Abstract
Management educators understand the importance of providing feedback to students, but are they capable of providing effective feedback? Several laboratory and classroom studies have examined different types of feedback and their effectiveness, but we recommend examining normative feedback practices among instructors. This article presents a brief review of best practices for constructing instructor-delivered student feedback and considers the problems that instructors face when providing such feedback. We suggest that management instructors utilize template feedback, a semi-individualized approach, in order to reduce grading time. We discuss how future research should examine whether instructors understand the complexities of feedback, how feedback affects student performance, and whether a semi-individualized approach is an effective method of delivering feedback.
Keywords
As instructors, we strive to create coursework that is challenging and engaging while allowing students to demonstrate an understanding of the content in their assignments. These assignments often manifest as written assignments, such as essays, and while it can be rewarding to see students excel at these types of assignments, grading multiple essays can be time-consuming and tedious. We understand the importance of providing a variety of assignments that allow students to engage with the material, but grading and providing feedback for written assignments often requires individual attention for each submission. This article briefly describes best practices for providing effective feedback and the problems that instructors face in doing so. We also present a potential solution to reduce grading time while still providing constructive feedback and ultimately suggest research avenue ideas that have arisen out of our instructor experience in grading.
Providing Feedback
Supplying students with feedback has been abundantly shown throughout the literature to be a critical element in improving learning (e.g., Black & William, 1998; Butler, Karpicke, & Roediger, 2007; Pashler, Cepeda, Wixted, & Rohrer, 2005; Phye & Sanders, 1994; Shute, 2008), but providing effective instructor-delivered student feedback is more challenging than it is simple. The goal of feedback is to reduce the discrepancy between what the student currently understands and what is not yet understood (Sadler, 1983). Feedback allows students to recognize what knowledge or skills they are lacking, thus giving them a direction to focus their study efforts in order to achieve learning goals. Types of feedback can vary in complexity (see Tables 1 and 2).
Types of Feedback (Shute, 2008).
Types of Elaborative Feedback (Shute, 2008).
Hattie and Timperley (2007) propose a model for effective feedback and posit that feedback must address three components. Research in this field supports the necessity of such components and can give instructors guidance for creating effective feedback.
Feedback should provide information about the learning goals (e.g., Nicol & Macfarlane-Dick, 2006; Sadler, 1983; Shute, 2008).
Feedback should focus on the student’s performance in relation to the task and expected performance/standard (e.g., Ashford, Blatt, & VandeWalle, 2003; Bangert-Drowns, Kulik, Kulik, & Morgan, 1991; Narciss & Huth, 2004).
Feedback should provide direction on how to attain goals (e.g., Ashford et al., 2003; Nicol & Macfarlane-Dick, 2006).
While seemingly simple, Hattie and Timperley (2007) also suggest that feedback effectiveness is influenced by the level at which it is directed: task, learning processes, self-regulation, or personal.
Student Response to Feedback
The effectiveness of feedback is determined not only by the content of the feedback but also by how the student responds to the feedback (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). For example, student motivation and achievement level can influence how feedback is utilized (Mason & Bruning, 2001; Moreno, 2004). In our own experience, we noticed that high-achieving students typically seek feedback and implement it for future assignments, while lower-achieving students are less likely to do so. While these factors can certainly influence the effectiveness of feedback, we still construct feedback not withstanding mediating factors or student response to give all students equal opportunity to utilize the feedback. Henderson and Phillips (2015) found that students highly valued individualized and personalized feedback, and Xu (2010) found that student motivation and participation was positively related to individualized feedback.
Instructor Time Demands of Providing Feedback
Guiding principles for constructing effective feedback offered by Hattie and Timperley (2007) call for the need for individualized feedback, as the answers to the questions will be different for each student. While one would be hard pressed to find an instructor who would not want to give individualized attention and feedback to each student, the ultimate disadvantage to this type of feedback is that it is immensely time consuming. As students, we remember the frustration when a professor would take all semester to grade assignments that were turned in at the beginning of the year. We aim to make returning assignments in a timely manner a priority. However, our larger classes lead to a greater grading load, and we still must decide how to provide feedback in order to increase student success (Allen & Seaman, 2011; Heinrichs & Noel Dowds, 2008; Mitchell, Parlamis, & Claiborne, 2015).
Semi-Individualized Feedback and Grading Approach
While it takes careful thought for instructors to construct effective feedback following principles backed by research, we suggest the use of templates, or a semi-individualized approach, to quell the time-consuming nature of individual feedback.
In our experience, several students will typically make the same mistakes and need similar feedback. Thus, we can provide detailed feedback that includes the necessary components that research has demonstrated to be the most effective for these common mistakes.
Templates were used to evaluate an assignment (see Appendix A for a sample assignment prompt) for a Principles of Management class. To address the problems with a specific student’s work, we combine prewritten templates (see Appendix B). Here is an example of feedback that was provided for a particular student: Dear John, Decent work on this assignment, though the first aspect of the prompt which asked you to discuss how RDM and EDM act to compliment/contradict each other was not adequately addressed. In the future, simply double check as to whether you have adequately addressed all aspects of the prompt and you should have minimal issues securing a higher score on these assignments. Additionally, please be sure to make better use of paragraphs moving forward, as this will significantly improve the overall quality and flow of your submissions.
This feedback provides an explanation of why the student’s work did not meet the task’s objectives as well as a description as to how the student can improve on future assignments.
Reusing and Constructing Templates
Templates are created based on our experience and expectations of what students typically submit and by compiling individualized responses. Once templates are created, it is only a matter of copying the appropriate template for each student, thus expediting the grading process tremendously. It is important to note that a combination of these templates is used, lending toward individualization, and allowing us to fully address the necessary components as outlined previously. We individualize feedback as necessary by building off prewritten templates, resulting in unique feedback particular to that student. Additionally, we ensure that feedback begins by addressing the student by name, further personalizing the feedback. Additionally, we reuse these templates semester to semester and edit and update as needed. Additional sample templates are provided in Appendix C.
Although providing feedback can certainly be complex and dependent on the particular assignment and context, we believe that creating these templates can assist in this grading process by simplifying it to some extent. By taking advantage of the patterns that typically occur across student work, these templates can expedite the grading process while still offering quality feedback.
Student Reactions to Template Grading
Another component that contributes to the effectiveness of feedback is how students receive such feedback. In our experience of student reactions and evaluations, students often praise the detailed and personalized feedback and the timeliness in which grades are returned. Although we have no inclination to believe that students are aware that this type of feedback is only semi-individualized as opposed to individualized, there is a possibility that students do take notice. This may be especially apparent if they were to compare feedback with that of other classmates.
In many cases, we do find that students utilize feedback provided, and this practice is demonstrated by improving grades on subsequent assignments. However, at a perhaps a seemingly similar rate, students also make the same mistakes despite being provided specific feedback on how to improve on assignments. Because it is difficult to gauge how students utilize feedback that is offered, it sometimes can be quite discouraging when we take the time to craft responses. Despite it appearing to us that some students may not use the feedback for its intended purpose, we again wish to provide students with the tools, should they choose to use it, in order to succeed.
Research Questions
Due to the use of these templates, we encountered several research questions regarding both instructor and student use of feedback and the efficacy of a semi-individualized approach, which, if answered, could significantly improve the grading process.
Instructor Grading Practices
In speaking with fellow instructors, it becomes obvious that grading styles vary greatly. We believe that it is crucial to understand the normal practices that instructors employ in order to make better use of their time while still offering students the benefits of feedback. Most instructors have the understanding that giving feedback is “good.” However, in the implementation of our templates, we realized an important question: Can instructors identify the most efficient and effective manner in which to provide feedback under a variety of contexts? For example, if students in a Principles of Management or HR-focused course are expected to list the prohibited discrimination classes that are named under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and they get this answer incorrect, it is sufficient to just provide the answer. Furthermore, if a lengthier explanation is required, are instructors familiar with the necessary components of effective feedback shown by research? Do instructors understand what to include in order to maximize the feedback’s effectiveness? First understanding normative instructor grading practices with the end goal of improving such practices can allow instructors to feel that their time it takes to provide feedback is not wasted.
Student Use
With student utilization as an integral component in determining instructor-delivered feedback effectiveness, we also considered our experience of student reactions toward feedback and propose the following question: How highly do students value individualized feedback? If there is a low percentage of students who do utilize feedback, then is it worth taking the time to provide students with feedback? If this is the case, then perhaps we should offer feedback only to those who request it.
Furthermore, because we see that performance increases for some students, we also wish to explore the long-term effects of feedback. Do students see an effect only for that particular class in that particular semester? Does it help them improve overall in the rest of their academic career?
Semi-Individualized Template Effectiveness
Our template approach attempts to simplify the process of providing feedback, but research should certainly be conducted regarding its efficacy, even in its simplified form. Although there is research that compares elaborative feedback with verification feedback and/or no feedback (Butler, Godbole, & Marsh, 2013; Pridemore & Klein, 2005), we suggest that research explore the benefits of template feedback and address the following question: Does template feedback effectively accomplish the same goal of providing quality feedback?
Conclusion
The complexities of feedback are extensive. To better help instructors with the complexities and time-consuming nature of providing feedback, it is imperative that research inform instructors how to most efficiently employ effective feedback to students. Although not discussed in this article, we cannot ignore that there are other methods that can reduce grading load on instructors, such as self- and peer evaluation (Gibbs & Taylor, 2016; Philippakos, 2017), or the other mediating factors that affect feedback’s success, such as delaying the delivery of feedback (Mason & Bruning, 2001) or mode of delivery (Kluger & DeNisi, 1996). Research should not fail to further explore these options; however, just in the realm of widely used instructor-provided feedback, there are many avenues for research. We concede that feedback effectiveness is also dependent on how the student receives and utilizes the feedback, but on our end as instructors, what are the best ways in which to craft feedback? How can instructors more efficiently deliver elaborative feedback? One suggestion for decreasing grading time while still providing students with detailed feedback is the use of templates. The questions that we have posed will likely be nuanced and dependent on the context of the assignment and student response, but we hope that further research in this area can give better direction for instructors on how to best accomplish the never-ending task of grading. In the battle of grading, there must be a way by which both students and instructors can win.
Footnotes
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
