Formative Feedback
Overview
- Formative feedback is an important component of the formative assessment methodology designed to provide students with consistent, on-going feedback as a way to improve their learning.
- It involves providing relevant, specific, and descriptive feedback--both written and verbal--so that students have a clear understanding of what they are doing well and what they need to improve upon.
- Unlike summative assessments, which typically occur at the end of the unit and take the form of “assessment of learning,” while formative feedback given by teachers is on-going and takes the form of “assessment for learning.”
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Key Concepts
- Relevant—The feedback you give should be relevant to the task at hand, and designed with improvement in mind. If you are assessing the way in which students have evaluated the effectiveness of media texts in groups by writing their thoughts on chart paper, for example, complimenting them on their penmanship would not be relevant.
- Specific—The feedback should be specific so as to leave no ambiguity. The student should be able to ascertain exactly which part of their performance you are providing feedback on.
- Descriptive—The feedback should always be detailed enough so that the student knows exactly what needs to be improved—and how—or conversely, what was done well and why. Remarks such as “Excellent” or “Great job” lack substance of any kind.
- Expressed Respectfully—Always ensure that feedback is expressed respectfully.
Practical Suggestions for Educators
RISE Model
RISE Model
- The model was designed to steer student conversations toward positive, productive critiques by Emily Wray.
- Aligned with Bloom's taxonomy for higher order thinking.
- The four steps of the model prompt students to reflect, then build their constructive analysis through inquiry, providing suggestions to help elevate each other's work.
- RISE gives students an opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of course content as they coach fellow students. In the process, relationships are strengthened through collaboration, rather than competition.
- The Feedback Sandwich is designed to ‘sandwich’ criticism in between praise. The feedback should describe the behaviour that you want the student to continue doing, and the behaviour the student should change.
- Part of the purpose is to take the sting out of criticism and make it more palatable. Consider how receiving only critical feedback feels.
- This format is also designed to make giving critical feedback easier on both the teacher and student, thereby increasing its effectiveness. Giving criticism or pointing out shortcomings can be difficult at times, and including praise on a structural level can make this task easier.
- There are drawbacks to this method, however, particularly in the way that the feedback is received by students. The inclusion of structural praise could lead to the constructive criticism appearing too subtle in contrast to the praise, which would result in students not adequately reflecting on what they need to change and improve.
Resources
- How to give effective feedback to your students
- Formative and Summative Feedback
- How to give really good formative feedback
- RISE Model
- Dohrenwend, Anne. (2002) Serving Up the Feedback Sandwich. Family Practice Management 9 (10), 43-46.
- James, Ian Andrew. (2015). The Rightful Demise of the Sh*t Sandwich: Providing Effective Feedback. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy 43, 759-766.
- Smith, Emma and Stephen Gorard. (2005) ‘They don’t give us our marks’: the role of formative feedback in student progress. Assessment in Education 12 (1), 21-38.