Feedback for Feedforward

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Feedback for Feedforward
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What is feedback?
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What is feedback?

• Sutton (1998) suggests that effective feedback
• It involves the learner wherever possible, to
  improve the chance of feedback being noticed,
  understood, remembered and acted upon
• It is based upon mutually understood success
  criteria
• It is specific and concrete
• It is forward looking with a positive focus on
  next steps for improvement
• It values making mistakes as a source of
  reflection and a basis for learning rather than a
  demonstration of failure
• It is descriptive and questioning rather than
  evaluative

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What is feedback?

• It is offered as soon as possible after the event
• It involves asking the learner to think of
  alternative strategies or offering the learner
  alternative strategies
• It involves explicitly discussing specific next
  steps to improve performance
• It involves explicitly encouraging opportunities
  for the feedback to be used as soon as possible
• Adapted from Sutton, R. (1998).
  School-wide assessment. Improving teaching and
  learning. New Zealand Council for Educational
  Research

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What is feedback?

• Feedback to any pupil should avoid comparisons
  with other pupils which can lead to failure
  avoidance rather than a failure tolerance pattern
  of motivation
• Black and William (1998). Inside the Black
  Box, Raising Standards through Classroom
  Assessment. London School of Education, Kings
  College (p.9)

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What is the purpose of feedback?

• To help students to understand and talk about
  learning criteria in relation to their own (and
  others) performance
• To help students to identify their strengths and
  achievements against understood learning
  criteria.
• To help students identify, understand and
  articulate the gap between their current
  performance and the criteria set
• To help students to identify, understand and
  implement the next steps they need to take in
  order to narrow the gap

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• SO

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What is the purpose of feedback?

• Providing quality feedback to students following
  their participation in learning tasks is the link
  between assessment and learning and is of central
  importance to the whole learning process

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How do we give feedback?
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How do we give feedback?

• Research has shown that the language of feedback
  falls into four broad categories
• Questioning asking students open ended
  questions about their learning, their
  understanding of learning goals, their strengths,
  alternative strategies, areas they need to work
  on and steps for working on these areas etc.
• Descriptive describing what happens in a
  non-judgmental way to elicit further reflection
  and elaboration from the student
• Advisory giving advice, making suggestions,
  offering alternative strategies
• Evaluative assessing strengths and weaknesses

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How do we give feedback?

• Clarke (2003) suggests three types of prompts
• for providing verbal feedback
• Reminder prompt
• How can you show that you have understood what
  your partners have said?
• How can you make your group-mates see that you
  are listening to them when they are talking?

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How do we give feedback?

• Scaffold prompt
• A specific focusing open ended question
• How can you agree with someones ideas what can
  you say?
• How can you offer a speaking turn to someone else
  in the group? What can you say?
• A sentence with a missing ending
• So you could say Yes, ab.. (absolutely)
• Yes I think
  s.( so too)
• So you could say What do you.. (think?)
• Do you think
  thats a g. (good idea?)

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How do we give feedback?

• Example prompts
• So, maybe nod your head or say mmhmm. Do you
  think this will help them to know that you have
  understood what they have said? What else could
  you do?
• Perhaps look at your partners when they are
  talking. Do you think this will help them see
  that you are listening to them? What else could
  you do?

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How do we give feedback?

• When giving feedback Clarke (2001)
• suggests that teachers should
• Avoid setting too many criteria. This makes it
  very difficult to give specific, concrete
  feedback
• Avoid providing too much information in their
  feedback. This tends to overwhelm students and
  they find it difficult to take in.
• Clarke, S. (2001) Unlocking formative
  assessment Practical strategies for enhancing
  pupils learning in the primary classroom.
  London Hodder and Stoughton

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How do we give feedback?

• Ruth Butlers research cited in Wiliam (1999)
• suggests that assigning grades or marks
• is not conducive to learning
• tends to undermine the motivation of weaker
  students
• encourages students to become more concerned with
  model answers or finding the right answers or
  trying to guess what the teacher wants rather
  than focusing on the learning process, their own
  ideas and how they can progress towards learning
  goals

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Video Links

• Video link 1
• Video link 2
• Video link 3
• Video link 4

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How do we give feedback?

• Butlers research shows that
• Students given only grades or marks made no gain
  from the first to the second lesson
• Students given only comments scored on average
  30 higher
• Students given marks or grades in addition to
  comments cancelled the beneficial effects of the
  comments

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What are the pre-requisites for feedback for
feedforward to take place?
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What are the pre-requisites for feedback for
feedforward to take place?

• A recognition of the profound influence that
  assessment has on the motivation and self-esteem
  of students
• A belief that every child can improve
• The establishment of a classroom culture that
  encourages reflection and interaction and the use
  of assessment for learning tools

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What are the pre-requisites for feedback for
feedforward to take place?

• The establishment of a safe, non-threatening,
  affective learning environment in which students
  see making mistakes as an integral part of
  learning
• Active involvement of students in the learning
  process
• The negotiation and use of learning criteria and
  goals
• The tracking of individual student progress,
  through the criteria towards those goals
• Adapted from the OECD Improving Learning in
  Secondary Classrooms (2005)

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Further Reading

• Wiggins, G. (2004) Assessment as Feedback. New
  Horizons for learning http//www.newhorizons.or
  g/strategies/assess/wiggins.htm
• Black, P. and Wiliam, D. (2001) Inside the Black
  Box. Raising Standards through Classroom
  Assessment http//www.pdkintl.org/kappan/kbla9810.
  htm

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Further Reading

• Sutton, R. Assessment in Education Vol.5, No.1
  March 1998. Key points summarised from research
  by P. Black and D. Wiliam http//english.unitecnol
  ogy.ac.nz/resources/resources/classroom_learning.h
  tml5
• Williams, J. Providing Feedback on ESL students
  Written Assignments. The Internet TESL Journal,
  Vol 1X, No. 10, October 2003
• http//iteslj.org/Techniques/Williams-Feedback
  .html

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Further Reading

• Wiliam, D, Lee, C. Harrison, C. and Black, P.
  Teachers and Students Roles in Formative
  Assessment. Assessment in Education Vol.11 No. 1.
  March 2004
• http//www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/research/themes/
  assessment_for_learning/MonSep151522482003/?viewp
  rinterfriendly