Issue link: http://ncumarketing.uberflip.com/i/1444359
Jamie Wernsman, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Psychology Providing effective feedback to students is one of the most important roles we have as professors, but it's no easy feat. One aspect with which I personally struggle is providing effective feedback on student strengths. Too often, I find myself overly focused on errors within the student's work, providing one or two comments on areas in which the student excelled and dedicating much more attention to areas for growth. Moreover, my comments regarding strengths tend to be vague and lack a clear indication of why those strengths are important and how they might be transferred to future academic and professional activities. I've been reflecting on ways I might improve my feedback on student strengths, and I'd like to share them with you. Identify Strengths First Strategies that prioritize student strengths can combat a tendency to focus primarily on areas for growth. My strategy is to review assignment submissions in two phases. First, I review the submission in its entirety and look only for strengths while intentionally ignoring areas that need work. Then, I go back through the submission to identify areas for growth. I have found this strategy particularly helpful in assignments that have significant content-related errors or writing issues. Focusing first on strengths has reduced the extent to which these areas for growth distract me from attending to what the student is doing well. Provide Specific, Relevant, and Actionable Feedback Providing specific, relevant, and actionable feedback on student strengths seems to be more difficult than providing this type of feedback on areas for growth. Despite knowing that simply stating, "good job," is ineffective, I still find myself slipping into providing other vague comments like "well-detailed" or "good use of sources." Effective feedback must specifically indicate what the student did well, so when I notice I'm being vague, I ask myself what the student is doing in the assignment that qualifies as a strength. Answering this question helps me formulate specific feedback. For example, instead of saying "well-detailed," I might say, Teaching 6 TIPS