Examples of feedback

• Collective
• Teacher as the feedback provider
• Public
• Specific

An online discussion forum basically imitates a discussion in the classroom: A question is asked by the teacher, students answer the question or make comments and the teacher provides feedback. At the same time, though, online discussion is another type of communication genre, which is characterized by being written, asynchronous, and saved in the system as opposed to oral, spontaneous, and passing/momentary discussions.

Preparation
The teacher must prepare questions, options for answering and feedback texts and implement it in the quiz module online. A quiz question may be simple and, for example, focus on repetition of theory or it may require more reflection and ask students to respond to a mini-case. When setting up the quiz, the teacher must decide on the quantity and character of the feedback. Also, the teacher must decide whether students are able to attempt the quiz one time or multiple times.

Process
You can set up one or multiple online discussion forums in Canvas, sort them into discussion groups, and ‘pin’ the most important ones. When you create a new discussion, you will need to write a starting entry where you specify the instructions for how the students should structure their reply – and what they need to discuss. After doing that, you will need to set the specific setting for each thread, such as anonymity, options for liking, set due dates, etc. You will then be able to copy one discussion thread to another course with the same settings.

Resources
The template for your discussion forum(s) can, alongside other online learning activities, be reused again and again, e.g. if you are teaching the same course. In Canvas, you will get a simple overview of your student’s responses, and it is easy to see who responded to whom – making it an efficient way of reading through the qualitative data from your discussion thread.

Output
Online discussion forums are a great way for students to connect with their peers who have similar interests and exchange ideas and information. Some specific benefits of online discussion forums include convenience, accessibility, diversity of opinions, ability to learn from others, and enhancing a feeling of community.

• Individual
• Teacher as the feedback provider
• Private
• Specific

A quiz enables students to test their understanding of the course syllabus as presented for example in articles, textbooks, lectures, or videos. When students take an online quiz, auto-generated, generic feedback, developed by the teacher, is delivered to the student instantly.

Preparation
The teacher must prepare questions, options for answering and feedback texts and implement it in the quiz module online. A quiz question may be simple and, for example, focus on repetition of theory or it may require more reflection and ask students to respond to a mini-case. When setting up the quiz, the teacher must decide on the quantity and character of the feedback. Also, the teacher must decide whether students are able to attempt the quiz one time or multiple times.

Process
When students attempt the online quiz, feedback is delivered instantly as they answer to a question. The feedback text is written specifically to the answering option, which has been selected. It may go more thoroughly into the right answer and clarify why it is correct. It may also include a reference to the curriculum and, in this way, help students who did not answer correctly in improving their learning. If the question has more correct answers and a weighted score, the feedback may comment on the weighting. In addition, the teacher may add a general feedback text based on the student’s overall quiz score.

Resources
It takes time to produce a full quiz with relevant questions, plausible options for answering, and helpful feedback texts. On the other hand, once a quiz has been created, it may be recycled across courses. In addition, the teacher may spend some time studying the quiz data and, for example, look closely at the performance of the individual question. Were some of the questions harder than others to answer? On the basis of this data, the teacher can give additional tailored feedback in the next class session.

Output
Online quizzing allows students to assess their individual knowledge and understanding. The feedback is delivered instantly and provides students with information about their current level of performance, their misconceptions, and advice on how to focus their studies.

• Individual (or in groups)
• Student peer as the feedback provider
• Private
• Specific

Online peer assessment is an online feedback activity allowing students to review each other’s assignments based on evaluation criteria defined by their teacher. The feedback activity takes place at Canvas using FeedbackFruits Peer Review tool.

Preparation
The teacher creates an assignment and sets up an evaluation rubric. To address the standards of the students’ evaluations, the rubric must be as clear and elaborated as possible.
Teachers are recommended to prepare for an in-class introduction to the activity. In this introduction, teachers may emphasize to the students the importance of their tone and manner when addressing their peers.

Process
Students hand in their assignments by uploading them to Canvas. Students can hand in both individually and as a group. When the hand-in deadline closes, assignments are automatically distributed among students. After distribution, students anonymously evaluate and give feedback on the work of their peers. When the deadline for giving feedback has passed, the feedback is delivered to the students. Finally, each student gets the opportunity to review the feedback they have received. The teacher can follow each step of the process and is able to access any student’s work, both assignments, feedback, and reviews.

Resources
Once the assignment and rubric have been created online, their use of them is unlimited. Since peer grading is a student-driven feedback activity, it has the potential of saving the teacher from spending too much time on individual assessments.

Output
Online peer feedback gives large groups of students the opportunity to learn from each other. It allows them to increase their critical thinking skills, encourages their self-reflection, and helps them acquire and retain new knowledge.

• Collective
• Teacher as the feedback provider
• Public or private
• Generic or specific

Polling is an in-class activity allowing students to respond to questions in-class and get instant feedback on their answers (formerly known as the use of clickers).

Preparation
When preparing for a polling session in class, the teacher may spend some time deciding on which questions to ask. For example, questions can be theoretical. In this way, the teacher gets the opportunity to give feedback on conceptual misunderstandings among students. Another example could be a question that functions as an opener for a class discussion. In this way, the teacher gets the opportunity to give feedback on students’ reasoning and arguments. When the questions are formulated, they are added to the slides in the teacher’s PowerPoint presentation.

Process
The question appears on the slide in the teacher’s presentation. Students answer the question anonymously on any web-enabled device. When time is up, the results are visualized as bar charts on the slide. The teacher then gets the opportunity to either assess the results immediately or follow up on the reasoning behind students’ answers by asking additional questions in the plenary.

Resources
Once the teacher has decided on which questions to ask, he/she may spend some time setting the questions up in PowerPoint with the offered TurningPoint Cloud solution.

Output
Polling encourages interaction, collaboration, and communication. Instant feedback on students’ performance and/or knowledge allows the teacher to understand and address the needs of students in real-time.

• Individual or collective
• Teacher as the feedback provider
• Public (usually – can also be done privately)
• Generic or specific

The format is a shared classroom feedback session based on the themes that cut across the students’ individual assignments.

Preparation
The preparation of the examiner will be to systematize and categorize examples from the assessed assignments. Each theme taken up can be based on a couple of good and bad examples.

Process
The class will show up just after the assignments have been assessed and the grades have been given. There will be given no individual feedback or explanation on individual grades. The examiner (assessor) chooses examples from patterns and themes which occur in several assignments. The assessor describes and explains the academic quality of the examples taken up, and there will be room for questions from the students. The examples can fall under categories such as; definitions of concepts and theories, applied concepts, use of models, calculations, use and interpretations of quotes, argumentation, discussion, and interpretation of results and conclusions.

Resources
Since students’ assignments have already been assessed and graded by the examiner, all that is left to do for the teacher is to decide on relevant themes to underline and choose both good and bad examples from students’ assignments within each theme.

Outcome
The students will learn the differences between good, bad, right, and wrong. It will be exemplified and demonstrated for them, and the students will benefit from explanations of why good assignments are good and bad assignments are bad.

• Individual (or in groups)
• Student peer as the feedback provider
• Public or private
• Specific

A midterm seminar is a session where a group of students has the opportunity to discuss their work with other students. It is usually organized so that each presenting group is matched with an opponent group. The presenting group has to formulate a draft in correspondence with a set of requirements for the content. The opponent group has to formulate feedback in correspondence with a set of criteria, which is based on the learning objectives of the course in question.

Preparation
The teacher must set up the criteria for the draft and the feedback. Before the seminar, the teacher must read the drafts from all the groups and prepare concluding feedback for the groups.

Process
The opponent group starts the process by presenting their feedback. After receiving the feedback, the presenting group is asked to open a discussion of some of the points from the opponent group. Finally, the teacher makes concluding remarks to the specific discussion. After all group presentations, the teacher may wrap up and conclude the session.

Resources
The quality of the seminar highly depends on the engagement of the opponent groups. Making participation in the seminar mandatory for the students and grading with pass/non-pass might create the needed engagement from the students.

Output
Both the presenting group and the opponent group will benefit from the seminar. Giving peers constructive and precise feedback as well as receiving critique and using it for improvements is good training for developing academic skills.