough; to be effective, feedback must provide a recipe for future action.”

“The skill of being able to break down a long learning journey – from where the student is rit now to where she needs to be – into a series of small steps takes years for even the most capable coaches to develop.”

Alfie Kohn (1994): “Never grade students while they are still learning”. As soon as students get a grade the learning stops.

“We need classroom assessment systems that are designed primarily to support learning and deal in data that are recorded at a level that is useful for teachers, students, and parents in determining where students are in their learning. Such fine-scale evidence can always be aggregated for summative reporting. It is not possible to go the other way: from aggregate reports of achievement to learning needs.”

“Feedback should cause thinking.”
…don’t provide feedback unless you allow time, in class, to work on using the feedback to improve their work.
… Feedback should be more work for the recipient than the donor.

Needs to cause thinking rather than an emotional response.
Should relate to learning goals that have been shared with the students .
Should increase the extent to which students are owners of their own learning.