1. Chapter 5 –
Providing
Feedback That
Moves Learning
Forward
Ben Sosebee & Kathleen
Burns

2. The Quality of Feedback

A research study done in 1985 by Elawar & Corno with 3
schools in Venezuela
1st school
•teachers were trained for 7
hours
•then provided feedback in the
form of specific feedback,
suggestions on improvement &
at least on positive remark.


2nd school
•Teachers were trained for 7
hours
•Provided feedback have to
half the class and only scores
to the other half.
3rd school
•Received no training
and reported only
scores to students
Results showed that the students who received
constructive feedback learned twice as fast as the
control group.
Learning improvements occurred across all achievement
levels, students attitudes towards mathematics were
more positive and the achievement gap between males
and females was reduced.

3. The Quality of Feedback

In another research study there were similar results

The 1st classroom grades were reported back 2
days after an assignment was given.
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The 2nd class room only comments were given

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These students scored 30% higher on the second
assessment
The 3rd classroom the students were given scores
and comments


These students scored no better on the second than
the 1st assessment
These students progress but not as much as the
students who were given the comments alone.
It appears that the comments value is washed out
when pairing with scores.
Students who got high scores did not read the
comments and students who scored poorly didn’t
want to.

4. The Quality of Feedback


In yet another similar study one teacher compared results
of class periods, some were given
feedback, comments, and grades in different
combinations.
This time the students were given a questionnaire, this was
given to measure effort made related to ego or task
related factors.
Results of Questionnaire
Students who were given comments only had high levels of task
involvement, but ego involvement was around the same as the
students with no feedback.
Students with written praise had comparable (to control group)
levels of task involvement, yet their ego involvement was much
higher.
When grades were adding into the reports there was no
achievement increases but there was a slight increase in ego
involvement.

5. The Quality of Feedback
It
appears that the quality of
feedback rather than the
quantity of praise is important.
 “Teacher
praise is far more
effective if it is
infrequent, credible, contingent, s
pecific, and genuine.” p. 111

6. The Quality of Feedback

Timing is everything…



If it is too early (before they can do the work)
they will learn less .
Students who received feedback on questions
they “peeked” at before the chance to answer
them learned less.
Simmons & Cope (1993) conducted research
and found students engaged on a computer
program proving constant “trial and
improvement” had more mindfulness than
students who were asked to complete a
pencil and paper handout and then had it
checked for accuracy.

7. The Quality of Feedback
 Sometimes


less is more…
If the students remain mindful throughout the
activity it is more meaningful than a larger volume
of practice
MATH EXAMPLE:
 Students
who were provided with scaffolding support
to get “unstuck” during the process of a challenging
problem made more progress compared to:
 Students who completed the problem incorrectly,
were given the solution and then given a new
problem to solve.

They never figured out where they were stuck.

8. The Quality of Feedback
 Does
it matter if feedback is oral or
written?


During a music class research study that
was conducted by Boulet, Simard &
DeMelo (1990) the results showed that
students who were given feedback orally
scored higher than those with written or no
feedback.
The student with either type of feedback
scored higher than the group with none.

9. The Quality of Feedback
 There
are 3 strong themes relating to students
responses on achievement:

1st personal or outside factor – Personalization
 Internal
– I got this grade because I worked hard
 External – I got this grade because Ms. Burns hates me

2nd long lasting/transient – Stability
 Stable
– I got this grade because I am good at this
subject
 Unstable –I got this grade because I did not study for
this test.

3rd Specify
 Specific-I
am only good at one thing
 Global- I am good at this, so I am good at everything.

10. A Recipe for
Future Action

11. What is feedback?



Term came from
Norbert Wiener.
Formed part of the
feedback loop in a
thermostat helping to
regulate room
temperature.
This allowed someone
to measure the current
temp., set the desired
temp., and compare
the current temp to the
desired temp.

12. How to get feedback to work?



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The point is to bring current state closer to the
desired state.
Just telling the students that their current
performance falls short of learning targets isn’t
feedback.
Information must be used by learner to
improve performance.
The teacher should break down feedback
into steps to allow the student to understand
how to get from point A to the end result.

13. Grading: Why it doesn’t work?
 Grades
make no improvement on student
learning.
 Once a grade is given, learning stops.
 Many schools and administrators agree
with this concept.
 Parents want to see grades to determine
how their child is achieving and
progressing.

14. Grading: How to make it
work?
 Set
up learning tasks into individual
learning units.
 Rank the student’s mastery on each of
these units. 0-2
 Allow the student opportunities to
continue to master the learning tasks.
 Provide them with feedback to help them
understand what they need to do to
master the learning tasks.

15. Grading: How to make it work
cont.
 Create
a rubric for original submission,
and future re-submissions.
 Students should not be given an easy
grade for re-submitting the assignment.
 The rubric on page 128 shows how to
increase grades with each submission,
without making it too easy for students.

17. Grading: How to make it work
cont.

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
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Another example in grading is to use a
plus, equal, or minus sign.
If the student gets a check, they have mastered the
learning task.
If the student gets an equal sign, they have only
mastered part of the learning task.
If the student gets a minus sign, they have not
mastered the learning task.
This gives the student feedback without a final grade.
The teacher can then require the student to go back
and fix what they missed until the task is mastered.

18. When does feedback work?

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It works best if the feedback is used by the
learner in improving performance.
Teachers should focus on both positives and
negatives.
You did great on this part…..
You could improve on this part……
Make sure the language is student friendly.
Stay to the point, but do not be broad with
statements. (Get your era lower)
Try to use alternative systems other than just
grades.