1. What Is Feedback,
and Why Is it So Important?
SPRING 2013 OPEN CAMPUS VIRTUAL CONVOCATION

2. Let’s Start with a
Scenario…
A student submits her
work and doesn’t receive
a grade or comments for
two weeks.

3. In This Scenario…
What could this delay in feedback
mean for the student?
 Could this mean making the same
mistakes on future assignments?
 Could this make for a bad
impression of the online
experience?
 Could this even make the
difference between persisting and
giving up?

4. Thankfully, there’s a better
way…
This presentation will
examine research to show
why and how feedback
can help our students
avoid such issues and be
more successful.

5. So, Student Feedback:
What Is It?

6. feed • back (noun)
evaluative information derived from
a particular process or activity: as in, “He got
great feedback from his speech and was thus
able to improve enough to deliver a knockout
commencement address.”

7. stu•dent feed • back
Student feedback can include a variety of helpful one-on-
one responses from an instructor. Some examples:
 a phone call to follow-up on a student’s absence in the LMS
 a set of suggestions sent along with a paper grade
 a positive “pat on the head” message for a job well done
 a personalized response to a discussion post
 a class-wide message focusing on areas of improvement in a
particular concept

8. Feedback Matters Online
 For online learners, feedback is
especially important because
it represents some of the only
one-on-one engagement they
have with their instructors.

9. One-on-One Interaction Is
Essential…
 “the online classroom might be the only
educational outlet in which the one-to-one
interaction between the instructor and the student
is more important than the textbook, assignments or
lectures. . . students have no other gauge of their
ability than targeted, specific feedback from the
instructor.”
The Journal of Educators Online, Volume 3, Number 2, July 2006

10. …And Students Crave That
Interaction
Interviews with 100 online learners
at Kent State found that students
crave interaction with their instructors.
Five Pedagogical Practices to Improve Your Online Course,
Feb 2013, Vol. 13, Num. 2, Online Classroom

11. Why Are Students Looking for
Interaction?
 Challenges for online students
 Asynchronous learning
 Lack of personal contact
 Potential disengagement can
lead to a failure to persist

12. So How Can We Be of the Most
Help?
Employ Helpful Feedback to Help
Students Grow and Improve.
Feedback Should:
Be Timely
Be Personalized
Be Engaging
Model Critical Thinking

13. Personal Feedback
“If you give them feedback directed
to them personally, it reduces some
barriers that … naturally develop in
the online classroom.”
“Using Audio to Provide Timely Feedback,” Rob Kelly, May 2012, Vol. 12, Num. 5, Online Classroom

14. Personalized Feedback
 Personalize discussion
posts and emails; use
students’ names; avoid
boilerplate messages.

15. Timely Feedback
“If you give them good feedback
at the beginning that’s … personal,
constructive, and helpful, the quality
of their work [will be better] for the
whole semester.”
Reciprocal Feedback in the Online Classroom, Rob Kelly, May 2012, Vol. 12, Num. 5, Online Classroom

16. Timely Feedback
 Respond early & often
 In e-mails
 In discussion forums
 On written assignments

17. Engaging Feedback
One recent study of online students
found that when comments were
communicated respectfully,
“Students felt agency. They felt
more involved in the class.”
Five Pedagogical Practices to Improve Your Online Course, Feb 2013, Vol. 13, Num. 2, Online Classroom

18. Engaging Student Feedback
 Ask questions that show
you’ve been listening
 Make points that
encourage further
thought and
conversation
 Model critical thinking

19. Model Critical Thinking
“Ask a yes-or-no question followed
by why or why not? It balances
quantitative and qualitative feedback.”
Five Pedagogical Practices to Improve Your Online Course,
Feb 2013, Vol. 13, Num. 2, Online Classroom

20. What Impact Might These Practices
Have on Student Success?

21. Feedback and Student Success
 “Monitoring and feedback is a condition for
student success. Students are more likely to
succeed in settings that provide faculty, staff,
and students frequent feedback about their
performance.”
“Taking Student Success Seriously: Rethinking the First Year of College”
V. Tinto, Syracuse University. 2005.

22. Feedback and Student Success
 In one study of online students classified as
persisters and nonpersisters, “results indicated that
approximately 66% of the nonpersisters mentioned
communication with faculty as a barrier to
persistence. Both persisters and nonpersisters cited
insufficient and unsatisfactory communication with
academicians as a barrier to persistence.”
(Morgan & Tam, 1999)

23. Feedback and Student Success
 The role of the instructor is magnified due to
the lack of informal peer-to-peer interaction
and the absence of typical non-verbal cues
and spontaneous discussions in a face-to-face
classroom.
The Journal of Educators Online, Volume 3, Number 2, July 2006

24. Good Feedback = Persistence and
Success
In a recent Open Campus pilot program,
Professor Jerry Shawver and his team of math
instructors led a cohort of developmental
math students to a 23.5% increase in student
success by communicating often, offering
ample feedback, and refusing to allow
students to “fall off the map.”

25. Good Feedback = Critical Thinking
As we’ve all seen in discussion forums
and writing assignments, the better the
feedback students get, the stronger and
sharper their subsequent work becomes.
Think about that!

26. Let’s Return to the Student in Our
Scenario…
With helpful feedback, our student (and her
classmates) will be more persistent, more
successful, and have a better experience, so
remember:
 Be Timely
 Personalize Feedback
 Model Critical Thinking
 Engage and Encourage

27. Want to start using better feedback
now?
For in-depth tips and real-life examples on using these
practices in your Open Campus classroom, please view the
following Convocation modules on Student Feedback:
 Announcements
 Grading
 Discussions

28. crc@fscj.edu
904.633.8496

29. THANK YOU!