Among the top concerns of online postsecondary students according to studies like the Noel-Levitz National Online Learners Priorities Report (2011) are the clarity of assignment expectations and the feedback provided by faculty. The irony is that faculty work hard to provide both; yet, most feel students pay little attention to assignment directions or feedback given. The usual recommendation for faculty is that they look back over the weeks of a class because they’ll usually see some improvement in students’ work. However, this improvement isn’t nearly as much as we would like or expect to see. As Marvellen Weimer recently quipped: “[Faculty] should be getting a better return on [their] investment” (5 March, 2012).
Clearly, there are some disconnects at work here; therefore, here are four ways to give more effective feedback to students.
Rubric Power
Most faculty know about rubrics, basically a score card where the main expectations of an assignment are provided along with a score range at each level and a place for comments. Although rubrics are common, few instructors seem to apply them in ways that are truly helpful for both learning and teaching.
First, rubrics should be created with much forethought. Students can not master all of the course outcomes with one assignment; therefore, activities are typically scaffolded to create a smooth learning path to those final outcomes. Rubrics should also reflect that same scaffolding; they should be carefully composed and clearly presented so that they are user-friendly. If you aren’t sure how to create an effective rubric, this YouTube video provides a nice overview of some online rubric generators:

Second, they should be presented on the first day of class; placing them within the syllabus can be helpful as students will see from day one how the class will progress, what steps will be taken to get them to the final outcomes of the course content. It’s helpful for faculty to give a brief overview of this progression as well as the importance of the rubrics.
Finally, the rubrics need to be used when assignments are evaluated. They should be completed with an explanation of why the student met/did not meet each criterion on the rubric to clarify why the assignment received the final score it earned. Additional feedback should be provided to offer the student some tips on how to progress to the next level of demonstratable knowledge and skill. As Heidi Andrade suggests, “Students should be able to use rubrics in many of the same ways that teachers use them—to clarify the standards for a quality performance, and to guide ongoing feedback about progress toward those standards.” These completed rubrics should be attached to or pasted into the students’ assignments so that they have both the evaluation and the example of their work for future reference.
Comments
Comments should also be used elsewhere to guide a student’s work. The “comments” feature in various software programs can be helpful in pinpointing specific examples of where the student demonstrated strengths, improvements, and weaknesses. These should be balanced so that students don’t feel they were just ripped apart on an assignment and that their work had no value. On the other hand, even when a project meets or exceeds expectations, comments should be made at the text level to guide students forward in gaining more advanced knowledge and skills.
Additionally, students should not be overwhelmed with repetition or too many comments in-text. As a composition instructor, for example, it’s helpful to focus on one or two major weaknesses in grammar or mechanics by commenting on the first couple of occurrences. I often highlight one or two more without comment to draw the student’s attention to it. This allows the student to see their tendency toward a certain weakness, and guides them toward learning to spot and correct those occurrences in the future.
Within the assignment, holistic comments are also helpful. Pointing out at least one strength that was demonstrated throughout the assignment or that you are seeing demonstrated on more than one activity is helpful to students. Similarly, a general comment on any tendencies toward certain weaknesses and how the student could improve or maybe is showing signs of advancement is helpful. Asking Socratic questions like: “How could you use this strength on your next assignment?” or “How could you reduce the occurrence of this weakness?” can provide teachable moments that will benefit students as they move forward.
In general, keep in mind that comments should be evaluative and instructive rather than simple labeling. They should also be personalized rather than repetitious robo-comments. Texas A & M’s Writing Center provides some useful explanation and examples of comments as well as how they connect to the use of rubrics.
Process over Product
Too often feedback is focused after an assignment is completed; yet, faculty expect students will improve somehow. Feedback is more helpful to the student when it’s provided continually through the process of creating the assignment. Begin providing feedback at the beginning. In whatever subject I teach, for example, we take a bit of time to discuss possible ideas for the project: topic, audience, purpose, mode of presentation, etc. These discussions and the feedback provided from the very beginning do much to prevent students from starting off in a direction that may not fit the assignment’s objectives. Following through on this regularly in class also helps students stay on track while advancing their skills before the final project is due for evaluation. Faculty can also do spot checks using the rubric’s criteria, and working in peer groups on this works well as students learn from one another. Bryan Harris offers seven additional tips to help keep students engaged in learning during process oriented feedback.
Media Rich
Don’t forget the wonderful array of technology that could be used to provide feedback. Increasingly, research is showing that media rich or a multimodal approach to feedback is showing more promise than written feedback alone. Joni Boone and Susan Carlson of Kaplan University recently published a study entitled: “Paper Review Revolution: Screencasting Feedback for Developmental Writers” that documents the success of using screencasting to provide feedback (NADE Digest, 5(3) Fall, 2011, pp. 15-23). As a full-time tutor and writing center director, Boone and Carlson initiated providing feedback that included using Jing to produce an audio file to accompany written feedback. However, this progressed into using Screencasting which allowed tutors to review a paper with both video and audio feedback; students see this more like a face-to-face discussion with the evaluator and a more personal touch (p. 17-18). Although students in the study expressed that they were hoping for guidance on more granular areas like grammar and mechanics, the study showed that students more frequently expressed the intent to improve on larger global issues like improving development, unity, or coherence as they moved forward (p. 20). Boone and Carlson also found that students who received this media rich feedback achieved better grades (average 3.62 GPA) than students who received written feedback only (average GPA 3.13) or no feedback (average GPA 1.4) (p. 21).
While the four tips above may seem time intensive, in reality, they are not. Creating a solid rubric and a focus on process throughout the course rather than waiting until the assignment is submitted to sort out a less focused response to an assignment prompt will save time. Likewise, Boone and Carlson found that the screencasting method they describe was no more time intensive than providing written comments alone (p. 18). Given that these methods produce greater student satisfaction and success while making faculty feel their time, energy and efforts in providing quality feedback have paid off is well worth the effort.