Preparing Students for Giving and Receiving Constructive Feedback

Set the stage for constructive feedback.

For students to provide clear, constructive feedback, they must first understand the goals and assessment standards of an assignment. Always provide a detailed description of the assignment expectations and an outline, such as a rubric, of how the assignment will be assessed. This clarity is essential for effective feedback.

Pair feedback exercises with opportunities for students to critically reflect. This ensures they gain the most from the feedback experience. Provide students with opportunities for reflection before engaging in feedback activities and discuss best practices for impactful reflection with them.

Provide clear guidelines for feedback.

Unstructured feedback can lead to vague flattery, hurt feelings, or low engagement. Instead, set specific expectations for the tone and structure of feedback. Examples include:

• Provide one comment on each area assessed in the rubric, balancing positive comments with constructive criticism.
• Identify the greatest strength in the work relative to the assessment criteria and suggest areas for improvement with actionable ideas.
• Use sentence stems like "The clarity of your assignment could be improved by..." and "Strong elements that you can build upon include..."

Help students understand what makes criticism constructive.

Before students provide feedback, review what makes criticism constructive. Constructive feedback should be:

• Specific: Identify areas of strength and opportunity clearly, avoiding broad comments about the work or the creator.
• Empathetic: Provide feedback in a manner that you would want to receive. Imagine presenting the feedback directly to the person.
• Balanced: Mix positive statements with constructive suggestions for improvement.
• Actionable: Ensure feedback helps the recipient achieve a goal. If they cannot identify a plan of action from the feedback, it is not helpful.

Offer modelling and practice of the feedback process.

Model constructive feedback throughout your course, ensuring your feedback aligns with the guidelines above. Offer students practice opportunities before they engage with their peers' work. This can include providing feedback on a sample paper or assignment. This practice helps catch and correct non-constructive feedback and prepares students for the experience of receiving feedback. This process can also provide an opportunity for students to reflect on what the experience of receiving feedback will be like and prepare themselves for it.

 

Prepare Students to Manage Emotions

Discuss with students that constructive feedback can evoke challenging emotions. Encourage them to anticipate and take time with these emotions before considering what they can learn from the feedback. This may involve viewing feedback multiple times to implement it effectively.

Emphasize Iterative Improvement and Risk Taking

Stress the importance of continuous improvement and risk-taking for effective learning. If the focus is primarily on looking smart or getting good grades, students may be less comfortable with or responsive to constructive criticism. Design your course to allow students to apply and practice skills in low-stakes situations and explicitly discuss how mistakes and failure are part of learning.

 

Learn More Carless, D., & Boud, D. (2018). The development of student feedback literacy: Enabling uptake of feedback. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 43(8), 1315–1325. Cartney, P. (2010). Exploring the use of peer assessment as a vehicle for closing the gap between feedback given and feedback used. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 35(5), 551-564. van Zundert, M., Sluijsmans, D., & van Merrienboer, J. (2010). Effective peer assessment processes: Research findings and future directions. Learning and Instruction, 20(4), 270-279.

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