The feedback should be educational in nature. It is most productive for a student's learning when provided with an explanation and an example of what is accurate and inaccurate in their work. Feedback is an essential part of learning, but not all of it is productive. We've compiled five best practices to give students feedback.
When giving feedback, it's important to ensure that it's specific and linked to clearly articulated learning objectives or outcomes. Specific feedback gives students an idea of what they did well and how they can improve in relation to the learning criteria established in the course. Connecting feedback to specific, achievable objectives helps students also understand the desired outcomes and sub-objectives. In addition, goals should not be too challenging or too easy; goals that are too challenging can discourage students and make them feel unable to achieve it, while goals that are too easy may not adequately push students to improve and also provide them with unrealistic expectations of success.
The purpose of formative evaluation is to monitor student learning to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by teachers to improve their teaching and by students to improve their learning. Therefore, it is best to give formative feedback at the beginning of the course and before summative evaluations. Formative feedback helps students improve and prevent them from making the same mistakes again. In some cases, feedback is required before students can move on, or feel able to move on, to the next stage of the evaluation.
