Leveraging the Feedback Loop
Ahmed (Am) Sagarwala
Associate Dean, Interaction Design
The Hawaiian star compass
Design: Nainoa Thompson.
Feedback is information about the gap between the actual level and the reference level of a system parameter which is used to alter the gap in some way.
– Ramaprasad (1984)
- Meets learners where they are
- Can be incorporated effectively
- Feeds up, back, and forward
- Works at four areas (task, process, self-regulation, self)
- Should not be burdensome
An Ideal Process
They waited 3-weeks for
feedback on their submission.
– Concerned Caregiver
I’m already behind on grading. Students just started submitting their next assignment...
– Flailing Faculty Member
I handed in my second assignment last week, but I found out today that I failed the first one.
– Stumped Student
I’m never going to need to do that again, I never even looked at the feedback.
– Languishing Learner
Roll call
How do you provide feedback to students in your classes?
Feedback detailed & frequent
Student's interpretation of feedback
Where do you stand?
1
Stimulus
3
Reinforcement
2
Response
Thorndike’s Law of Effect
Reframing With Three
1
2
3
Where are they now?
How are they currently?
Where to next?
Consider this dynamic:
Photo: Toa Heftiba
Manage Up
- Student submission assignment + self-assessment
- Faculty reviews in-class or async
- Meet with student feedback
- Student captures the critique in bullet-form
- Student reflection how to improve for next time
- Submit notes reference for next round
Framework
10 Years Ago...
A series of small experiments.
140 Students
Student receive a topic to write a post about every week.
12
Blog Posts
Post is reviewed based on a rubric regarding five criteria (use of visuals, writing quality, writing style, formatting, submission standard.
1,680
Assessed
A few sentences about where to improve, some of which was canned based on common issues and successes.
500+
Feedback
Late? Missed? Left-field submissions?
- 4% immediate improvement
- Quality work by W3 (was W6)
- 10% higher final grades
Outcomes
- Instead of 12, complete 8
- Propose a post
- Two lowest are dropped
- Peer-review two posts
Other Initiatives
Choose a course you lead or teach:
Target one assignment to incorporate this feedback framework. Remember to emulate an employee-manager exchange where the employee documents and commits to progressively improve their work.
- What are some barriers you foresee?
- What adjustments are needed to the assessments?
Activity
- Generalized feedback
- Group-based feedback
- Peer-to-peer feedback
- Self-reflections
- Staggered cohorts
- Learning stations
- Leverage external mentors
- Less frequent assessments