Give Feedback | CAS Teaching Academy
Kathy Castle
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09/19/2019
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CAS Teaching Academy Fellow Kathy Castle
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- [00:00:00.690]So one of the key strategies
- [00:00:02.720]for supporting your students' success
- [00:00:04.612]is giving early detailed feedback
- [00:00:07.880]to your students on an assignment
- [00:00:09.680]in the first five weeks of the semester.
- [00:00:12.330]This is obviously really important
- [00:00:13.840]because it helps your students to get a clear sense
- [00:00:16.320]for what your expectations are, what it is that you will see
- [00:00:20.470]as key and important in the grading process,
- [00:00:23.280]and while it's important to convey your expectations,
- [00:00:25.700]to explain what you're looking for, to have detailed rubrics
- [00:00:28.900]so students know where to focus their energies,
- [00:00:31.860]nothing is a more clear indicator
- [00:00:34.570]of what your expectations are
- [00:00:36.400]than solid constructive feedback early on.
- [00:00:39.500]Because what they can do is take a look
- [00:00:41.210]at the things that you made note of,
- [00:00:43.010]the things you commented on that they did well,
- [00:00:44.800]the things that they missed early points on,
- [00:00:47.290]and these assignments are very low stakes assignments.
- [00:00:50.940]So low points, just a sense for them
- [00:00:53.449]to get their feet in the water, so to speak,
- [00:00:56.090]get their feet wet, and start to really think about
- [00:00:59.491]how they're going to engage the content
- [00:01:01.940]and the material in this class.
- [00:01:04.110]And so that they get a sense
- [00:01:05.240]for how you are going to be assessing them.
- [00:01:07.850]One of the ways, so in doing this,
- [00:01:09.528]you're lowering their anxiety
- [00:01:11.420]and helping them to really focus
- [00:01:13.680]on clearing all that anxiety out, or a lot of it out,
- [00:01:16.500]about how you're going to assess their work
- [00:01:18.340]because they will have been through one assignment
- [00:01:20.303]and they can really focus on engaging that material.
- [00:01:23.470]So one of the ways that I do this
- [00:01:25.750]is with a bookend assignment, a journal bookend assignment.
- [00:01:28.750]So I typically will then, in the first two to three weeks
- [00:01:31.302]of the class, have them journal about where they,
- [00:01:35.720]how they define specific concepts that are really big.
- [00:01:38.390]This is gonna be guided by the prompt, the journal prompt
- [00:01:40.870]is guided by the learning outcomes of the class.
- [00:01:44.080]So I'm really thinking big picture here
- [00:01:46.200]and asking them to articulate key definitions
- [00:01:48.796]and talk about how they view different issues,
- [00:01:51.639]whatever it might be for that class.
- [00:01:53.570]I want them to start a conversation sort of with themselves
- [00:01:56.821]about how they're defining these concepts
- [00:01:59.592]or locating themselves within these issues
- [00:02:02.281]and then use those very early foundational concepts
- [00:02:05.309]that I introduce in the first couple of weeks
- [00:02:07.480]to try to apply those ideas and concepts
- [00:02:10.472]to where they find themselves.
- [00:02:12.080]Now this is not sophisticated, usually.
- [00:02:14.420]This is a very early attempt, and that's how I grade it.
- [00:02:18.430]But I give feedback on the things
- [00:02:20.250]that are going to affect their grade later in the semester.
- [00:02:22.910]So I'm focusing on the ways in which my students
- [00:02:26.960]are applying these concepts.
- [00:02:28.440]Is it clear in the application
- [00:02:29.672]that they understood what this particular concept is?
- [00:02:32.980]If it's not clear, then I can point out to them,
- [00:02:35.420]hey, when you're applying this specific concept,
- [00:02:36.971]I want you to be sure you're defining it
- [00:02:38.731]or making it very evident in the context
- [00:02:41.224]of the paper that you're writing
- [00:02:43.812]that this is something you understand
- [00:02:45.880]and you know how it relates to something else.
- [00:02:48.320]This kind of feedback is invaluable to them
- [00:02:50.496]'cause then they can see, oh yeah,
- [00:02:52.340]so I need to make it clear to her
- [00:02:53.542]that this is what I, that I understand this,
- [00:02:55.299]and this is how I can do that.
- [00:02:56.930]So on future assignments, when the stakes are a lot higher
- [00:02:59.832]and the point values are more significant
- [00:03:02.311]they know how to build from this feedback early on.
- [00:03:05.890]That becomes really important.
- [00:03:07.450]But the other thing that I really, really think is important
- [00:03:09.950]about an assignment like this is it really provides students
- [00:03:12.860]with an opportunity to see where they started the semester
- [00:03:15.454]in terms of these ideas and concepts and theories,
- [00:03:18.472]and by the end of the semester, when I ask them
- [00:03:20.491]to do this again, same exact prompt
- [00:03:22.741]only incorporating the key and relevant ideas
- [00:03:26.021]that we've discussed throughout the semester
- [00:03:27.669]and that application becomes
- [00:03:29.280]significantly more sophisticated
- [00:03:31.630]and they get to see their own learning and their own growth
- [00:03:34.638]over the course of the 16 week semester.
- [00:03:37.430]So not only does it provide them with a benchmark
- [00:03:39.700]and help them to really adapt their approach to the class,
- [00:03:43.933]to what it is that I'm providing the early feedback on,
- [00:03:47.140]but they also get a really clear sense
- [00:03:48.899]of how much they've come or how far they've come
- [00:03:51.990]over the 16 weeks we've spent talking about these ideas.
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