examples of assignment feedback

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Examples of Feedback on Student Writing

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As an undergraduate, my first writing assignment in Jim Faulconer’s philosophy of religion course changed me. More specifically, it was the feedback on my first paper. The combination of what I thought an abysmally low grade and margins drenched in the red of electronic comments felt as though academic open season had been declared on me personally. I was devastated. Following a period of self-indulgent mourning I forced myself to read through Faulconer’s comments and realized that he had undermined the possibility of consoling myself by blaming him. Overall, I experienced a genuine aporia and ultimately took advantage of the opportunity to re-write my paper.

This has remained with me, and to the degree possible within the specific constraints of each class, I make revision, feedback, personal interaction, and the opportunity to rewrite central to class assignments. The attempt is to allow the student, wherever they are in their progression as a writer, to improve, and especially to improve in their ability to narrow in on and articulate a well-supported argument.

One of the real challenges then, is to offer feedback for students at very different levels. In order to see my efforts at work, I’ve copied below actual feedback that I’ve given—two on papers I considered “A” quality, one on a paper that I considered well below average, and additional, general feedback given to an entire class after grading their papers. When grading student papers I make in-margin comments throughout and then articulate my overall feedback at the bottom. Additionally, I compose a document with general feedback for the entire class based on positive and negative trends in the papers submitted. You’ll notice in the examples below that my attempt is always to state concretely what’s working well and specific ways in which both this particular draft and also their writing more generally might be improved. In doing so, I try to impart to my students that their work, whatever its quality, is always a work in progress.

Feedback on superior papers Feedback on an inadequate paper General feedback for a class

From superior papers:

Dear Student,

You have a clever argument. Importantly, you build in very plausible objections to your claims and then seek to respond to those objections. Your three points of criticism build very well on each other, and you end with a satisfying resolution. As noted throughout, the biggest weakness of the paper is the occasional lack of clarity. I suspect that a lot of this has to do with the difficulties of writing in a second language. I encourage you to avail yourself of the writing center. Also, as noted, your opening needs to be more clear. Don’t worry about giving away your main point upfront – in philosophy that’s a good thing. Finally, it’s significant that you overlook Sen’s comments on comparing in the absence of an ideal standard.

I’m impressed with your ability to write concisely. Not only did you fulfill the assignment, you also wrote a long-ish intro and answered questions that went beyond the prompt. Doing so within the word limit and doing it well deserves recognition. One result is that outside of the opening paragraph the entire essay is focused exclusively on the arguments –there’s no excess fat in this essay. Given the nature of the assignment, that’s great. As noted throughout, however, some of your specific arguments need developed –your paper would’ve been better served had you eliminated one of the arguments in order to better develop the others along the lines mentioned in my comments above. Overall, it’s clear that you understand each of the philosophers you address and you present interesting ideas.

From an inadequate paper:

The following was written in response to a student in a first year writing class. Both the nature of the class and its small size facilitated more substantive feedback than is always possible. My comments below, however, are indicative of the tone and approach I take toward papers I consider to be significantly inadequate.

Dear Student

As noted above, you do well “synthesizing”several insights from multiple studies as you make different points, rather than flatly summarizing one study at a time. I’ve tried to make clear in my comments the things that I think you can do to strengthen this paper and your writing in general. Specifically, I want to emphasize the following:

• Argument. This is critical. Your paper is almost exclusively a report of various points of consensus among the authors you cite. This does not meet the specifications of the assignment. What’s needed is to utilize this ability –the ability to extract important and overlapping ideas from the literature –in the service of your own independent argument. A clear and specific thesis sentence stated up top will help you to organize and tie together the various parts of your paper. The conclusion section should also help to do the same thing. Your conclusion here is a bookend, bringing up the same (or at least a similar) point as the one you began with concerning the different kinds of attraction that exist. More than just a bookend, however, you want your conclusion to be in the service of your argument. It should both summarize and highlight the most important points you’ve tried to establish in the body of your paper and state how these points support your thesis. At each stage, however, ask yourself –how does this support my argument? Is this fact clear to my reader?
• Structure. Some of the different sections and points you’re making in the paper are clearly flagged for the reader with transition words. Remember, however, that the paper is not just a list of points. This is closely related to my comment on argument. At any given point in the paper it should not only be clear to the reader what you’re saying but also why you’re saying it. Transition language needs to be accompanied by explicitly tying together or explaining the relationship between the different sections of the paper. Doing so is an important way to highlight your overall argument and make the paper cohere.
• Counterargument. As discussed in the assignment, a critical part of your argument is exploring a counterargument. Either in making specific claims to support your thesis or after articulating your argument, consider countervailing evidence or interpretive frameworks or objections to your reasons and conclusions. Doing so will strengthen your case. This is not just true when attempting to make your own argument, but is also an important element of explicating the academic dialogue for your reader. If all of the authors you cite were locked in a room would they all agree on the question you’re exploring? Help your reader to understand the tensions, contradictions and questions that are left in the wake of their studies. Then argue for why –given these tensions, contradictions and questions –your reader ought to side with your own claims.
• Proofreading. The host of punctuation and grammar errors, along with the frequently awkward phrasing of the paper makes it read like a first draft. This is very distracting and inhibits your ability to keep the attention of the reader or convince the reader of your point.

Again, the paper shows a good grasp of some of the basic points made in the literature, weaving together a number of overlapping ideas. I’m confident in your ability to improve.

General feedback:

The following is an example of the general feedback given in the wake of a recent “ ordinary ” paper assignment. Although given in response to a specific set of papers, it models the type of general feedback I give:

• First, make sure it’s free of errors—typographical, stylistic, or substantive. Poor grammar, misspelled words, and inaccurate statements are impression killers.
• Likewise, avoid trite opening lines — generic or obvious statements that usually say little more than “ I don ’ t know how to begin my paper, but I have to say something. ” For example, “Throughout history, people have argued about ethics,”or “Different people have different ideas about the value of the environment”are trite openers and should be avoided.
• In your opening, above everything else, you want to make it clear to your reader what your paper is going to be about. A clear, easy to pick out thesis sentence is crucial . Since the thesis sentence is the most important part of your opening, make sure it’s as polished and articulate a sentence as you can make it. The thesis ought to tell your reader exactly what you will be arguing in your paper. In addition, it ought to give the reader some hint about why you ’ re going to argue that way . Note the difference in the following thesis sentences from your peers: “In this paper, I will argue that religion provides a better basis for Leopold’s land ethic than the philosophers we studied;”and “Despite a sophisticated argument that successfully disarms many of the attacks typically used to support human superiority, Taylor’s biocentric theory of equality is simply too radical to adequately serve as a land ethic.”The first example states clearly what will be argued in the paper. The second example does so as well but also clues the reader in and sets the tone of and expectations for the paper. It gives the reader more specifics and serves as a better standard against which one can judge the success of the paper.
• First, remember that (as noted in the assignment) you’re not simply giving me an argument in support of your thesis; you’re also dealing with the argument of a philosopher. A very common mistake made was to merely state a philosopher ’ s conclusion and then either argue against or in support of it. Remember, you must actually present the philosopher ’ s argument in favor of the thesis and then address THAT . And remember that there is an important difference between listing premises and explaining the argument.
• A common logical problem is to assume that if two positions or theories have a number of important, identifiable similarities, then they must be compatible or largely the same. Most theories we look at in this class will have plenty of readily identifiable, important similarities. This doesn ’ t mean either that they argue for the same thing or that they are compatible . For instance, if I focus only on things like belief in representative government, commitment to liberty, honoring the principles of America’s founding fathers, belief in transparency, fundamental desire to benefit the American people, and the like, I can give my audience the impression that U.S. President Barak Obama and his opponent Governor Mitt Romney have views that are perfectly compatible. This is a common strategy taken in polemical debates, and you see it used in popular media all the time (another, more entertaining/offensive example, is when people use this strategy to convince you that certain political figures are “just like”Hitler). But it certainly doesn’t prove anything. Once again, by giving the philosopher ’ s overall argument , you’re (more honestly) enabling your reader to judge and evaluate your own argument.
• Many of your papers would be improved by narrowing in on one specific part of the philosopher’s argument—for example, you might highlight and attack or defend a key premise. Many of you made very high-altitude and general criticisms but struggled (especially given the space constraints) to grapple with specific aspects of an argument.
• A number of papers were tempted to take something of a broadside approach: that is, they gave a list of every specific claim that they could pick out that the philosopher makes and then attacked it. This is a sort of hail-Mary approach, a desperate hope that something on your laundry-list of criticisms will stick and give merit to your paper. Sometimes this is the best you can do in the circumstances, but it is almost always less effective. A broadside is good in the brainstorming stage; but then pick out the one or two points that you think are most relevant or promising, and then develop them as best you can. Narrow in on something specific and do your best to develop your evaluation or critique (i.e., your answering of the assigned question).
• Another common (and related) approach was to give a paragraph by paragraph regurgitation of the text. This strategy, besides being stylistically awkward, hints to the reader that you’re really not sure what the argument is, or which parts are more important, and so you’re just going to try and say everything exactly how the philosopher did. You don’t have time in a short paper for much summary. Rather than a point by point regurgitation, be judicious in what you include. You ’ re attempting to explicate not summarize the argument . As already mentioned, you do want to give an overview, you want to articulate the argument. But this doesn’t mean you’ll make all of the same points or use all of the same examples in the very same way. The point of articulating the philosopher’s argument is to help you in writing your paper and arguing your ideas. Highlight or emphasize the parts that are more important or relevant to your own thesis. Cut out the fluff, unimportant illustrations, or side tangents. Reorder things for your benefit. Say what needs to be said to inform your reader and set him up for your own argument.
• You don’t have to completely destroy or defend an argument. Perhaps you think that a philosopher is largely correct in her views, but that she’s a little off on an important issue. You can argue that she needs a slight modification to her position. Or perhaps you’re comparing two philosophers –you don’t have to argue that one of them is completely right and the other entirely wrong. You can argue that they both have some things right and some things wrong, and then argue for a hybrid position.
• Finally, on argumentation, I want to make a suggestion that has more to do with how you word your claims than anything else. It is highly unlikely that any of you will “prove”anything one way or the other. Philosophers use the word ‘prove’in a technical way, and are rather reserved about it. More often than not when they use it they at least qualify it in some way (e.g.. “I will attempt to prove…”). I suggest avoiding the word all together when writing philosophy—at least for now.
• Structure: Again, I’m not against creativity, and not married to rigid and explicit structures, but your reader ought to be able to tell exactly where he is in your argument. Whether or not you use meta-language, you need to give your reader signals and have a clear structure that is easy to follow. Avoid rambling or tangents, and clearly mark transitions.
• Superfluous stuff: Part of maintaining a good structure and writing a strong, clear paper is cutting out all of the superfluous material. Especially on short papers like this, just get rid of anything extra or anything that doesn ’ t directly contribute to the point of the paper (of course, you can keep your creative stuff if you’re writing in that kind of style). Also, make sure you’ve got the right sort of balance or proportion. If the point of your paper is to defend Katz theocentric approach to environmental ethics, but you feel the need to give context (often a good idea), don’t spend a full page of pre- and post-argument context, with only a quarter page of actual argument. Instead, write a sentence or two of pre- and a sentence or two of post-argument context, and take a page to carefully, explicitly set out the argument.
• Sexist Language: This is almost always a problem with undergraduate papers. Don’t let the sexist language of the older philosophers we’re reading (like Leopold) or that of your own culture lull you into thinking you can write this way. The point is not primarily about equality or the like. Using sexist language is simply unprofessional and stylistically immature. It’s at least as much of an eyesore as bad grammar or misspelled words. Specifically, don’t simply use “man”to represent humanity or “he”every time you need a neutral pronoun. You can almost always avoid a gendered pronoun (e.g., use “human”or “one”). Sometimes this is very difficult or would sound very awkward. In such cases, it’s fine to use either “she”or “he,”but you should rotate between the one and the other (e.g., in one paragraph or section of the paper use “she”and in the next paragraph or section use “he;”but again, avoid either whenever you can do so naturally). Sometimes you can write “she or he,”though this too can be awkward. Finally, don’t use “s/he”as a neutral pronoun. I recommend consulting a style guide for more details.
• Never let quotes stand on their own — explain them. There is one skill for picking out relevant quotes from a text, and another skill involved in understanding what it says. Again, see a style guide for details.

I hope this is helpful to you as you begin work on your next papers.

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Feedback on your assignments: what it is and how to use it

This guide explains how to use your tutor's feedback so that you understand your grade and how to improve your academic performance..

• Understand your strengths and weaknesses

When you get your assignments back from your tutor, you will probably initially focus on the grade you have received.

However, your tutor will have given you useful and well thought-out feedback, with the purpose of a) helping you understand the grade and b) providing you with ideas for how to improve in future assignments. It is important that you make good use of this feedback to help you understand your strengths and weaknesses and what you need to do to improve on your grade.

There are three key things you need to do in order to maximise the usefulness of your tutor feedback:

• Understand the feedback : look at all the feedback provided (sometimes there are comments on your script as well as the overall comments), and read it carefully to ensure you understand each comment.
• Log your feedback : create a system of storing your feedback that is easily accessible.
• Use your feedback in future assignments : refer to your feedback in preparation for new assignments, and use it as a checklist.
• Understand the feedback

Tutors will have different ways of giving you feedback. Some will provide a written summary of your key strengths and weaknesses, and some will provide oral recorded feedback. You may also receive focused, itemised feedback on the script of your work.

Tutors will provide both positive and critical feedback. Generally, the positive feedback is easy to understand, but sometimes the critical feedback can be unclear or can use terminology that is not easy to understand. Some common critical comments are listed below with a glossary to explain what is meant, and suggestions for how to improve as a result of this feedback.

• Glossary of terms
• Log your feedback

Once you have read and understood the feedback you have received, it is important to create a system of storing it for future reference. This feedback is useful when preparing your next assignments, and you should find a system of storage that is easily accessible and works well for you.

Not everyone will like the same system. Here are a couple of examples of ways that students have stored their feedback to create an easy reference tool to use as a check list each time they start work on assignments.

Using a table

This method of logging and storing your feedback is commonly used. Here you create a table and cut and past feedback into the appropriate column. In addition, students often include a column for their grade, so that they can see which assignments are likely to have feedback that tells them not only what to improve, but also what to continue doing.

This is what it could look like as a student starts to fill it in:

Using a mind map

Another common way to log your feedback is by creating a mind map.

Use sections to group your feedback so that it is easily demarcated by comment-type. Mind maps work best with the key points from your feedback. It can be a useful review task to pull out the main issues raised by your tutor, and to summarise them using concise language.

Remember that you should choose a way to log your feedback that works best for you. It needs to be achievable and accessible to you, so that you can use it easily to review your tutors’ advice and learn from it.

• Use your feedback in future assignments

Once you have set up a system for collecting and storing your feedback, you have an important resource to help you improve on your work.

You need to revisit this feedback and review the comments frequently, in order to learn what your strengths and weaknesses are. You will start to identify themes, and this will help you to create a plan for how to improve.

For each new assignment, the following approach should help you to avoid making the same mistakes again, and allow you to consolidate the strengths you have.

• Summary and next steps
• Make sure you understand it and can see why your tutors are saying what they are saying.
• Create a storage system that suits you. Include your own reflection and ideas for what you need to do to improve.
• As you build up your feedback, start to collate it to show recurring themes and comments.
• Use your collated feedback as a guide and checklist when planning, preparing and reviewing your work.

Engaging with feedback resource

This short, interactive self-access resource shows you how to:

• use feedback as a powerful learning tool
• examine what might be preventing you from using feedback
• identify patterns in your feedback
• set goals and create a personal action plan.

If you have any questions, please contact us.

Academic Skills

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5 effective constructive feedback examples: Unlocking student potential

This video provides an overview of the key features instructors need to know to make best use of Feedback Studio, accessed through the Turnitin website.

At Turnitin, we’re continuing to develop our solutions to ease the burden of assessment on instructors and empower students to meet their learning goals. Turnitin Feedback Studio and Gradescope provide best-in-class tools to support different assessment types and pedagogies, but when used in tandem can provide a comprehensive assessment solution flexible enough to be used across any institution.

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Providing constructive feedback examples to students is an important part of the learning journey and is crucial to student improvement. It can be used to feed a student’s love of learning and help build a strong student-teacher relationship. But it can be difficult to balance the “constructive” with the “feedback” in an effective way.

On one hand, we risk the student not absorbing the information, and therefore missing an opportunity for growth when we offer criticism, even when constructive. On the other hand, there is a risk of discouraging the student, dampening their desire to learn, or even harming their self-confidence. Further complicating the matter is the fact that every student learns differently, hears and absorbs feedback differently, and is at a different level of emotional and intellectual development than their peers.

We know that we can’t teach every student the exact same way and expect the same results for each of them; the same holds true for providing constructive feedback examples. For best results, it’s important to tailor how constructive feedback is provided based on content, student needs, and a variety of other factors.

In this blog, we’ll take a look at constructive feedback examples and the value of effective instructor feedback, centering on Dr. John Hattie’s research on “Where to next?” feedback. We’ll also offer key examples for students, so instructors at different grade levels can apply best practices right away.

In 1992 , Dr. John Hattie—in a meta-analysis of multiple scientific studies—found that “feedback has one of the positive influences on student achievement,” building on Sadler’s concept that good feedback can close the gap between where students are and where they aim to be (Sadler, 1989 ).

But before getting too far into specifics, it would be helpful to talk about what “constructive feedback” is. Not everyone will define it in quite the same way — indeed, there is no singular accepted definition of the phrase.

For example, a researcher in Buenos Aires, Argentina who studies medical school student and resident performance, defines it, rather dryly, as “the act of giving information to a student or resident through the description of their performance in an observed clinical situation.” In workplace scenarios , you’ll often hear it described as feedback that “reinforces desired behaviors” or, a definition that is closer to educators’ goals in the classroom, “a supportive way to improve areas of opportunity.”

Hattie and Clarke ( 2019 ) define feedback as the information about a learning task that helps students understand what is aimed to be understood versus what is being understood.

For the purposes of this discussion, a good definition of constructive feedback is any feedback that the giver provides with the intention of producing a positive result. This working definition includes important parts from other, varied definitions. In educational spaces, “positive result” usually means growth, improvement, or a lesson learned. This is typically accomplished by including clear learning goals and success criteria within the feedback, motivating students towards completing the task.

If you read this header and thought “well… always?” — yes. In an ideal world, all feedback would be constructive feedback.

Of course, the actual answer is: as soon, and as often, as possible.

Learners benefit most from reinforcement that's delivered regularly. This is true for learners of all ages but is particularly so for younger students. It's best for them to receive constructive feedback as regularly, and quickly, as possible. Study after study — such as this one by Indiana University researchers — shows that student information retention, understanding of tasks, and learning outcomes increase when they receive constructive feedback examples soon after the learning moment.

There is, of course, some debate as to precise timing, as to how soon is soon enough. Carnegie Mellon University has been using their proprietary math software, Cognitive Tutor , since the mid-90s. The program gives students immediate feedback on math problems — the university reports that students who use Cognitive Tutor perform better on a variety of assessments , including standardized exams, than their peers who haven’t.

By contrast, a study by Duke University and the University of Texas El Paso found that students who received feedback after a one-week delay retained new knowledge more effectively than students who received feedback immediately. Interestingly, despite better performance, students in the one-week delayed feedback group reported a preference for immediate feedback, revealing a metacognitive disconnect between actual and perceived effectiveness. Could the week delay have allowed for space between the emotionality of test-taking day and the calm, open-to-feedback mental state of post-assessment? Or perhaps the feedback one week later came in greater detail and with a more personalized approach than instant, general commentary? With that in mind, it's important to note that this study looked at one week following an assessment, not feedback that was given several weeks or months after the exam, which is to say: it may behoove instructors to consider a general window—from immediate to one/two weeks out—after one assessment and before the next assessment for the most effective constructive feedback.

The quality of feedback, as mentioned above, can also influence what is well absorbed and what is not. If an instructor can offer nuanced, actionable feedback tailored to specific students, then there is a likelihood that those students will receive and apply that constructive feedback more readily, no matter if that feedback is given minutes or days after an assessment.

Constructive feedback is effective because it positively influences actions students are able to take to improve their own work. And quick feedback works within student workflows because they have the information they need in time to prepare for the next assessment.

No teacher needs a study to tell them that motivated, positive, and supported students succeed, while those that are frustrated, discouraged, or defeated tend to struggle. That said, there are plenty of studies to point to as reference — this 2007 study review and this study from 2010 are good examples — that show exactly that.

How instructors provide feedback to students can have a big impact on whether they are positive and motivated or discouraged and frustrated. In short, constructive feedback sets the stage for effective learning by giving students the chance to take ownership of their own growth and progress.

It’s one thing to know what constructive feedback is and to understand its importance. Actually giving it to students, in a helpful and productive way, is entirely another. Let’s dive into a few elements of successful constructive feedback:

When it comes to providing constructive feedback that students can act on, instructors need to be specific.

Telling a student “good job!” can build them up, but it’s vague — a student may be left wondering which part of an assessment they did good on, or why “good” as opposed to “great” or “excellent” . There are a variety of ways to go beyond “Good job!” on feedback.

On the other side of the coin, a note such as “needs work” is equally as vague — which part needs work, and how much? And as a negative comment (the opposite of constructive feedback), we risk frustrating them or hurting their confidence.

Science backs up the idea that specificity is important . As much as possible, educators should be taking the time to provide student-specific feedback directly to them in a one-on-one way.

There is a substantial need to craft constructive feedback examples in a way that they actively address students’ individual learning goals. If a student understands how the feedback they are receiving will help them progress toward their goal, they’re more likely to absorb it.

Our veteran Turnitin team of educators worked directly with Dr. John Hattie to research the impact of “Where to next?” feedback , a powerful equation for goal-oriented constructive feedback that—when applied formatively and thoughtfully—has been shown to dramatically improve learning outcomes. Students are more likely to revise their writing when instructors include the following three essential components in their feedback:

• Issue: Highlighting and clearly describing the specific issue related to the writing task.
• Relevance: Aligning feedback explicitly to the stated expectations of the assignment (i.e. rubric).
• Action: Providing the learner with their “next steps,” appropriately guiding the work, but not giving away the answer.

It’s also worth noting that quality feedback does not give the answer outright to the student; rather, it offers guidelines and boundaries so the students themselves can do their own thinking, reasoning, and application of their learning.

As mentioned earlier, it's hard to balance the “constructive” with the “feedback” in an effective way. It’s hard, but it’s important that instructors learn how to do it, because how feedback is presented to a student can have a major impact on how they receive it .

Does the student struggle with self confidence? It might be helpful to precede the corrective part of the feedback acknowledging something they did well. Does their performance suffer when they think they’re being watched? It might be important not to overwhelm them with a long list of ideas on what they could improve.

Constructive feedback examples, while cued into the learning goals and assignment criteria, also benefit from being tailored to both how students learn best and their emotional needs. And it goes without saying that feedback looks different at different stages in the journey, when considering the age of the students, the subject area, the point of time in the term or curriculum, etc.

In keeping everything mentioned above in mind, let’s dive into five different ways an instructor could give constructive feedback to a student. Below, we’ll look at varying scenarios in which the “Where to next?” feedback structure could be applied. Keep in mind that feedback is all the more powerful when directly applied to rubrics or assignment expectations to which students can directly refer.

Below is the template that can be used for feedback. Again, an instructor may also choose to couple the sentences below with an encouraging remark before or after, like: "It's clear you are working hard to add descriptive words to your body paragraphs" or "I can tell that you conducted in-depth research for this particular section."

For instructors with a pile of essays needing feedback and marks, it can feel overwhelming to offer meaningful comments on each one. One tip is to focus on one thing at a time (structure, grammar, punctuation), instead of trying to address each and every issue. This makes feedback not only more manageable from an instructor’s point of view, but also more digestible from a student’ s perspective.

Example: This sentence might be difficult for your readers to understand. Reword this sentence so your meaning is clear to your audience.

Rubrics are an integral piece of the learning journey because they communicate an assignment’s expectations to students. When rubrics are meaningfully tied to a project, it is clear to both instructors and students how an assignment can be completed at the highest level. Constructive feedback can then tie directly to the rubric , connecting what a student may be missing to the overarching goals of the assignment.

Example: The rubric requires at least three citations in this paper. Consider integrating additional citations in this section so that your audience understands how your perspective on the topic fits in with current research.

Within Turnitin Feedback Studio, instructors can add an existing rubric , modify an existing rubric in your account, or create a new rubric for each new assignment.

QuickMark comments are sets of comments for educators to easily leave feedback on student work within Turnitin Feedback Studio.

Educators may either use the numerous QuickMarks sets readily available in Turnitin Feedback Studio, or they may create sets of commonly used comments on their own. Regardless, as a method for leaving feedback, QuickMarks are ideal for leaving “Where to next?” feedback on student work.

Here is an example of “Where to next?” feedback in QuickMarks:

It can be just as helpful to see a non-example of “Where to next?” feedback. In the image below, a well-meaning instructor offers feedback to a student, reminding them of what type of evidence is required in an argumentative essay. However, Issue and Action are missing, which leaves the student wondering: “Where exactly do I need to improve my support? And what next steps ought to be taken?”

Here is a non-example of “Where to next?” feedback in QuickMarks:

As an instructor in a STEM class, one might be wondering, “How do I apply this structure to my feedback?” While “Where to next?” feedback is most readily applied to English Language Arts/writing course assignments, instructors across subject areas can and should try to implement this type of feedback on their assignments by following the structure: Issue + Relevance + Action. Below is an example of how you might apply this constructive feedback structure to a Computer Science project:

Example: The rubric asks you to avoid “hard coding” values, where possible. In this line, consider if you can find a way to reference the size of the array instead.

As educators, we have an incredible power: the power to help struggling students improve, and the power to help propel excelling students on to ever greater heights.

This power lies in how we provide feedback. If our feedback is negative, punitive, or vague, our students will suffer for it. But if it's clear, concise, and, most importantly, constructive feedback, it can help students to learn and succeed.

Study after study have highlighted the importance of giving students constructive feedback, and giving it to them relatively quickly. The sooner we can give them feedback, the fresher the information is in their minds. The more constructively that we package that feedback, the more likely they are to be open to receiving it. And the more regularly that we provide constructive feedback examples, the more likely they are to absorb those lessons and prepare for the next assessment.

The significance of providing effective constructive feedback to students cannot be overstated. By offering specific, actionable insights, educators foster a sense of self-improvement and can truly help to propel students toward their full potential.

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Feedback for Learning

Feedback and revision are important parts of any learning experience. From in-class activities and assignments, to peer-reviewed manuscripts, feedback is essential for growth and learning. And yet, if students don’t reflect on or apply notes or comments, it can sometimes feel like feedback doesn’t matter all that much. Giving feedback can feel like an arduous process, and when it goes unused on student assignments, it can leave instructors feeling frustrated. This resource offers strategies to make giving feedback easier and more effective. While there are specific technologies (discussed below) that can help facilitate feedback in an online or hybrid/HyFlex learning environment, the strategies presented here are applicable to any kind of course (e.g.: large lecture, seminar) and across any modality (e.g.: synchronous, asynchronous, fully online, hybrid, or in-person).

On this page:

• Feedback for Learning: What and Why
• Characteristics of Effective Feedback
• Strategies for Giving Effective Feedback
• Facilitating Feedback with Columbia-Supported Technologies

Reflecting on Your Feedback Practices

• Resources & References

The CTL is here to help!

Seeking additional support with enhancing your feedback practices? Email [email protected] to schedule a 1-1 consultation. For support with any of the Columbia tools discussed below, email [email protected] or join our virtual office hours .

Interested in inviting the CTL to facilitate a session on this topic for your school, department, or program? Visit our Workshops To Go page for more information.

Cite this resource: Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning (2021). Feedback for Learning. Columbia University. Retrieved [today’s date] from https://ctl.columbia.edu/resources-and-technology/resources/feedback-for-learning/

Feedback for Learning: What and Why 

What is feedback and why does it matter .

Broadly defined, feedback is “information given to students about their performance that guides future behavior” (Ambrose et al., 2010, p. 125). Feedback can help set a path for students, directing their attention to areas for growth and improvement, and connecting them with future learning opportunities. At the same time, there is an evaluative component to feedback, regardless of whether it is given with a grade. Effective feedback tells students “ what they are or are not understanding, where their performance is going well or poorly, and how they should direct their subsequent efforts” (Ambrose et al., 2010, p. 137). In this way, feedback is essential to students’ learning and growth. 

It is not enough for students to receive feedback. They also need explicit opportunities to implement and practice with the feedback received. In their How Learning Works: Seven Research-based Principles for Smart Teaching , Ambrose et al. (2010) underscore the importance of feedback, coupled with opportunities for practice: “Goal-directed practice coupled with targeted feedback are critical to learning ” (p. 125, emphasis in original). They further highlight the interconnection of feedback, practice, and performance in relation to overarching course goals. 

Types of Feedback 

There is no one size fits all for feedback. While there are common characteristics of effective feedback (discussed further in the following section), the form it takes will change across contexts. It can also come at different points of time during an assignment. You might offer students backward-looking feedback on a final product, after a student has “done” something; this type of feedback is usually given alongside an assignment grade. Or, you might offer forward-looking feedback, providing students advice and suggestions while the work is still in progress. It can be helpful for students to receive both kinds of feedback, with opportunities for implementation throughout. Related, the kinds of questions or prompts you use in your feedback will vary based on the kinds of responses and revisions you’re trying to solicit from students. Types of feedback may include: corrective, epistemic, suggestive, and epistemic + suggestive (Leibold and Schwarz, 2015). 

These particular types of feedback are not exclusive of each other. It’s very common that the feedback you give will have elements of some, if not all, of these four types. What type you use at what point will depend on the goals of the assignment, as well as the goal of the feedback and the kinds of revision and responses you are trying to solicit.

Characteristics of Effective Feedback 

Effective feedback is: 

• Targeted and Concise: Too much feedback can be overwhelming; it can be difficult to know where to begin revising and where to prioritize one’s efforts. Use feedback to direct students’ attention to the main areas where they are likely to make progress; identify 2-3 main areas for improvement and growth. 
• Focused: To help prioritize the main areas you identify, align your feedback with the goals of the assignment. You might also consider what other opportunities students have had or will have to practice these skills. 
• Action-Oriented: Offer feedback that guides students through the revision process. Be direct and point to specific areas within the student’s work, offering suggestions for revision to help direct their efforts.
• Timely: Feedback is most useful when there is time to implement and learn from it. Offer frequent feedback opportunities ahead of a final due date (forward-looking feedback), allowing students to engage with your feedback and use it throughout their revision process. These opportunities for practice will help students develop further mastery of course material.    

Strategies for Giving Effective Feedback 

This section offers strategies for putting the characteristics of effective feedback into action. These strategies are applicable across class types (e.g.: large lecture, seminar) and modalities (e.g.: in-person, fully online, hybrid/HyFlex). 

Create a culture of feedback

Establish a respectful and positive learning climate where feedback is normalized and valued. This includes helping students see the value of feedback to their learning, and acknowledging the role that mistakes, practice, and revision play in learning. Offer students frequent opportunities to receive feedback on their work in the course. Likewise, offer frequent opportunities for students to give f eedback on the course. This reciprocal feedback process will help to underscore the importance and value of feedback, further normalizing the process. For support on collecting student feedback, see the CTL’s Early and Mid-Semester Student Feedback resource.  

Partner with your students 

As McKeachie writes in McKeachie’s Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers (2011) , “Effective feedback is a partnership; it requires actions by the student as well as the teacher” (p. 108). It’s not enough for you to just give feedback; students need to be involved throughout the process. You might engage students in a meta discussion, soliciting feedback about feedback. Engage students in conversations about what makes feedback most useful, its purpose and value to learning, and stress the importance of implementation.

You might also consider the role of peer review in the feedback process. While peer review should not replace instructor feedback, you can take into consideration the kinds of feedback students will have already received as you are reviewing their work. This can be particularly helpful for larger classes where multiple rounds of feedback from the instructor and/or TAs is not possible. For support on engaging students in peer review, see the CTL’s Peer Review: Intentional Design for Any Course Context resource.  

Align your feedback with the learning objectives

When giving feedback, be sure that your comments and suggestions align with overall course objectives, as well as the goals of the assignment. One helpful way to be sure your feedback aligns with learning objectives is to have a rubric. A rubric is an assessment tool that “articulates the expectations for an assignment by listing the criteria or what counts, and describing levels of quality” (Malini Reddy & Andrade, 2010, p. 435). Rubrics help make the goals and purpose of the assignment explicit to students, while also helping you save time when giving feedback. They are typically composed of three sections: evaluation criteria (e.g.: assignment learning objectives, what students are being assessed on); assessment values (e.g.: “excellent, good,  and poor,” letter grades, or a scale of 1-5, etc.); and a description of each assessment value (e.g.: a “B” assignment does this…). If using rubrics, you might consider co-constructing the rubric with your students based on the assignment prompt and goals. This can help students take more ownership of their learning, as well as provide further clarification of your expectations for the assignment.   

Keep your feedback focused and simple 

Keep in mind the key skills or competencies you hope students will practice and master in the particular assignment, and use those to guide your feedback. As John Bean writes in Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom (2011), “Because your purpose is to stimulate meaningful revision, your best strategy is to limit your commentary to a few problems that you want the student to tackle when preparing the next draft. It thus helps to establish a hierarchy of concerns, descending from higher-order issues (ideas, organization, development, and overall clarity) to lower-order issues (sentence correctness, style, mechanics, spelling, and so forth)” (p. 322). When considering your hierarchy of concerns, keep in mind the stage of the student’s draft: early drafts benefit more from higher-order feedback, as the specifics of the assignment may shift and change as the student continues drafting and revising. A later draft, closer to being “finished,” may benefit from lower-order concerns focusing on style and mechanics. 

Consider the timing of your feedback 

Be sure to offer multiple opportunities for feedback throughout the course; this frequency will also help support the culture of feedback discussed above. It’s also important that you consider when students will receive feedback from you, and what they will do with it; remember that, “if students are to learn from feedback, they must have opportunities to construct their own meaning from the received message: they must do something with it, analyze it, ask questions about it, discuss it with others and connect it with prior knowledge” (Nicol et al., 2014, p. 103). Give students time to implement your feedback whether to revise their work or apply it to future assignments. 

Change up your mode of delivery 

While the focus of feedback shifts depending on the assignment goals and your course context, you might also consider changing up the mode of your feedback delivery. Written comments, whether throughout the text or summarized at the end of the assignment, are valuable to students’ learning, but they are not the only way to deliver effective feedback: 

• Audio/video feedback: To help save yourself time, and to humanize your feedback, consider using audio or visual feedback (Gannon, 2017; Cavanaugh and Song, 2014). Most instructors can talk through their ideas quicker than they can handwrite or type them, making audio feedback a timesaver. Audio feedback allows students to hear your tone and intended delivery. Audio/video feedback is particularly useful for fully online asynchronous courses, as it allows students an opportunity to connect with you, the instructor, on a more personal level than typed comments might provide . 

1-1 meetings: Consider using your office hours or other scheduled meetings to talk with students 1-1 about their work. You might ask students to explain or paraphrase the feedback they received. Prompts can include: 1) What was the feedback?; 2) What did you learn from my feedback?; 3) Based on the feedback, how will you improve your work?

Small group meetings : If you have a larger class, you might consider creating feedback groups where students will have read each other’s work and peers can share their feedback alongside you in a small group synchronous meeting. (This method can work regardless of the assignment being a group project or an individual assignment.) If teaching a fully online or hybrid/HyFlex course, these meetings can be facilitated in a dedicated Zoom meeting, or during class time using Zoom breakout rooms.   

Facilitating Feedback with Columbia-Supported Technologies 

While there is no shortage of technologies to help facilitate effective feedback, as this Chronicle of Higher Education Advice Guide highlights, it’s recommended that you work with tools supported by Columbia. These tools come with the added benefit of University support, as well as a higher likelihood of student familiarity. The technology you choose should align with the goals of the assignment and feedback; remember, keep it simple. While these technologies can help facilitate feedback for face-to-face courses, they are particularly useful for those teaching in a fully online or hybrid/HyFlex modality. 

For further support with setting up one of these platforms and making it work for your course context, please contact the Learning Designer liaison for your school to schedule a consultation, or drop in to our CTL Support Office Hours via Zoom. 

CourseWorks (Canvas)

CourseWorks offers a number of built-in features that can help facilitate effective feedback, furthering your students’ growth and learning, and helping to save you time in the process. Note: some of these features require initial enabling on your CourseWorks page. For help setting up your CourseWorks page, and further information about CourseWorks features, visit the CTL’s Knowledge Base . The CTL also offers two self-paced courses: Intro to CourseWorks (Canvas) Online and Assessment and Grading in CourseWorks (Canvas) Online , as well as live workshops for Teaching Online with CourseWorks .  

Gradebook Comments 

If using the CourseWorks Gradebook, you can attach summative feedback comments for your students; this is especially helpful when offering backward-looking feedback on assignments already submitted. For help on adding general Gradebook comments, see the Canvas Help Documentation: How do I leave comments for students in the Gradebook? .  

Quiz Tool Feedback

If you are using the CourseWorks quiz tool, you generate automated feedback for correct and/or incorrect responses. For correct responses, you might consider expanding upon the response, making connections across course materials. For an incorrect response, you might direct the student’s attention to particular course materials (e.g.: video, chapter in a textbook, etc.). For help with generating automated feedback in quizzes, see the Canvas Help Documentation: What options can I set in a quiz? . 

As previously discussed, rubrics can be a great way to both align feedback with the goals of an assignment, and save time while giving feedback. You can create rubrics for your assignments within CourseWorks to further support this process. It is also possible to copy over and edit rubrics across assignments, which is particularly helpful when reviewing different drafts or components of the same assignment. For further support on creating and using rubrics in CourseWorks, see the Canvas Help Documentation: How do I add a rubric to an assignment? . 

SpeedGrader

Within SpeedGrader , there are a number of ways to provide students with feedback. One key benefit of SpeedGrader is that it allows instructors to view, grade, and comment on student work without the need to download documents, which can greatly reduce the time needed to grade student work. Using the DocViewer , you can annotate within a student’s assignment using a range of commenting styles, including: in-text highlights and other edits, marginal comments, summative comments on large areas of an assignment, handwritten or drawing tools, and more. Comments can also be made anonymously. 

You can also offer students holistic assignment comments ; these particular comments are not specific to any one part of the assignment, but rather, appear as a summary comment on the project as a whole. There are a number of options for the mode of these comments, including: a brief text comment, an attachment (e.g.: a Word doc or PDF), or an audio/video comment. There is also a space for students to leave a message in response to your feedback, which can encourage them to more deeply engage with, and reflect upon, your feedback. For more detailed instructions on using the different tools, please see the Canvas Help Documentation: How do I add annotated comments in student submissions?  

Gradescope 

Although Gradescope is more commonly used as an assessment and grading tool, there are a few features to support giving feedback; it is particularly useful when providing feedback on handwritten assignments submitted digitally, or on those assignments using particular software (e.g.: LaTex, other coding and programming languages, etc.). In Gradescope, you can provide comments and feedback using LaTex , making it easier to give feedback on assignments using mathematical equations or formulas. Gradescope also allows for in-text feedback and commenting using a digital pen or textbox ; this allows for feedback on hand-written assignments submitted digitally. For more Gradescope support, see the CTL’s Creating Assignments and Grading Online with Gradescope resource. 

While Panopto is typically used for recording course videos and lectures, it can also be helpful for providing students with video walkthrough feedback of their assignments. Using Panopto, you can screencast your student’s assignment while also recording your audio feedback. This can help humanize your feedback, while also simulating a 1-1 conference or meeting with the student. An added benefit of using Panopto is that you can edit the recording before sharing it with your student (e.g.: removing pauses, rephrasing comments, etc.). For further support on getting started and using Panopto, see the CTL’s Teaching with Panopto resource. 

Like Panopto, you can also use Zoom to record a feedback walkthrough. The one major difference is that Zoom recordings are done in a single take; there is no opportunity to edit the recording. Zoom is also great for meeting with students either 1-1 or in small groups. If using synchronous class time for small group feedback sessions, you can “circulate” between breakout rooms to check in with students and offer feedback. For further Zoom support, see the CTL’s Teaching with Zoom resource, or visit CUIT’s Zoom support page . ​

Reflecting back, can you tell if your past feedback practices were effective? Did your students understand and use the feedback you gave? Did their work improve as a result of the feedback given? What small changes to your feedback practices would benefit you and your students? 

With an upcoming assignment in mind, reflect on the following questions to guide your future feedback practices: 

• How can you make your feedback targeted and concise? Consider the biggest challenge to the student’s success in the assignment. 
• What will be the focus of your feedback? Focus on the most important skills or competencies you hope students will gain from the assignment. 
• What type of feedback will you give (corrective, epistemic, suggestive, epistemic and suggestive, some other combination)? Connect the type of feedback you offer to the goals of the feedback and revision. 
• How much time will students have to implement your feedback and revise? If students only receive feedback on the final products (with or without a grade), how will you help them use this feedback on future assignments?    
• How can the student implement your feedback? Suggest places for students to begin.
• When will students receive feedback? What would be most useful to help students implement your feedback and further practice these skills? 
• What will be the mode of delivery for the feedback? What technologies will you use?

Resources & References 

Ctl resources .

Creating Assignments and Grading Online with Gradescope

Peer Review: Intentional Design for Any Course Context  

Ambrose, S.A., Bridges, M.W., DiPietro, M., Lovett, M.C., & Norman, M.K. (2010). How learning works: Seven research-based principles for smart teaching . Jossey-Bass. 

Bean, J. (2011). Engaging ideas: The professor’s guide to integrating writing, critical thinking, and active learning in the classroom, 2nd ed. Jossey-Bass. 

Cavanaugh, A.J. & Song, L. (2014). Audio feedback versus written feedback: Instructors’ and students’ perspectives . MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 10 (1), 122-138.  

Desrochers, C. G., Zell, D., & Torosyan, R.  Provided meaningful feedback on students’ academic performance . The IDEA Center. 

Fiock, H. & Garcia, H. (2019, November 11). How to give your students better feedback with technology advice guide . Chronicle of Higher Education.   

Gannon, K. (2017, November 26). How to escape grading jail . Chronicle of Higher Education.  

Leibold, N. &  Schwarz, L. M. (2015). The art of giving online feedback . Journal of Effective Teaching. 15 (1), 34-46. 

Malini Reddy, Y. & Andrade, H. (2010). A review of rubric use in higher education . Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. 35 (4), 435-448.  

McKeachie W.J. (2011). McKeachie’s teaching tips: Strategies, research, and theory for college and university teachers, 13th ed. Wadsworth Cengage Learning. 

Nicol, D., Thomson, A., & Breslin, C. (2014). Rethinking feedback practices in higher education: A peer review perspective . Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education , 39 (1), 102-122.   

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16 constructive feedback examples — and tips for how to use them

Giving constructive feedback is nerve-wracking for many people. But feedback is also necessary for thriving in the workplace. 

It helps people flex and grow into new skills, capabilities, and roles. It creates more positive and productive relationships between employees. And it helps to reach goals and drive business value.

But feedback is a two-way street. More often than not, it’s likely every employee will have to give constructive feedback in their careers. That’s why it’s helpful to have constructive feedback examples to leverage for the right situation. 

We know employees want feedback. But one study found that people want feedback if they’re on the receiving end . In fact, in every case, participants rated their desire for feedback higher as the receiver. While the fear of feedback is very real, it’s important to not shy away from constructive feedback opportunities. After all, it could be the difference between a flailing and thriving team. 

If you’re trying to overcome your fear of providing feedback, we’ve compiled a list of 16 constructive feedback examples for you to use. We’ll also share some best practices on how to give effective feedback . 

What is constructive feedback? 

When you hear the word feedback, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? What feelings do you have associated with feedback? Oftentimes, feedback conversations are anxiety-ridden because it’s assumed to be negative feedback. Unfortunately, feedback has this binary stigma, it’s either good or bad.

But in reality, there are plenty of types of feedback leveraged in both personal and professional relationships. They don’t all fall into one camp or the other. And each type of feedback is serving a purpose to ultimately better an individual, team, or work environment. 

For example, positive feedback can be used to reinforce desired behaviors or big accomplishments. Real-time feedback is reserved for those “in the moment” situations. Like if I’ve made a mistake or a typo in a blog, I’d want my teammates to give me real-time feedback . 

However, constructive feedback is its own ball game. 

What is constructive feedback?

Constructive feedback is a supportive way to improve areas of opportunity for an individual person, team, relationship, or environment. In many ways, constructive feedback is a combination of constructive criticism paired with coaching skills. 

16 constructive feedback examples to use 

To truly invest in building a feedback culture , your employees need to feel comfortable giving feedback. After all, organizations are people, which means we’re all human. We make mistakes but we’re all capable of growth and development. And most importantly, everyone everywhere should be able to live with more purpose, clarity, and passion. 

But we won’t unlock everyone’s full potential unless your people are comfortable giving feedback. Some employee feedback might be easier to give than others, like ways to improve a presentation. 

But sometimes, constructive feedback can be tricky, like managing conflict between team members or addressing negative behavior. As any leader will tell you, it’s critical to address negative behaviors and redirect them to positive outcomes. Letting toxic behavior go unchecked can lead to issues with employee engagement , company culture, and overall, your business’s bottom line. 

Regardless of where on the feedback spectrum your organization falls, having concrete examples will help set up your people for success. Let’s talk through some examples of constructive feedback. For any of these themes, it’s always good to have specific examples handy to help reinforce the feedback you’re giving. We’ll also give some sample scenarios of when these phrases might be most impactful and appropriate. 

Constructive feedback examples about communication skills  

An employee speaks over others and interrupts in team meetings.

“I’ve noticed you can cut off team members or interrupt others. You share plenty of good ideas and do good work. To share some communication feedback , I’d love to see how you can support others in voicing their own ideas in our team meetings.” 

An employee who doesn’t speak up or share ideas in team meetings.

“I’ve noticed that you don’t often share ideas in big meetings. But in our one-on-one meetings , you come up with plenty of meaningful and creative ideas to help solve problems. What can I do to help make you more comfortable speaking up in front of the team?” 

An employee who is brutally honest and blunt.

“Last week, I noticed you told a teammate that their work wasn’t useful to you. It might be true that their work isn’t contributing to your work, but there’s other work being spread across the team that will help us reach our organizational goals. I’d love to work with you on ways to improve your communication skills to help build your feedback skills, too. Would you be interested in pursuing some professional development opportunities?”  

An employee who has trouble building rapport because of poor communication skills in customer and prospect meetings.

“I’ve noticed you dive right into the presentation with our customer and prospect meetings. To build a relationship and rapport, it’s good to make sure we’re getting to know everyone as people. Why don’t you try learning more about their work, priorities, and life outside of the office in our next meeting?” 

Constructive feedback examples about collaboration 

An employee who doesn’t hold to their commitments on group or team projects.

“I noticed I asked you for a deliverable on this key project by the end of last week. I still haven’t received this deliverable and wanted to follow up. If a deadline doesn’t work well with your bandwidth, would you be able to check in with me? I’d love to get a good idea of what you can commit to without overloading your workload.”  

An employee who likes to gatekeep or protect their work, which hurts productivity and teamwork .

“Our teams have been working together on this cross-functional project for a couple of months. But yesterday, we learned that your team came across a roadblock last month that hasn’t been resolved. I’d love to be a partner to you if you hit any issues in reaching our goals. Would you be willing to share your project plan or help provide some more visibility into your team’s work? I think it would help us with problem-solving and preventing problems down the line.” 

An employee who dominates a cross-functional project and doesn’t often accept new ways of doing things.

“I’ve noticed that two team members have voiced ideas that you have shut down. In the spirit of giving honest feedback, it feels like ideas or new solutions to problems aren’t welcome. Is there a way we could explore some of these ideas? I think it would help to show that we’re team players and want to encourage everyone’s contributions to this project.” 

Constructive feedback examples about time management 

An employee who is always late to morning meetings or one-on-ones.

“I’ve noticed that you’re often late to our morning meetings with the rest of the team. Sometimes, you’re late to our one-on-ones, too. Is there a way I can help you with building better time management skills ? Sometimes, the tardiness can come off like you don’t care about the meeting or the person you’re meeting with, which I know you don’t mean.” 

A direct report who struggles to meet deadlines.

“Thanks for letting me know you’re running behind schedule and need an extension. I’ve noticed this is the third time you’ve asked for an extension in the past two weeks. In our next one-on-one, can you come up with a list of projects and the amount of time that you’re spending on each project? I wonder if we can see how you’re managing your time and identify efficiencies.” 

An employee who continuously misses team meetings.

“I’ve noticed you haven’t been present at the last few team meetings. I wanted to check in to see how things are going. What do you have on your plate right now? I’m concerned you’re missing critical information that can help you in your role and your career.” 

Constructive feedback examples about boundaries 

A manager who expects the entire team to work on weekends.

“I’ve noticed you send us emails and project plans over the weekends. I put in a lot of hard work during the week, and won’t be able to answer your emails until the work week starts again. It’s important that I maintain my work-life balance to be able to perform my best.” 

An employee who delegates work to other team members.

“I’ve noticed you’ve delegated some aspects of this project that fall into your scope of work. I have a full plate with my responsibilities in XYZ right now. But if you need assistance, it might be worth bringing up your workload to our manager.” 

A direct report who is stressed about employee performance but is at risk of burning out.

“I know we have performance reviews coming up and I’ve noticed an increase in working hours for you. I hope you know that I recognize your work ethic but it’s important that you prioritize your work-life balance, too. We don’t want you to burn out.”  

Constructive feedback examples about managing 

A leader who is struggling with team members working together well in group settings.

“I’ve noticed your team’s scores on our employee engagement surveys. It seems like they don’t collaborate well or work well in group settings, given their feedback. Let’s work on building some leadership skills to help build trust within your team.” 

A leader who is struggling to engage their remote team.

“In my last skip-levels with your team, I heard some feedback about the lack of connections . It sounds like some of your team members feel isolated, especially in this remote environment. Let’s work on ways we can put some virtual team-building activities together.” 

A leader who is micromanaging , damaging employee morale.

“In the last employee engagement pulse survey, I took a look at the leadership feedback. It sounds like some of your employees feel that you micromanage them, which can damage trust and employee engagement. In our next one-on-one, let’s talk through some projects that you can step back from and delegate to one of your direct reports. We want to make sure employees on your team feel ownership and autonomy over their work.” 

8 tips for providing constructive feedback 

Asking for and receiving feedback isn’t an easy task. 

But as we know, more people would prefer to receive feedback than give it. If giving constructive feedback feels daunting, we’ve rounded up eight tips to help ease your nerves. These best practices can help make sure you’re nailing your feedback delivery for optimal results, too.

Be clear and direct (without being brutally honest). Make sure you’re clear, concise, and direct. Dancing around the topic isn’t helpful for you or the person you’re giving feedback to. 

Provide specific examples. Get really specific and cite recent examples. If you’re vague and high-level, the employee might not connect feedback with their actions.

Set goals for the behavior you’d like to see changed. If there’s a behavior that’s consistent, try setting a goal with your employee. For example, let’s say a team member dominates the conversation in team meetings. Could you set a goal for how many times they encourage other team members to speak and share their ideas? 

Give time and space for clarifying questions. Constructive feedback can be hard to hear. It can also take some time to process. Make sure you give the person the time and space for questions and follow-up. 

Know when to give feedback in person versus written communication. Some constructive feedback simply shouldn’t be put in an email or a Slack message. Know the right communication forum to deliver your feedback.   

Check-in. Make an intentional effort to check in with the person on how they’re doing in the respective area of feedback. For example, let’s say you’ve given a teammate feedback on their presentation skills . Follow up on how they’ve invested in building their public speaking skills . Ask if you can help them practice before a big meeting or presentation. 

Ask for feedback in return. Feedback can feel hierarchical and top-down sometimes. Make sure that you open the door to gather feedback in return from your employees. 

Start giving effective constructive feedback 

Meaningful feedback can be the difference between a flailing and thriving team. To create a feedback culture in your organization, constructive feedback is a necessary ingredient. 

Think about the role of coaching to help build feedback muscles with your employees. With access to virtual coaching , you can make sure your employees are set up for success. BetterUp can help your workforce reach its full potential.

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Madeline Miles

Madeline is a writer, communicator, and storyteller who is passionate about using words to help drive positive change. She holds a bachelor's in English Creative Writing and Communication Studies and lives in Denver, Colorado. In her spare time, she's usually somewhere outside (preferably in the mountains) — and enjoys poetry and fiction.

5 types of feedback that make a difference (and how to use them)

Are you receptive to feedback follow this step-by-step guide, handle feedback like a boss and make it work for you, how to give constructive feedback as a manager, why coworker feedback is so important and 5 ways to give it, how to give positive comments to your boss, should you use the feedback sandwich 7 pros and cons, how to give feedback to your boss: tips for getting started, how managers get upward feedback from their team, similar articles, 30 customer service review examples to develop your team, how to give negative feedback to a manager, with examples, how to embrace constructive conflict, 15 ways to fight off the sunday scaries, feedback in communication: 5 areas to become a better communicator, 25 performance review questions (and how to use them), stay connected with betterup, get our newsletter, event invites, plus product insights and research..

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How to Provide Mastery-Oriented Feedback (With Examples)

Let’s get down to the brass tacks of mastery-oriented feedback .  What does it mean in practice?

However, if we rethink our process, add mastery-oriented feedback (MOF), and have our students reflect on and revise their work with the feedback, we can help our students learn from the assignment, providing more satisfaction for you in the process.  Ok.  I know, an elephant has just entered the room, and we need to discuss it.  You are already thinking about how you can possibly find any extra time to do anything more. So, let’s talk about that before we talk about the MOF. Yes, this will take extra time to get your head around this, and yes, it will increase the time it takes to assess student work. But, it will pay you back when you see that the students are learning more and you start to move through your lessons a little faster because of the stronger learning foundation that you have created. So, while you are learning this new process, feel free to reduce the number of assignments you actually assess.  Go over the assignments in class with the students.  Have the students self-assess and self-reflect more as you go over the answers.  Give MOF verbally and support students in the process of achieving the goals of the lesson.  Do more formative assessments.  In short, reduce the quantity so that you can increase the quality of your feedback.

Now, let’s talk about the process of MOF. 

Set Up For Success

MOF is much easier to provide when you design the assessment or assignment with goals and clear outcomes that match the lesson! It will give you a foundation and a standard to evaluate. It helps to make the process more objective instead of subjective as well. 

MOF starts way before you review student work.  It starts at the beginning of your lesson planning when you develop the goals and objectives of your lesson. These goals and objectives should be aligned with the state standards and/or the curriculum.  They also need to be S.M.A.R.T. and be written in user-friendly language that meets the needs of your students.  Setting up S.M.A.R.T. goals sets goals and objectives that your student can understand and that you can use to evaluate the student's work.  It removes the guesswork.  It also gives you the ability to decide upon the options and choices that you can offer that align with your firm goals.  I would suggest that you choose assessments that do not require only one answer or, if that is unavoidable, that you ask students for their reasons for choosing their answer.

MOF continues during the delivery of the lesson as you provide explicit instruction and reinforce the goals and objectives in multiple ways and give your students opportunities to practice the topics, self-reflect on their progress, self-assess their work and try again if they haven’t achieved the goals and objectives or move on to the next step if they have.  Providing options and choices to your students will help them overcome any barriers that they may encounter along the way. 

Kicking Off the Assessment

When the students are ready (notice that I didn’t say when you are!), you can provide them with more formalized assessments.  Encourage students to review the assignment/quiz/exam/project and to ask you any questions about things they don’t understand before they start. Then let them do the work.  When they are done, collect the work and if possible, review the assignment with the students in a side-by-side assessment to ensure everything is complete. This is also an incredible opportunity to ask students to reflect on how they did. Next, within a day or two (the quicker, the better), assess student work.  Before you begin this process, review the goals and objectives one more time and then do a quick review of all the submitted work to see if there were any big misconceptions, misunderstandings, or confusion and get your “arms” around the task.  Be sure to note any delivery issues that arise so that you can revise the assignment for the next time.

Review and Feedback

As you assess each student submission:

•  If students meet or exceed standards, give positive reinforcement. For example,  “I like how you figured this out and came up with your own process to solve the problem,” “I like how you connected the concepts….” Ask questions like “how would you do this if….”? And "what was your process for learning how to do this?"  It is ok if you want to add global comments to the top of the assignment that congratulates the student on a “job well done” or “keep up the good work,” but avoid comments like “you are so smart” or “you got 98 out of 100!”.
• If students are not yet meeting standards, tell them where their work is incorrect or needs improvement and encourage the student to keep trying by reviewing a particular resource that you used in the lesson or offer them a strategy for looking at the question or solving the problem.  Be specific. Use this as a “teaching moment” to help the student learn the concept.  Then, give them an opportunity to revise before you post a grade.  Help them succeed.

You don’t have to do all this by writing comments on the page. You could do this one-on-one with each student, or you could record an audio or video (screencast) that reviews the assignment and then send it to the student. Alternatively, you could do a full class review and then meet with small groups of students in a station rotation.  This will give you time to “encourage perseverance, focus on the development of efficacy and self-awareness” (CAST) and reinforce the objectives and goals of the lesson so that students will know what they achieved or what they need to continue to work on.  This would also be a good time to do a “my favorite wrong answer” to highlight that we all make mistakes and that making mistakes is part of the learning process to destigmatize any wrong answers.

Examples of Mastery-Oriented Feedback

The following examples are from a variety of subjects in a few grades.  We have added MOF to each example. All samples have been made anonymous and are used with permission.  Each sample is linked to a video review of the feedback and a Padlet.  Choose whichever samples interest you.

4th Grade Writing Sample (Special Education):   Padlet | Video 

4th Grade End of Unit Self-Assessment: Padlet | Video 

5th Grade Mathematics:   Padlet | Video 

5th Grade Science:   Padlet | Video

HS English:   Padlet | Video

Learn More:

• How to Universally Design Grading
• Take a self-paced course on standards-based grading
• Go beyond the letter grade - A step-by-step overview of mastery-oriented feedback

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101 Positive Feedback Examples (Copy and Paste)

Positive feedback is essential for providing a supportive and encouraging environment – be it at school, in the workplace, or with personal relationships.

But it needs to be personalized, specific, and encouraging in order for it to have the most effect.

Below are 100 positive feedback examples that you can copy and paste – find the one that’s specific for your needs and then edit it so it’s more personalized for the person receiving the feedback.

Don’t forget to also embrace constructive feedback as well to give the person ideas about avenues for ongoing improvement.

Positive Feedback Examples

1. general praise.

• Excellent effort: It is clear to see that you put in your absolute best and this is a sign you’ll achieve great success in your life in the future.
• Writing Skills : Your writing skills are impressive. Specifically, your report started very clearly and remained readable through the body of the piece. The content was well-researched with use of authoritative sources.
• Presentation: Your presentation was engaging and informative. Well done! Thank you for the effort you put into preparing it.
• Creativity: Your creativity for this project has been outstanding. The design concept you came up with really sets our project apart.
• Customer Service: I appreciate your dedication to providing excellent customer service on behalf of the company. Our clients consistently praise your professionalism and helpfulness.
• Multitasking Skills : Your ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously while maintaining a high level of quality was impressive and makes me think you have a lot of potential in the workplace.
• Teamwork Skills: Your teamwork and collaboration skills such as your ability to find common ground have made a significant positive impact on our team’s dynamic and productivity.
• Leadership: Your leadership has been instrumental in driving the success of our project, and the team truly appreciates your guidance and support.
• Innovation: Your innovative ideas have led to significant improvements in our processes, saving both time and resources.
• Problem-Solving: Your problem-solving skills are exceptional; you always approach challenges with a positive attitude and find effective solutions.
• Public Speaking: Your public speaking skills have greatly improved; your recent presentation was engaging, well-delivered, and captured the audience’s attention.

2. Positive Feedback for Students

• Hard Work: Your hard work and dedication to your studies have led to a significant improvement in your grades. Always remember this as an exmaple of when hard work leads to self-improvement and mastery.
• Creativity: Your creativity and unique perspective on the assignment resulted in a thought-provoking and engaging project. Remember that creativity is your strength!
• Self-Confidence: You’ve shown great progress in your self-confidence, enabling you to tackle these challenges without hesitation. Keep on going, knowing you’re on the right track.
• Active Participation: Your active participation in class discussions has helped you to get really engaged in the coursework. It has also helped your classmates to see what it means to be a good learner.
• Collaboration Skills: Your ability to work well with your classmates on group projects demonstrates strong teamwork and collaboration skills. Specifically, you were very good at sharing ideas and brainstorming with your team.
• Attention to Detail: Your attention to detail and thoroughness is a strength. It ensures that you meet expectations and don’t go off track anymore.
• Time Management: You’ve shown great improvement in your time management skills. I’ve noticed you turning up to class more prepared and more ready to learn.
• Communication: Your ability to clearly articulate your thoughts and ideas in written communication is impressive. Your writing is always clear and concise.
• Seeking Feedback: Your willingness to seek help and learn from feedback demonstrates a strong commitment to personal success. Keep up that growth mindset !
• Enthusiasm: Your enthusiasm and passion for learning inspire both your classmates and your teachers.

3. Feedback Expressing Encouragement

• Keep it Up: Keep up the excellent work on the project; your dedication and focus are truly making a difference.
• Overcoming Challenges: I believe in your ability to overcome this challenge; your resilience and determination have always been inspiring.
• Making Progress: You’re making great progress in developing your skills; keep pushing yourself, and you’ll continue to achieve even greater success.
• Pushing through Setbacks: Don’t get discouraged by setbacks; you have the talent and drive to accomplish your goals.
• Keep Practicing: I can see how much effort you’ve put into improving your communication skills; continue practicing, and you’ll become even more effective.
• You’re on Track: You’re on the right track with your approach to problem-solving; keep refining your process, and you’ll achieve even better results.
• Positive Attitude: Your positive attitude and enthusiasm are contagious; continue to bring that energy to our team, and it will inspire everyone around you.
• Challenge Yourself: Keep exploring new ideas and challenging yourself; your creativity and innovation are valuable assets to our team.
• Leadership Skills : You’re showing great potential as a leader; continue to develop your leadership skills, and you’ll have a significant impact on our team’s success.
• Making Progress: Your progress in mastering new software is impressive; keep learning and growing, and you’ll become an invaluable resource for our team.

4. Feedback Expressing Recognition

• Outstanding Performance: I want to recognize your outstanding performance in meeting and exceeding our sales targets this quarter; your hard work has made a significant impact on our success.
• Invaluable contribution: Your contributions to the project have been invaluable, and I want to acknowledge your dedication to ensuring its successful completion.
• Exceptional customer service: I’d like to commend your exceptional customer service skills; we’ve received numerous positive reviews from our clients praising your responsiveness and professionalism.
• Efficiency improvement: Your ability to streamline our processes and increase efficiency has not gone unnoticed; thank you for your initiative and resourcefulness.
• Consistent attendance: I want to acknowledge your consistent punctuality and attendance; it demonstrates your commitment to our team and sets a great example for others.
• Conflict resolution: Your proactive approach in resolving conflicts within the team has been instrumental in maintaining a positive work environment; your leadership skills are truly appreciated.
• Excellent presentation: I’d like to recognize your excellent presentation skills; your recent presentation was both informative and engaging, and it clearly demonstrated your expertise in the subject matter.
• Mentorship contribution : Your mentorship of our new team members has played a crucial role in their successful onboarding and integration into the team; thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience.
• Effective multitasking: I want to acknowledge your impressive ability to multitask effectively, juggling multiple projects without compromising the quality of your work.
• Community outreach volunteering: Your volunteer efforts in organizing and participating in our company’s community outreach initiatives deserve recognition; your commitment to giving back is truly commendable.

5. Feedback Expressing Gratitude

• Timely completion: Thank you for going above and beyond to ensure the project was completed on time. I hope you’re proud of what you’ve produced!
• Colleague support: I’m grateful for your willingness to step up and help your colleagues when they needed someone to take up the slack. That sort of dedication makes a big difference in our team’s overall success.
• Team-building organizer: I appreciate your efforts in organizing the team-building event; it was a great success and helped to strengthen our team’s relationships.
• Thorough report: Thank you for your hard work in researching and preparing the report; your thoroughness made it an invaluable resource for our team.
• Commitment to team: Thank you for staying late to resolve that urgent issue; your commitment to our team is truly valued.
• Productivity improvement: I’m grateful for your initiative in developing a more efficient system for tracking our progress; it has significantly improved our productivity.
• Client-facing patience: Thank you for your patience and understanding in working with our clients, even when situations become challenging; it reflects positively on our company.
• Attention to detail: I appreciate your consistent attention to detail; it helps to ensure the quality of our work and minimizes errors.
• Valuable contribution to brainstorming: Thank you for your valuable input during our brainstorming session; your ideas and insights contributed significantly to shaping our project’s direction.
• Motivational support: I’m grateful for your support and encouragement during the difficult phase of the project; your positive attitude helped to keep the team motivated and focused.

6. Positive Feedback on Interviews

• Effective communication: You provided clear and concise responses to the interview questions, demonstrating your strong communication skills.
• Compelling presentation: Your ability to articulate your experiences and accomplishments in a compelling manner left a lasting impression on the interview panel.
• Thoughtful questioning: You asked thoughtful and relevant questions during the interview, showing your genuine interest in the position and the company.
• Professional demeanor: Your professional demeanor and positive attitude throughout the interview process made a strong impression on the hiring team.
• Problem-solving ability: You effectively showcased your problem-solving skills by providing specific examples of how you’ve tackled challenges in your previous roles.
• Company research: Your research on the company and its values demonstrates your commitment to finding a role that aligns with your interests and passions.
• Skills alignment: Your ability to connect your skills and experiences to the requirements of the position showcased your potential for success in the role.
• Interpersonal engagement: Your active listening and engagement during the interview indicated your strong interpersonal skills and ability to collaborate with others.
• Industry knowledge: You demonstrated a strong understanding of the industry and its challenges, positioning yourself as a knowledgeable candidate.
• Thoughtful follow-up: Your follow-up thank-you note after the interview was a thoughtful gesture that reinforced your interest in the position and appreciation for the opportunity.

7. Positive Feedback on Personal Growth

• Improved public speaking: I’ve noticed your increased confidence in public speaking; your practice and dedication are clearly paying off.
• Better time management: Your time management skills have improved significantly, allowing you to be more efficient and productive in your daily tasks.
• Developed leadership: I can see that you’ve made a concerted effort to develop your leadership skills, and it’s making a positive impact on our team.
• Impressive proficiency: Your growth in mastering new software and tools has been impressive, making you a valuable resource for our team.
• Clearer written communication: I’ve observed your progress in improving your written communication, and it’s made your reports much clearer and more concise.
• Enhanced analytical skills: The strides you’ve made in enhancing your analytical skills have resulted in more insightful and data-driven decision-making.
• Improved empathy: Your ability to handle difficult situations with more empathy and understanding has greatly improved, contributing to better interpersonal relationships within the team.
• Stronger client relationships: I can see your progress in building stronger client relationships, leading to increased trust and satisfaction.
• Improved problem-solving: Your commitment to personal development has led to a significant improvement in your problem-solving abilities.
• Expanded industry knowledge: You’ve made great strides in expanding your industry knowledge, making you a go-to resource for information and expertise on our team.

8. Positive Feedback on Teamwork Skills

• Effective collaborator: Your ability to collaborate effectively with others has played a crucial role in our team’s success.
• Supportive knowledge sharing: Your willingness to share your knowledge and expertise with your colleagues is truly appreciated and has fostered a supportive learning environment.
• Positive attitude and enthusiasm: Your positive attitude and enthusiasm make you a pleasure to work with, and it contributes to a great team dynamic.
• Skilled listener: You’re an excellent listener, and your ability to understand and consider the perspectives of your teammates has led to better decision-making within the team.
• Reliable team member: Your consistent reliability and dependability make you a valued team member that others can count on.
• Effective communicator: Your effective communication skills help keep the team informed and aligned on project goals and progress.
• Conflict mediator: Your ability to mediate conflicts and promote a harmonious work environment has been instrumental in maintaining strong teamwork.
• Helpful team player: You’re always willing to lend a helping hand to your colleagues, and your supportive nature makes a significant difference in our team’s success.
• Resilient under pressure: Your ability to work well under pressure and adapt to changing circumstances demonstrates great teamwork and resilience.
• Appreciative teammate: You consistently show appreciation for the efforts and contributions of your teammates, fostering a culture of recognition and gratitude within the team.

9. Positive Feedback on Initiative

• Proactive issue resolution: Your proactive approach to identifying and addressing potential issues has greatly contributed to the success of our project.
• Initiative in growth opportunities: I appreciate your initiative in seeking out new opportunities for growth and development within the team.
• Commitment to taking on challenges: Your willingness to take on additional responsibilities and challenges demonstrates your commitment and drive to succeed.
• Exceptional client service: Your ability to anticipate the needs of our clients and provide exceptional service without being prompted is truly impressive.
• Effective implementation of new tools: I commend your initiative in researching and implementing new tools and technologies that have improved our team’s efficiency.
• Industry trend awareness: Your proactive efforts to stay informed about industry trends and share that knowledge with the team have made a significant impact on our strategy and decision-making.
• Continuous learning: I appreciate your eagerness to learn and grow, continuously seeking out new resources and opportunities to expand your skills and expertise.
• Stakeholder relationship building: Your initiative in building relationships with key stakeholders has helped to strengthen our partnerships and collaboration.
• Process improvement: By identifying and addressing gaps in our processes, you’ve demonstrated a strong sense of initiative and commitment to continuous improvement.
• Feedback implementation: Your proactive approach to seeking feedback and implementing changes based on that feedback shows your dedication to personal and professional growth.

10. Positive Feedback on Leadership Skills

• Clear communication: Your ability to effectively communicate and articulate a clear vision for our team has been instrumental in our success.
• Collaborative leadership: Your leadership style encourages open dialogue and fosters a culture of trust and collaboration within the team.
• Motivational inspiration: Your ability to inspire and motivate your team members has contributed to a highly engaged and productive work environment.
• Exceptional mentorship: Your willingness to provide guidance, support, and mentorship to others demonstrates exceptional leadership qualities .
• Effective decision-making : Your ability to make tough decisions under pressure, while considering the best interests of the team and organization, is commendable.
• Fair conflict resolution: Your approach to conflict resolution is fair and balanced, promoting a harmonious and respectful team atmosphere.
• Appreciative recognition: Your consistent recognition and appreciation of team members’ efforts and contributions foster a culture of high performance and commitment.
• Effective delegation : Your ability to delegate tasks effectively and empower your team members to take ownership of their work is a key leadership strength.
• Commitment to learning: Your commitment to continuous learning and development, both for yourself and your team, sets an excellent example for others to follow.
• Emotionally intelligent leadership : Your strong emotional intelligence and ability to empathize with your team members have helped to create a supportive and inclusive work environment.

How to Give Positive Feedback

Feedback is often very hard to provide. As experts, we tend to have tacit knowledge of what looks good and what needs work, but this is very difficult to communicate in a simple and actionable way.

When giving your feedback, keep these tips in your mind, as they might help you to formulate more effective feedback:

• Be specific: Students get very frustrated when the feedback is too general and doesn’t given an exact example. So, be specific. Specificity means that you need to clearly describe what needs to be worked on and, if possible, point to the exact moment or place where the mistakes were made.
• Be genuine: Insincere feedback will be ignored. If the recipient thinks your praise is just performative, they won’t respect your opinions. In fact, sometimes the best positive feedback comes from someone who you know will give tough negative feedback if that’s what they genuinely think.
• Be timely: Timely feedback helps to reinforce an action or deter it in the future. If too much time has passed, the recipient will likely feel the feedback’s relevance has waned.
• Personalize it: Don’t make personal attacks, but rather, make it obvious that the feedback has been tailored to the person’s performance. I remember once my professor gave every student who got an A the same feedback, every student who got a B the same feedback, and so forth. Not many people in that class took the feedback seriously because they felt it didn’t directly address their paper.
• Strike a balance: The feedback shouldn’t all be overwhelmingly positive or else there’s no room for improvement. Offering constructive feedback alongside continuous and positive reinforcement can ensure the learner can identify ways to continually improve upon themselves over time.
• Encourage growth: Remind the recipient that feedback is about improvement, not tearing a person down or giving them a big ego. All feedback should be designed to elicit further improvement from the person.
• Offer examples: Often, examples of ways to improve are required in order for the recipient to truly understand what’s expected of them. Furthermore, noting specific examples of moments within their performance can help achieve more specificity in the work.
• Open a feedback loop: Ideally, the recipient of the feedback will have a chance to ask clarifying questions or explain themselves. Without dialogue, your feedback may feel unsupportive, miss the mark, or go over the recipient’s head. Conversation usually leads to better results.
• Allow a chance for improvement: Whenever possible, open the door for the recipient to demonstrate their growth in the future. This may be as simple as offering them the opportunity to come back and show you their next piece of work and tell you how they used your feedback.

By keeping these points in mind, you can provide positive feedback that is effective, meaningful, and supportive.

Strategy: The Feedback Sandwich

The feedback sandwich is an effective way to give constructive feedback that is framed positively and supportively.

This strategy is also known as the “praise-criticism-praise” or “compliment-suggestion-compliment” method.

The idea is to “sandwich” a piece of criticism or suggestion for improvement between two positive statements or compliments.

Because the feedback starts and ends positively, hopefully it will soften the impact of the criticism while also ensiring it is delivered.

This may help the recipient to know that you’re not just tearing them up – you have both positive feedback and constructive criticism to share, but your overall goal is to encourage and help them to improve.

Here’s a breakdown of the feedback sandwich method:

• Start with a positive statement: The first statement sets a positive tone by highlighting something you felt they did really well. This makes the recipient know you’re here to help and there is some value in their work.
• Offer constructive criticism: The middle feedback presents an area for improvement. Make sure that you’re specific and clear. Provide examples, if possible, and offer actionable suggestions to address this area for imprveoment for next time.
• End with another positive statement: Finish the feedback with something encouraging. Ensure it’s genuine, but also on a positive note. This helps to leave the conversation with a sense that the person receiving the feedback (and their work) has value.

One weakness of this approach is that it can come across as insincere. To address this, make sure your positive feedback is genuine and thoughtful.

Furthermore, ensure you allow for a chance to discuss and open the door for back-and-forth discussion about the person’s performance. Feedback should, ideally, be a two-way street and chance for discussion to help the person truly develop their skills.

Positive feedback is an essential part of helping students to understand the correct paths to take and when they did well so they can replicate that behavior. Praise and encouragement can help students stay engaged and develop self-confidence. Don’t forget to also provide constructive feedback that helps the learner know how to achieve self-improvement.

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 5 Top Tips for Succeeding at University
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 50 Durable Goods Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 100 Consumer Goods Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 30 Globalization Pros and Cons

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Teaching Commons Conference 2024

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Formative Assessment and Feedback

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Formative assessments are usually meant to measure learning in order to provide feedback. This kind of formative feedback is given throughout the duration of the course and is given in a spirit of growth and improvement. It helps students see how well they are understanding and communicating course concepts, what they might be missing, and how they can improve and deepen their learning. It is a crucial part of the learning process.

Benefits of formative feedback

Formative feedback helps students recognize gaps in their knowledge, areas to improve, what support resources they may need, and learning strategies they might change or adapt to meet the course outcomes. Without formative feedback, students may not be aware of their own misunderstandings. This can later lead to confusion and cause students to lose motivation.

Examples of formative feedback 

Synchronous in-person feedback from the instructor.

Providing verbal feedback directly to a student in person or in a Zoom web conference allows you to have a conversation where you can ask and answer questions. This can make it easier to identify misunderstandings, provide motivational support, or demonstrate a strategy or content. 

However, this kind of feedback can be time-consuming, especially if it is provided individually. Moreover, some students may feel intimidated by receiving feedback in such a way. Consider combining a variety of methods for giving formative feedback that fits the needs of your students, teaching situation, and content.

Written notes from the instructor

Give students some written feedback on smaller assignments. This can be valuable, especially in environments where opportunities for informal in-person feedback are less frequent.

To avoid spending too much time responding to every minor assignment, consider creating a spreadsheet or grid with your student's names, and keeping track of when you give certain students feedback on smaller assignments. This way you can distribute feedback equitably, ensuring that all students at some point in the quarter receive some feedback on a minor assignment before receiving a grade or final feedback on a larger assignment.

• Tools like  Canvas SpeedGrader  and  Gradescope  can make giving feedback much more efficient.
• With a tablet and stylus from the iPads for Teaching program , you can also digitally annotate submitted assignments with handwritten feedback.

Audio-based memos from the instructor

Recording an audio message can be a great way to communicate feedback you might have otherwise given in person. It can also be motivating to students to hear your voice and receive feedback in a way that might feel more informal. Be prepared to be flexible if some students need written text instead of audio.

• Canvas SpeedGrader  allows instructors to record audio comments when grading assignments
• Canvas Discussions  forums also are able to record audio comments

Video feedback from the instructor

When giving feedback on a student project or assignment heavy in visuals, it might be helpful to create video feedback of you interacting with their work. This kind of feedback can include audio feedback, a screen recording, and a camera recording of the instructor.

Showing your students what you're seeing and noticing about their work can be extremely powerful. Do keep accessibility concerns in mind if you choose to leave feedback in this way, noting when students might not be able to access or engage with visuals.

• Create a video recording in Zoom  to easily provide this kind of feedback to students.

Peer feedback among students

In situations where students have relevant expertise or experience, formative feedback from student peers can be valuable. Consider how you can provide an easy way for students to provide each other with feedback. For example, you might instruct students to upload their work as a shared Google Document that team members can comment on or facilitate a small group feedback activity during a class meeting. For aggregated feedback, you might use a poll or survey with a tool such as Poll Everywhere to gather feedback from a large group.

It is first important to provide clear instructions and model what kind of feedback is most helpful. Encourage students to be specific and identify discrete components of the work being commented on. Feedback ideally offers an actionable solution or suggestion to improve, leaving the person receiving feedback with a clear idea of what steps to take. Good feedback should also be kind and supportive of the individual and their improvement.

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Teaching Resources

Templates for Quick Student Feedback

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Gather quick and useful student feedback about your course with our easy-to-use templates.

Gathering Student Feedback

Get started with survey templates created through collaboration between CIRCLE and the Center for Teaching and Learning.

We offer templates available for use in Canvas, Google Forms and Qualtrics. The templates all have the same questions and are fully customizable; use whichever platform you prefer. Please note that only Google Forms and Qualtrics offer truly anonymous surveys.

Each format has four templates available for gathering various kinds of feedback:

• Quick Course Pulse : General feedback on how the course is going overall
• Quick Feedback on a Course Activity : Feedback on a specific course activity
• Quick Activity Feedback – Group Work : Feedback on a group assignment or activity
• Quick Lecture Feedback : Feedback specific to lecture portions of a course

Using these Templates in your Course

• Consider each template as a jumping off point. You can use them as is, or you can update them to better fit your needs by changing settings or editing, adding, or deleting questions. Instructions and tips are included in the survey guides found on the pages for each survey mode.
• Under “Downloads” there is a pdf guide explaining how to use each kind of template in detail (Canvas / Google Forms / Qualtrics).
• If you’d like further help or input on collecting student feedback, schedule a consultation with CTL staff or contact Rick Moore, the Assistant Director for Assessment and Evaluation [email protected]

Created through a collaboration between CIRCLE and the Center for Teaching and Learning. To preview the templates and import them into your courses, log into Canvas, and then follow the links below. Alternatively, you can also search for the templates within Canvas Commons using the instructions further down the page.

See our pdf guide download that includes detailed instructions plus general tips on collecting student feedback using these templates.

Available Survey Templates

• Quick Course Pulse:  General feedback on how the course is going overall
• Quick Feedback on a Course Activity:  Feedback on a specific course activity
• Quick Activity Feedback – Group Work:  Feedback on a group assignment or activity

If you still can’t get to the surveys via the links, please follow the instructions below to access the surveys by searching Canvas Commons. Once you’ve imported a survey into your course, it can be found under the “Quizzes” where you can make any changes you need and publish it to your students.

Accessing Surveys via Canvas Commons Search

Correct results will have the following image:

Google Forms is a easy-to-use survey platform that can be completely anonymous. If you don’t already have one you will need to  create a Google account  to design and send Google Forms, but students do not need to use or even have a Google account to respond.

The templates below were created through collaboration between CIRCLE and the Center for Teaching and Learning.

Click the links below to access the survey templates. Once a template has been opened, click the “USE TEMPLATE” button located in the upper right corner of the screen to import the survey into your Google account.

We also offer a pdf guide that includes  more instructions and general tips  on collecting student feedback using these Google Form templates.

Qualtrics is a professional survey platform to which WashU has an institutional subscription. Details and support can be found on the  Information Technology Qualtrics page .

Although Qualtrics is not difficult to use, because it is relatively feature-rich, it may be easier for you to use our Google Form or Canvas templates if you are not already familiar with designing surveys on this platform.

To import the templates into your Qualtrics account, download and  import the .qsf file for the survey  that you would like to use. In addition to the .qsf files, you can also download a Word version of the survey in order to preview the questions before importing them into Qualtrics.

We offer a pdf guide that includes more instructions and general tips on collecting student feedback using these templates.

• Quick Course Pulse: General feedback on how the course is going overall [ .qsf  /  Word ]
• Quick Feedback on a Course Activity: Feedback on a specific course activity [ .qsf  /  Word ]
• Quick Activity Feedback – Group Work: Feedback on a group assignment or activity [ .qsf  /  Word ]
• Quick Lecture Feedback: Feedback specific to lecture portions of a course [ .qsf  /  Word ]

Further Tips

• Collect Something : Don’t get overwhelmed with possibility. Even a single piece of feedback can help you improve your course. Think about what you most want to know about your students’ experience in your course.
• No need to reinvent the wheel : Use one of our ready-made templates to get started. You can always customize the questions to meet your specific needs, but there’s no need to start from scratch.
• Wait a bit : Refrain from collecting feedback during the first two weeks of class; this will help you avoid investing effort into fixing issues that will naturally improve as students settle into the course.
• Explain : Tell students what types of feedback you plan to collect and why.
• Keep it brief : Try to use surveys that students can complete in a minute or two.
• Make it convenient : Embed surveys into Canvas modules or send via email to streamline the process for students.to streamline the process for students.
• Be strategic : Don’t overwhelm your students or yourself by collecting feedback on every activity. Focus your efforts on activities you suspect are not working well or those you’ve had to alter significantly.
• Provide clear response options : Aim for response options with clear practical meanings (e.g., Needs Improvement/Meets Expectations vs. a 1-5 scale). This approach may help you view, interpret, and respond to feedback more quickly.
• Give credit : If possible, consider tying surveys to a small amount of points (i.e., completion credit) to encourage participation. For example, this can be easily done on Canvas with an graded survey .
• Acknowledge : Thank students for their feedback and emphasize its importance for improving the course.
• Follow-Up : If necessary, make changes and assess their effect with a follow-up survey. For changes made to specific activities, the follow-up can be conducted the next time students complete the activity. For more general course-level changes, allow at least 3-4 weeks for the changes to take hold before reassessing. It’s also good idea to tell students explicitly that you’re making changes based on their feedback. If many students ask for a change that you decide not to implement, you might want to explain why you made that choice, if appropriate. This lets the students know that they were heard.
• Start small: If your data indicate to you that improvement is needed, start by identifying one concrete change you can make rather than making a major overhaul.
• Take care of “easy” fixes: Be sure to make “easy” fixes (broken links, pdfs that are hard to read, not be audible during lecture, etc.); even if only one student has mentioned them others have likely had the same problem.
• Expect some negative feedback: A small percentage of students will always indicate that something “Needs Improvement.” It’s also normal to receive some contradictory results, especially with open ended questions (e.g. discussions are too long / discussions are too short). Keep negative ratings and comments in perspective.
• Use open-ended feedback: Identify potential changes by consulting open-ended feedback (if you’ve collected it), soliciting follow-up feedback from students, seeking input from colleagues, or consulting with the CTL.
• Look for patterns: Several students writing similar responses may be evidence of wider agreement on an issue. At the same time, comments that disagree with one another can also point to areas where student experience varies; such variation may signal an area to address in the future.
• Sort answers: Finding patterns and making sense of qualitative data is not always easy, especially if you have more than just a few responses. One method is to copy and paste the qualitative answers into another program (e.g. Excel, Word, etc.) where you can sort them into categories that are helpful to you. There is no one right sorting strategy for everyone and you should choose the one that works best for you.
• Follow up: You can always collect another round of feedback to assess changes you make. If this is a course-level change (and not just a change to a specific activity), give several weeks for the change to take effect before assessing.

While designing your survey, consider the advantages and challenges associated with open-ended survey questions.

Advantages:

• Provides a low-barrier opportunity for students to share concerns and suggestions
• Can help you interpret and respond to results of the closed questions without additional follow-up

Challenges:

• Reviewing open responses can be time consuming, especially for a large course.
• Open questions require more effort from students and can reduce response rates.

Some form of open-ended feedback is crucial to pinpoint problems and identify potential improvements. If you chose not to initially ask open-ended questions, you might consider following up with students via class discussion, email, or another survey on any specific areas of concern identified by your initial survey. While leaving open-ended questions for follow-up steps can help you control the amount and type of feedback you receive, there are also drawbacks to this approach. It creates extra logistical steps for yourself and your students, and surveying people frequently can significantly lower response rates. In general, open-ended questions are easiest to implement in smaller courses and more difficult (although not impossible) to use in larger ones.

Have suggestions?

If you have suggestions of resources we might add to these pages, please contact us:

[email protected] (314) 935-6810 Mon - Fri, 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

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• Effective Practice
• Assessment and Feedback

Feedback should be a two-way dialogue rather than a simple one-way critique, enabling students to positively engage in - and learn from - the assessment process. Feedback should clearly link to module and programme learning outcomes and encourage students to reflect upon their performance and consider how to improve.  

Good feedback:  

• motivates students to continue to work  
• provides evidence of what and why they have done well, in addition to where they went wrong  
• clarifies the expected standards  
• signposts where and how to improve  

The guidance on this page was produced as a result of two 2-week sprints (an agile project management methodology) looking into assessment/assignment feedback at Newcastle University.  

Principles for effective feedback

Jisc published a new set of  Principles of good assessment and feedback (March 2022). These fall into seven areas:

• Principle one  - help learners understand what good looks like
• Principle two  - support the personalised needs of learners
• Principle three  - foster active learning
• Principle four  - develop autonomous learners
• Principle five  - manage staff and learner workload effectively
• Principle six  - foster a motivated learning community
• Principle seven  - promote learner employability

We have picked out the areas relating specifically to feedback from this document, and drawn on the NEPS module on Giving Effective Feedback as well as the discovery work from both sprints, and distilled our findings into 4 overarching areas:

The student population is diverse, and as such disability, neurodiversity, caring responsibilities, cultural and religious backgrounds, prior experience and learning preferences will affect individual learning experiences and ways in which students:

• Perceive feedback
• Access feedback
• Value feedback
• Use feedback

It is therefore helpful to consider these diverse backgrounds to guide ways in which you can consider inclusive approaches to provide meaningful and inclusive feedback for students.

Anonymous marking practice means it is not possible to identify the individual needs of students, and particularly those of disabled students who may experience specific challenges when accessing feedback. Some specific information and resources can give a broad understanding of the barriers and challenges disabled students can experience but we acknowledge that this has its limitations. What may be more valuable is how we can consider co-creation opportunities that allow students to tell us how they would like to receive feedback.

Information and resources about supporting disabled students are:

• Student Support Plans (SSPs)
• Supportive practice tools
• Information sheets

Examples of where particular feedback format may be helpful to students:

A student with dyslexia may prefer audio feedback over written as it may take them less time to listen and understand feedback if they experience word decoding issues and have slower reading speeds. But this may also be applicable for students whose time is impacted in other ways e.g. those with caring responsibilities, commuter students or students who may experience fatigue due to long term health or mental health conditions.

A student with an Autism Spectrum Condition will value clear, unambiguous feedback that is clearly stated and placed next to text it relates to.

We cannot control how students perceive feedback, but awareness of challenges with, for example, spelling and grammar that may be directly attributed to a disability, should guide us to providing feedback that is:

• Sensitive to the potential reasons for the errors
• Constructive, pointing out what has been done well and what needs improving
• Raises awareness of sources of support to develop academic and core literacy skills
• Fosters student understanding of the purpose of feedback
• Fosters students to employ self-reflection and utilise development opportunities

So, whilst there is no single form of feedback that will universally meet the needs of, or be valued by all students, balancing what you know about your student cohort with forms of feedback and tools available to you, will help you to consider and select the most effective forms of feedback for access and engagement.

Here is Sarah Graham talking about feedback  (5.5 minutes). This comes from the NEPS module on Giving Effective Feedback.

Student dissatisfaction with feedback on assessed work can be demoralizing, especially where time has been dedicated to providing that feedback. Part of what could drive this dissatisfaction may be the expectations that students have about feedback or understanding the value of engaging with feedback they receive. As we know feedback isn’t only a written paragraph or annotated script received 20 days after submission. It is important to shift student expectations towards all forms of feedback.

It is important to prepare students to receive feedback and to communicate:

• How they will receive feedback – format, individual or group level, which system and where will they find it within that system.
• When they will receive feedback – give a clear date they should expect to receive their feedback and if for any reason it is delayed – communicate this delay and when they will receive it.
• Why is it important to engage with feedback – often students don’t engage in end of module feedback if they are moving on to a new module as they don’t see the connections between modules – give an overview on the purpose of the feedback given.

Feedback will be effective once you’ve established a common understanding of what feedback is with your students, and what it is for. Students may struggle to follow the assessment criteria and the academic language so be clear in your expectations. Make sure your students know why they are getting feedback and how their learning can be improved by reflection. Here are a few ideas for preparing your students for feedback:

• Create a student guide for your course
• Use annotated examples in class
• Give the students their own work or example assignments to mark and annotate against the criteria

Some considerations to ensure feedback benefits the student:

• Timing : Feedback during a learning experience can deepen a student's understanding and ensure bad habits are eliminated immediately.
• Sensitivity : It is vital that you consider the individual when giving student feedback. The classroom will be diverse in learners and this must be considered when delivering feedback.
• Be specific : Target the comments to the learning outcomes, that way students have a clear expectation for themselves. Students can also gain confidence in how to improve and to join in a dialogue with the assessor.
• Constructive : Feedback should highlight ways in which the student could improve and what they need to reflect upon. Your relationship with the student will have a great impact on how they receive feedback.
• Focused : You should always ensure the comments made on assessment are on the product of work and not the student.
• Reflective time : Try to return written papers or tests at the beginning of a seminar or tutorial. This allows students time to reflect, ask any necessary questions and have a discussion.

Each feedback technique has its advantages and drawbacks, but what we can think about is how to make the feedback we give to students useable and accessible. Accessibility encompasses:

• Format of feedback
• Retrievability: where/when and how students access their feedback

The format of feedback can influence how students use and access feedback. Awareness of learner differences can create opportunity for feedback efficiency that may enhance student utility with feedback. Think about each format and the potential value and accessibility students may attribute to it:

• General written summary
• Specific, in text comments
• Verbal summary

According to Phil Race (2014) there is no such thing as perfect feedback; each feedback technique has its advantages and its drawbacks. He has suggested that a key factor in selecting the most appropriate form of feedback for yourself and your students is to consider the balance or payoff between feedback efficiency for you and learning payoff for students.

Feedback Audit Tool

There is a useful Feedback Audit Tool , originally developed by the Bioscience Subject Centre which has a very helpful set of checklists for evaluating how you approach feedback. The tool comes with full instructions and helps you formulate an action plan for taking changes forward in the short, medium and long term.

Possible activities

Here are suggested activities you could use with your students to improve student clarity and use of feedback.

Show your students how to use feedback by modelling and using feedback yourself in seminars or tutorials. Teach students the skills to self and peer assess as this will give students ownership, increase the engagement and help students to answer their own questions. You will also be developing students' own self-regulation skills.

Snowballing assessment criteria

Students are asked to reflect on a task they have just completed.

• Students are asked to work alone to write the characteristics of a good piece of work.
• They then get together in pairs and combine their criteria.
• The pairs get into fours and combine their criteria into an agreed list.
• The teacher then asks each group of four in turn for one criterion, and comments on this, writing it up if it is useful. If it is not useful, the teacher asks for improvement of the criterion; it from another group and explores any misconceptions.
• Gradually an agreed set of good criteria are developed and explained. Misconceptions can now be corrected (which is a key advantage of this approach) and the real goals explained.

Specimen assignments

The student studies a number of pieces of anonymous student’s work. This can be genuine, or it might have been produced by the teacher specifically for this activity. As well as this work, students are given model answers and mark schemes, and they are asked to assess the work. The teacher asks the students to give their opinions of the work, concludes strengths and weaknesses, and draws attention to different strategies used by the students. Students compare their marking with the teacher's.

Explaining my work

This activity is a little like peer assessment but is more informal. Students have to show their work to a peer or peers and explain their approach. This is common in Art and Design and could be used elsewhere. It helps students to see alternative ‘ways of doing it’.

You can ask students to explain the process that is ‘how they did it’ and ‘why I did it that way’ as well as the product: ‘what I produced’.

Verbal Peer Assessment on presentations

Start with a clear outline of the success criteria. Students listen to presentations from individuals or groups. Ask each individual to write down one ‘strength’ and one area needing improvement. Students then receive large amounts of peer feedback.

Speedy Feedback

Hand out a coloured sheet of paper with numbered feedback responses on it pertinent to the assessment task. For example:

• Illustration of what is expected as evidence of achievement of each of the intended learning outcomes
• Likely mistakes
• Features of a good answer
• Frequently needed explanations
• Things you otherwise would have to write time and time again on students’ work, e.g. commonly used feedback comments.

Agree a clear deadline for submission of work, giving date and time. Within the class, give out the coloured sheets and give students a few minutes to read it. Pick one or two key points from the coloured sheet and spend a few minutes talking through these points to the whole group, adding a personal touch. When marking the work, make use of this sheet, directing students to, for example, ‘See point 4, Blue sheet’ – this will take much less time than writing points out in full repeatedly to different students.

Multiple choice questions (MCQs)

Well-designed MCQs can have pre-written feedback for each choice, this can form bespoke formative feedback.

Audio feedback

Using audio feedback can engage students and gives students a bespoke rationale behind their grade. Audio recordings can be made, edited and uploaded quickly and easily at your desk through ReCap . Turnitin also allows voice comments .

Online tools

Canvas and Turnitin have tools to support assessment. These are particularly useful for providing immediate feedback, increasing the accessibility of feedback, and are great for feeding back on large cohorts.  

You may wish to take a holistic look at how you approach feedback in your modules/programme. There are some practical tools which can help you use the feedback functions in Canvas as well as some tools for looking at feedback in your modules or programme. Taking a little time to explore the functions in these tools may save you time and help support more personalised feedback, which is of the highest value to students.  

Assessment Feedback tools in Canvas  

There is detailed support available on using assessment feedback tools in Canvas including assignments, online marking and feedback , with detailed instructions for all the options available to you.  

If you have not looked at the Canvas Orientation course recently it may be useful to take a fresh look. All colleagues have access – look in your Dashboard once logged in to Canvas. You should have the Canvas Orientation in your Published Courses list. You might like to revisit the section on Online Marking and Feedback which outlines Speedgrader and Gradebook features.  

Turnitin Feedback Studio  

There are helpful tips and case studies on using Turnitin Feedback Studio within Canvas.  

Other places students can get marks/feedback:  

• NESS  

Retrievability: Where/when/how do students access their feedback  

Don’t assume students know where to find and retrieve their feedback and marks. It may be useful to discuss in your programme/module teams how you might be more consistent in the information you give to your students on where they can find their marks and feedback, and what your local expectations are for when to expect feedback to appear, and how your students can make the best use of this feedback for their next assessed piece of work.  

Considerations  

One point that has been reflected consistently in student comments on feedback in that it is not always clear where they should look for their marks and feedback, or indeed how they should find and make the best use of their feedback.  

There are several options for how you give feedback to students, which enable diversity of choice to support the diversity of the student cohort, as well as the wide variety of assessment types across disciplines. To help students it will be useful to signpost students to where they can find their feedback, when to expect it and what to do with it once they have it.  

Feedback on exams is likely to be different to the feedback on assessed pieces of work. It will be helpful to students to outline these differences and to manage expectations about if and how exams feedback will be dealt with. There is detailed support on dealing with feedback on exams .  

Find out more

Examples of effective practice.

The Case Studies Database features a range of practical solutions to everyday teaching problems, with advice from colleagues on how initiatives were set up and why they were successful.

Professor David Nicol explains how students can be guided to make comparisons and feedback on their own work, rather than relying on instructor comments, for improved learning outcomes in this THE Campus article .

Professor David Boud:  Redesigning feedback involves addressing the feedback literacy of students and staff (YouTube 17.5 minutes)

Professor Chris Rust  discusses feedback (YouTube 3.5 minutes)

Ellis, Janice. Et al. 2020. Understanding dental students’ use of feedback. European Journal of Dental Education, 2020, Vol.24 (3). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/eje.12524

Killingback, C et al. 2018. ‘It was all in your voice’ - Tertiary student perceptions of alternative feedback modes (audio, video, podcast, and screencast): A qualitative literature review. http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/31504/1/C%20Killingback%20et%20al%202018.pdf

Nicol, David and Macfarlane-Dick, Debra. 2006. Formative assessment and self-regulated learning: A model and seven principles of good feedback practice . Studies in Higher Education v31(2): 199-218.

Race, P. (2019). The Lecturer's Toolkit: A Practical Guide to Assessment, Learning and Teaching (5th ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429060205

Sadler, D. R. 1989. Formative assessment and the design of instructional systems . Instructional science, 1989-06-01, Vol.18 (2), p.119-144

Assessment and feedback higher education landscape review : survey outcomes, Jisc, March 2022. Accessed 10 March 2022

Principles of good assessment and feedback , Jisc, March 2022. Accessed 10 March 2022.

• The  Assessment and Feedback section of the Learning and Teaching site collects together policies, guidance and support in choosing and using digital assessment and feedback tools.
• A workshop has been developed to support feedback focussed discussion based on work done by the Scottish QAA Enhancement Themes, and incorporating recently published guidance from Jisc on assessment and feedback.
• Contact  [email protected] to find out more.
• You could signpost to the ASK website section for students on Understanding and interpreting your feedback .
• There is a short video on  Building on your assessment feedback which you could embed in your module.
• And a short video on Moving forward from an unexpected result .
• The  Learning and Teaching podcast on feedback has a lot of useful student focussed information.

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150 Positive Comments for Student Papers

August 31, 2023 //  by  Maria Van Norman

Teaching is often a time-consuming job, especially for a teacher who must grade papers. It often feels daunting when staring at that stack of papers and wondering how writing constructive feedback on each one is feasible.

However, a teacher knows that even when she is tired, as she grades paper after paper, it is extremely important to give the students constructive comments on their work. The feedback for students is what helps students learn.

The positive feedback outweighs the negative feedback as well, so make it a common strategy to give positive feedback on students’ papers. It is a tremendous opportunity for students to grow.

1. I never thought of it this way. Great job analyzing!

2. What an amazing sentence!

3. This is a wonderful thesis! Good job!

4. I can tell you worked really hard on this!

5. This thesis statement is superb!

6. Wow, this is some of your best work yet!

7. Way to stay focused! I’m proud of you!

8. This is an excellent analytical paper!

9. I can tell you are motivated! I love it!

10. I feel privileged to have gotten to read this work! Great effective paper!

11. Your enthusiasm shows! Wonderful job!

12. This is not just a sheet of paper. It’s wonderful work!

13. This is one of the more superior papers I have read!

14. I really love how creative you get with your descriptions!

15. Out of this world!

16. There is so much to be proud of with your paper assignment!

17. This part made me smile!

18. You are a star!

19. Clever argument!

20. You worked hard; I can tell!

21. What brilliant thinking!

22. Terrific persuasive argument!

23. You have learned so much and it shows!

24. You rocked this essay!

25. I can tell you did your best!

26. You are so smart!

27. What a powerful argument! Keep up the good work!

28. You should be proud of this work!

29. You have made great progress!

30. Your handwriting is just lovely!

31. This is a great example! Good job!

32. I love your thoughts here!

33. I’m very impressed!

34. You have a sophisticated argument! Awesome job!

35. You are artistic and creative!

36. I love your attention to detail!

37. This is a very powerful sentence!

38. You show great promise!

39. What a terrific learner you are!

40. The sentence structure you used here is brilliant!

41. Your skills are stellar!

42. This hypothesis is amazing! I can’t wait to see where you take it!

43. I knew you could do it!

44. Every single sentence in this paper is wonderful!

45. You have a lot of fabulous ideas in this paper!

46. It doesn’t surprise me a bit that I smiled throughout your whole paper!

47. Keep up the incredible work!

48. Way to grab the reader’s attention! Great job!

49. Your handwriting is so neat!

50. This part moved me!

51. You certainly made me open my mind even more! Wonderful job!

53. I see so much improvement in your work! I’m proud of you!

54. I like the way you tackled this assignment!

55. Very impressive!

56. You have very inventive ideas here

57. Smart thinking!

58. You were very clear, concise, and complete!

59. Phenomenal job!

60. This is well thought out and I enjoyed grading it!

61. You outdid yourself with this assignment!

62. What a wonderful assignment!

63. Your work has flair!

64. Such a wonderful perspective on this topic!

65. This is clever!

66. I can tell you had fun with this assignment!

67. You rock!

68. This is stellar work!

69. Your use of this example moves your argument forward!

70. Your algebra is on fire!

71. This is a great metaphor!

72. Nice idea!

73. This is great work!

74. You did it!

75. I knew you could do it!

76. You went above and beyond here! I’m impressed!

77. Magnificent!

78. Marvelous!

79. You did a tremendous job!

80. This paragraph is brilliant!

81. Your science experiment was awesome!

82. Your artwork is exquisite!

83. What an excellent point!

84. Great job making connections here!

85. This sentence is excellent!

86. You chose a great quote!

87. This is a powerful point! Great job!

88. Your argument is very focused and solid!

89. Terrific explanation!

90. I love how you connected these ideas!

91. You are so smart!

92. Perfect!

93. Great stuff!

94. I love this! It made me laugh!

95. Outstanding work!

96. These are amazing ideas!

97. What an amazing way of thinking! Great job!

98. You made me think here! Good job!

99. A wonderful way to present this information!

100. You are showing exceptional understanding!

101. You are an awesome writer!

102. I love reading your essays!

103. You have shown incredible growth!

104. Your work is so neat! Great job!

105. This sentence is right on target!

106. You have an excellent idea here!

107. I can tell you’ve been practicing!

108. You are very preceptive!

109. This sentence is beautifully written!

110. I love your vivid word choice!

111. The way you express your ideas is wonderful!

112. You are quite gifted!

113. You show outstanding attention to detail!

114. You are a superstar!

115. I can tell that you did your best! Way to go!

116. You are very talented!

117. This paragraph is simply tremendous!

118. I appreciate how hard you worked on this assignment!

119. You made me so proud with your examples!

120. You are unstoppable!

121. This sentence sparkles!

122. This is one of the best essays I’ve read!

123. You have exceptional potential!

124. I’m giving you a high-five for this essay!

125. This sentence blew me away!

126. You did quality work! Great job!

127. This is a terrific piece of evidence for your argument!

128. No grammatical errors in this paragraph! I’m so proud!

129. You are an amazing writer!

130. Your organized paragraphs make me very proud!

131. You’ve shown creative problem solving here!

132. Superb word choice in this sentence!

133. What a critical piece to your argument! Great job!

134. You’ve reached your goal! Be proud of yourself!

135. This essay may be your best work yet!

136. Tremendous use of sentence syntax to prove your point!

137. You amaze me with your attention to detail!

138. Great writing!

139. Profound statement!

140. Brilliantly worded!

141. You prove that you can do hard things! Good work!

142. The connections you have made to the real world are stellar!

143. Way to tackle a tough topic! I’m proud of you!

144. Your talent shines through!

145. Terrific answer!

146. Your similes are sensational!

147. You are very intelligent!

148. I love your clarity in this paragraph!

149. This paper really shines!

150. You make me want to learn more about this topic!

Closing Thoughts

Teachers hold a piece of their student’s future in their hands. The responsibility is great. Therefore, even when wanting to mark up all of the errors on a paper, remember to add the positive comments as well. Make sure that students can grow and not feel defeated or frustrated. By including positive comments on students’ papers, students’ spirits will soar in ways you can not even imagine.

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Examples of Submission Feedback

The following are actual responses to some of our recent submissions to the Online Writing Lab, although the names have been changed to maintain the anonymity of student writers. You can expect similarly global-oriented comments and suggestions for developing your own work. Of course, length and type of feedback vary between individual tutors and between essay submissions.

Dear Rachel: I think you touch on some really nice ideas in this paper, which I'll talk about in a minute, but first I want to address one general concern I had about your writing. You have a tendency to spend too much time summarizing the plot--this is time when you could be advancing your argument. You don't need to tell your reader what happens in the story; you can assume that he or she already knows. For example, look at this paragraph: [...] Everything that I've noted with square brackets is plot summary. The sentence that begins "Feeling rejected, the creature wanders away..." is borderline because you're making a judgment about the creature's motivations, but in general you shouldn't spend time repeating the events of the story. The second part of this paragraph is much better in that you're talking about motivations and making arguments. I think you've got some really interesting ideas in this paper, particularly in your fifth and sixth paragraphs, but you need to expand upon them. For example, you might spend more time talking about Millhauser's rationale--WHY does he think the monster should have been presented as a brutal beast throughout? What would be lost in such a presentation? Why is it better that Shelley shows the monster in terms of growth and progression? You introduce this idea in your introduction, arguing that Shelley is deliberately playing with the reader's sympathies, for the monster and for Frankenstein. Could you say more about HOW she does this? What is the effect of the reader's divided sympathies? Where does the sympathy lie at the end of the book? Why might Shelley be interested in this? In general, what is the value of making the creature sympathetic? I hope you found some of the questions I've raised valuable. You've touched on some interesting issues in this paper, and there is definitely plenty of room for you to develop them even further. If you have any questions about anything I've said, or any further questions, please feel free to write back to me. Good luck with your paper and thank you for submitting to the OWL!

Mark, Thank you for submitting your paper to the OWL; I am a Political Science major and very much enjoyed reading it. Below you will find a few suggestions for how to strengthen your writing during the revision process. You wrote that your major concerns with your paper were "abstract prose" and "elementary points." I did not find your arguments to be too simplistic or "elementary," nor did your language seem too abstract. It did, however, lack clarity and definition at some points. Specifically, there are some concepts that you repeat throughout your paper but never define. One is the "republican role." It may be that your instructor discussed this idea at length in class, or that Machiavelli does in his Discourses on Livy, but there is no such discussion in your paper. A stronger paper would define the proper role of a leader in a republican state from the beginning. Some theoretical questions you may want to consider on this point include: what is the difference between a republican leader and a tyrannical leader? How can one distinguish between the two? Why is it important to prevent against tyranny? Is the leader subservient to the will of the people? Is the leader responsible to anyone? Where does the leader draw his power or right to govern from? What does it mean to "be subordinate to a republican role"? What qualities are valuable in a leader? Which ones are dangerous? It may be beneficial to read over your paper with a critical eye looking for vague concepts. What ideas do you reference but never fully explain? Do you take certain concepts for granted? If you find such problems, generating a list of questions to focus your idea (as above) can be a helpful exercise. There were two more areas I found especially lacking in definition: the concept of tyranny and a "short time in office." Thank you again for submitting your paper to the OWL. Your arguments are strong and I hope my comments will help to fine-tune your essay. Please feel free to e-mail me for further assistance or clarification. Good luck with your revisions!

Thanks for submitting your essay-I enjoyed reading it. I hope my comments help you in your revision process.

Your personal narrative is without a doubt at its best when you give vivid details of the day from your perspective, which is, as you describe, a very unique one. The "chalky taste" of the air, for instance, is a detail that really brings the scene to life.

You asked for help with structure, and I think the most sensible structure in this case is a chronological one. It's fine to start with a vivid scene to land the reader in the event, but then it makes sense to step back and tell the story as it happened. To help you accomplish this end, you might consider listing each of the major points you want to cover and then turning them into an outline. It might help, too, to think about the overall message you want to convey. Then make sure all of your details contribute to that message.

As for constructive comments, you never really explain why you were at Ground Zero on September 12. Do you just happen to live nearby? Did you have any special connection to the firefighters or the victims? Why did you decide to help out?

I would also be careful of the very general statements you use to sum up the essay, such as , "That day brought to my attention a side of humanity that had lay dormant in my mind. That moment in time showed me that people have the capacity to act unselfishly." It's best to convey your point through examples rather than summation-the old advice to "show not tell."

It takes a lot of courage to tackle in an essay the events of September 11 and the days following, but I think you have a great perspective, and the ability to look beyond the chaos to the details of the scene.

Feel free to write back as you revise this piece. I'd be glad to talk more about it.

Hello, Angela,

Your paper is coherent, well-organized, and very informative. You do a nice job of incorporating various theorists and applying their ideas to the phenomenon of AHANA. You also do a good job of considering "the opposing viewpoint" and introducing relevant arguments to substantiate your position.

One area I would suggest giving a little more attention to how exactly AHANA functions. You mention that the term was coined as an alternative to the more negative term "minority," and that the group exists to "promote understanding..." etc. But I still want to know more about HOW the group works to achieve their goals; do they sponsor events on campus? hold workshops? etc. You did an effective job of explaining the philosophy of the group, but I would be interested in seeing just a little bit more of how it works in action, so to speak.

The second point is that you might want to explain in greater detail how subjective experiences shape the need for a group such as AHANA. You mention that racial and cultural differences do exist and that the "differing perspectives caused by these distinctions exist regardless of whether they are acknowledged." This is a very integral part of your argument, so maybe developing it further would be helpful. I realize it's a very broad concept to try and condense within your paper, but focusing on explicating that part might be helpful. Overall, I think you have a very strong paper that seems to fulfill the parameters of the assignment quite well.

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• v.10(5); 2020 May

Students tell us what good written feedback looks like

Susanne voelkel.

1 School of Life Sciences, University of Liverpool, UK

Tunde Varga‐Atkins

2 Centre for Innovation in Education, University of Liverpool, UK

Luciane V. Mello

3 School of Life Sciences, University of Liverpool, UK

Associated Data

Appendix S2. Examples of identified feedback types, depth and characteristics used for the analysis of in‐text feedback comments. (Depth: 1 = acknowledgement, 2 = correction, 3 = explanation, see Methods for detail). For each comment, it is indicated if it was also classified as ‘specific’, ‘easy’, and/or ‘feedforward’.

Feedback can be an important element of learning, but only if students engage with it. Students are only likely to engage with feedback that they find useful. This study aimed to identify characteristics of written feedback perceived by students as effective. We used a mixed‐method approach, integrating quantitative and qualitative data that were collected through the analysis of feedback that was identified by students as good, a student questionnaire, as well as interviews and a focus group exploring students’ views on what good feedback looks like. Although the results show that length and composition of ‘good’ feedback can be extremely variable, some common characteristics could be identified, leading to a set of recommendations for staff marking written assessments. According to students, good feedback should be detailed and specific, and it should tell students how they can improve. Students also find it important that feedback is honest and constructive. In addition, positive reinforcement was identified as important by the focus group, although few examples of good written feedback on the assignment contained any direct praise. Surprisingly, feedforward which might help students in other modules did not feature highly in students’ perceptions of good feedback, possibly indicating a focus by students on improving the current assignment rather than on future assignments.

We all want to do our best when it comes to providing feedback to students. But what does ‘good’ feedback look like? In this study, we explore the characteristics of written feedback that was perceived as good feedback by students. Based on these ‘good feedback’ characteristics and student views, we provide some recommendations on how to give good feedback.

Abbreviations

This study intends to identify characteristics of written feedback that is seen as good feedback by students. Students in higher education (HE) expect to receive feedback on their work [ 1 ]. If feedback is not provided, or if it does not meet their expectations, students express their dissatisfaction in module evaluations and in central student surveys such as the UK National Student Survey (NSS). The NSS is an annual survey for final year undergraduate students aimed to gather feedback on their experiences during their course. Although overall scores for feedback have improved in recent years [ 2 ], feedback has consistently been scoring lower than most other course features in the UK NSS [ 3 , 4 ]. As a consequence, many HE institutions strive to improve their ratings in this area [ 5 ].

In addition to the importance of NSS ratings for UK HE institutions, there are good reasons for improving feedback to students. It is generally agreed that feedback can have a significant beneficial effect on student learning [ 6 , 7 ]. But this can only happen if feedback is of high quality, if students read and understand their feedback, and if they act on it [ 8 , 9 , 10 ]. Unfortunately, these conditions are not always met. It appears that students often do not collect their feedback [ 11 , 12 , 13 ]. Other studies have shown that even if they collect and read their feedback, students do not always understand their tutors’ comments [ 1 , 14 , 15 ]. Many students find feedback comments vague [ 16 ] and lacking advice for future assignments [ 17 ]. According to Price et al . [ 18 ], ‘a key reason for assessment failing to support learning is ineffective feedback’.

So, what is the advice for a tutor/assessor who aims to give good feedback? Nicol and Macfarlane‐Dick [ 19 ] proposed ‘seven principles of good feedback practice’ in the context of formative assessment, aiming to help the student to ‘take control of their own learning’. Nicol [ 4 ] suggested that written feedback comments should be (among other things) understandable, specific, timely, balanced and forward‐looking. Regarding the latter, Boud and Molloy [ 9 , p. 702] even argue that ‘feed forward [is] not a separate notion but necessary characteristic of feedback’.

However, tutors appear to struggle putting this advice into practice. Carless [ 20 ] found discrepancies between tutors’ perceptions about the feedback they are giving, and what students thought about it. For example, tutors believe they are providing more detailed and useful feedback than student think they do. Other studies have shown that tutors have a variety of differing beliefs of the role of feedback [ 1 , 17 ]. For example, some tutors see the main purpose of giving feedback as justifying the grade, others wish to advise students, and some think that good students do not need detailed feedback at all [ 1 ]. What is more, Orrell [ 21 ] found that there can be a difference between what staff believe feedback should look like, and what feedback they actually provide. Reasons for these problems could include the fact that although the majority of academics try to do their best to provide helpful feedback to students [ 22 ], many practitioners have little formal educational training [ 23 , 24 ]. Also, Orrell [ 21 ] points out that there is more emphasis on the summative than on the formative role of assessment, leading to feedback that may be ‘defensive’ (i.e. a justification of the mark) rather than learning‐oriented.

Student expectations and perceptions of feedback are critical for their engagement with it [ 17 , 25 ]. Tutors tend to think that students are only interested in marks, but most students want to improve and are interested in tutors’ views of their work [ 20 , 26 ]. Students do not always completely agree on what useful feedback is [ 27 ]. For example, Orsmond and Merry [ 28 ] found differences between high‐ and low‐achieving students in terms of feedback perceptions. However, in general, feedback is seen as unhelpful if it lacks detail and does not contain suggestions for improvement [ 29 ]. The ability and willingness of students to engage with feedback depends on the extent to which they understood feedback and their self‐efficacy. In addition, the opportunity to resubmit a piece of work provides strong motivation for students [ 17 ].

Arguably, the most common feedback provided to students consists of written comments on student coursework assignments [ 1 ]. Recently, more and more written feedback is being provided electronically. Although paper‐based feedback comments have a lot of similarities with online feedback [ 30 ], sending feedback electronically is an effective and simple means of communicating feedback to students and can enhance the way in which they receive and engage with it [ 31 ]. Advantages include flexibility and convenience for the student regarding when and where they access the feedback, and the increased efficiency that allows a more timely feedback distribution [ 32 ]. Bridge and Appleyard [ 33 ] reported that most students preferred online submission of assignments and online feedback over hard copies. Others found that online submission and feedback can have negative sides, including a depersonalisation and unexpected technical difficulties [ 15 , 34 ]. However, Hast and Healy [ 15 ] found an increasing trend in preference and it seems likely that electronic coursework submission and feedback are here to stay. An additional benefit of this approach is the opportunity to monitor and share feedback practice. As Hounsell [ 3 ] points out, we need to know more about content and quality of feedback comments within teaching teams in order to identify problems and share good feedback exemplars.

The aim of this study was to identify common characteristics of good feedback and based on that to create guidance for biosciences tutors/assessors on how to produce effective written feedback to students. In the context of this study, the notion of good (effective) feedback is entirely based on student perceptions. This is in line with the idea that students are only likely to engage with what they perceive as high‐quality feedback [ 11 ]. To identify common characteristics of good feedback, we used four different methods: (a) analysis of written feedback examples that were provided by students who had been asked to send us written electronic feedback that they found effective; (b) a student questionnaire; (c) interviews; and (d) a focus group. This triangulated study design resulted in rich data and allowed us to produce a set of recommendations for assessors.

This study was funded by a Learning and Teaching Fellowship at the University of Liverpool, UK, awarded to one of the authors (SV) in 2016. Ethics approval was granted by the University’s Ethics Committee on 19 July 2016. The study followed a mixed‐method approach using qualitative and quantitative results from the analysis of examples of good feedback (i.e. feedback perceived as useful by students), a questionnaire, interviews and a focus group, thereby using a high degree of triangulation. All participants were undergraduate second‐ and third‐year students in the School of Life Sciences. Students were provided with information sheets prior to their participation, and participants signed consent forms for interviews and the focus group. As an incentive, all interview and focus group participants received a £10 voucher.

Feedback analysis and questionnaire

This part of the study was conducted between September and December 2016 and comprised two elements: quantitative and qualitative analysis of written feedback examples and a short questionnaire. All second‐ and third (final)‐year students (cohort size: 420 and 400, respectively) were invited by email to participate in the study if they thought that they had received particularly good feedback for a specific written assignment (see below). Respondents were also asked to complete a questionnaire asking them (a) to explain what they liked about their feedback, (b) how they responded to it and (c) to suggest any further improvement of the received feedback.

The study focused on two written assignments that were completed by all second‐ and third‐year students, respectively, via an online marking tool (Turnitin). For second‐year students, the assignment consisted of a 1500 word essay. After receiving marks and feedback, students had the opportunity to resubmit a revised essay if they wanted to improve their essay mark. The third‐year students’ assignment was a 3000 – word literature review as part of their final year research project. Although the third‐year students could not resubmit their work to achieve a better mark, feedback for the literature review would then help students to write the introduction to their research project report that was due to 5 months later. For both assignments, a marking rubric was used in addition to the written feedback. Students also had the opportunity to discuss their feedback face‐to‐face with their assessor.

Written feedback consisted of two elements. Firstly, in‐text comments, which were usually short (up to a few sentences, but often only a few words each), addressed a specific section of the assignment, and were placed close to the relevant text within the assignment (see Appendix S1 ). The second element was a feedback summary, which usually consisted of at least a paragraph, provided the markers’ overall view on the students’ work and was usually placed either at the end of the assignment or into a separate section (see Appendix S1 ).

The written feedback (which had been identified by the students as good) was downloaded and examined. The feedback summary was analysed through thematic analysis [ 35 ]. The quantity and content of the in‐text feedback comments was analysed according to Voelkel and Mello [ 36 ] as follows (e.g. see Appendix S2 ):

Feedback type

In‐text comments were allocated to one of the following three types:

• Content (addressing errors, misconceptions or missing content in the context of the subject of life sciences).
• Writing skills (expression, grammar, spelling, referencing format, structuring, argumentation).
• Motivational (praise for things done well). Note that although motivational comments sometimes could have been allocated to one of the other two types instead, it transpired that motivational comments were often too unspecific to be allocated. Therefore, it was decided to keep ‘motivational’ as a separate type.

Feedback depth

Following the methodology of Glover and Brown [ 37 ], the depth of each in‐text feedback comment was also established:

• Level 1: Acknowledgement (This kind of comment directs the student to a mistake or weakness but without offering further advice).
• Level 2: Correction (The comment not only highlights a mistake or weakness but also provides advice on how to address the problem).
• Level 3: Explanation (This kind of comment provides reasons why a particular word/sentence would be wrong in this context, or why the student should provide more information).

Further feedback characteristics

In addition to the above, we introduced three further characteristics, based on what has been previously suggested as hallmarks of good feedback (e.g. [ 38 ]). In contrast to the feedback types and depth described above, comments could be assigned to none, one or more than one of the following categories:

• Easy‐wins (comments that could easily be addressed by following the marker’s suggestion, without the need for further work).
• Specific (it was clear what the feedback referred to, and enough detail to follow up the comment was provided).
• Feedforward (feedback that could clearly be useful for future assignments).

Following the feedback analysis, we invited all students who had sent us examples of good feedback to be interviewed. The interviews aimed to complement the feedback analysis by exploring the students’ views on good feedback characteristics in more depth. Seven students were interviewed by two of the authors of this study, LVM ( N  = 3) and SV ( N  = 4) between February and March 2017, and the interviews were recorded and transcribed. Interviews were semistructured and lasted for about 30 min each. The core interview questions were

• With regard to feedback, what is important for you?
• How would you define ‘good feedback’?
• What makes you engage with feedback?
• How much does the mark affect your engagement with the feedback?

The transcripts from the interviews were sent to the interviewees who were given one week to correct any mistakes or withdraw part or all of their contributions. All participants were happy with the transcript, and one added additional comments to it. The transcripts were then analysed by one author of the study, TVA.

Focus group

In addition to the feedback analysis and interviews, we wanted students to cooperatively formulate what ideal feedback looks like. A nominal focus group [ 39 ] was considered the best approach to achieve this. An email was sent out to all second‐ and third‐year students inviting them to participate in a focus group. Six students took part in the session which took place in May 2017 and was facilitated by one of the authors (TVA). The 60‐min session was recorded and transcribed. The session was structured as follows:

• Introductions/consent/ground rules
• Post‐it task 1: Students write down thoughts about ‘What does ideal feedback look like?’
• Group discussion
• Post‐it task 2: Students write sample feedback sentences that they would like to see on written assignments as if they were lecturers
• Final summary task: ‘Write your top 5 wish – list for written feedback in ranked order’

The results of the focus group were summarised by TVA, and the summary was sent to the participants for comments or corrections. All of them were happy with the summary.

The first part of this study aimed to identify common characteristics of written feedback samples perceived by students as good feedback. Therefore, we asked second‐ and third‐year students if they felt that they received good feedback for a particular written assignment. Although 61 out of 820 students responded initially, not all returned a questionnaire, and not all assessment pieces could be included in the study (e.g. because the feedback was not accessible online in Turnitin). In total, 51 assessment pieces were analysed. Marks for the assessed pieces of work ranged from 58% to 87%, indicating that most respondents were high achievers (see Table  1 ).

Respondents.

Feedback analysis

Assessors’ in‐text comments.

In total, 780 in‐text feedback comments across 51 assessment pieces were analysed (see Table  2 ). This related to an average of 11 (second year) and 18 (third year) comments per marked assignment, respectively. With regard to feedback types, over half of the comments in both assignments related to writing skills, about a third were about subject content, and only around a tenth of the comments consisted of praise (motivational). Analysing the depth of the comments, we found that in the second‐year essay, the most common feedback depth was at level 1 (acknowledging a mistake or omission), making up nearly half of the comments. In the third‐year literature review, level 2 feedback (correction) was the most common. Further analysis showed that in both assignments, the vast majority of the feedback comments were specific, being detailed and clearly indicating the instance where the feedback related to. Easy‐win comments were less frequent, and only a small proportion provided feedforward that might be applicable for future assignments.

Analysis of assessors’ in‐text feedback comments a .

Assessors’ feedback summaries

Just over half of the second‐year essays and 73% of the third‐year literature reviews received a feedback summary from their assessor (see Table  3 ). The average length of the summaries differed between second and third years (46 versus 70 words, respectively), and this difference becomes even more pronounced when considering the median (12 versus 55 words). In both assignments, where summaries were provided, almost all of them contained praise and suggestions for improvement that could be useful for future assignments. Over half of the summaries contained a justification of the mark, but only a small proportion referred to the marking criteria.

Analysis of assessors’ feedback summaries.

Variation between assessors

The numbers shown in Tables  2 and ​ and3 3 already indicate the huge variability of the feedback provided for individual pieces of work, both in terms of quantity and quality. The number of in‐text comments on individual pieces of work varied widely, from zero (in three cases) to 67 per marked assignment. Similarly, the length of the feedback summaries varied from zero to 336 words (Fig.  1 ).

Number of in‐text comments and length of feedback summary for each piece of work. The length of the summary is expressed as the number of words divided by 10. (A) Second‐year essay ( n  = 21), and (B) third‐year literature review ( n  = 30).

There was also a large variation in the composition of in‐text feedback (i.e. the ratio between content, writing skills and motivational comments as well as between the different levels of depth). Comments related to writing skills made up the majority in 65% of the assignments, whereas ‘subject content’ was the most frequent type of comment in 30%. Only fewer than 5% of the cases focused primarily on motivational comments. 44% of the assignments did not contain any motivational comments at all (Fig.  2 ). As for the depth of in‐text feedback, level 1 (acknowledgement) was most common in 44% of the assignments, level 2 (correction) in only 16% and level 3 (explanation) in 28%. 26% pieces of work did not contain any explanatory comments at all (Fig.  3 ).

Percentage of in‐text comments in each category for each individual piece of work. Feedback that did not contain any in‐text comments has not been included (Note: a few comments could not be allocated a category and/or level, therefore not all bars reach 100%). (A) Second‐year essay ( n  = 21), and (B) third‐year literature review ( n  = 30).

Percentage of in‐text comments at each level for each individual piece of work (Level 1 = acknowledgement, Level 2 = Correction, Level 3 = Explanation). Feedback that did not contain any in‐text comments has not been included. (Note: a few comments could not be allocated a category and/or level, therefore not all bars reach 100%). (A) Second‐year essay ( n  = 21), and (B) third‐year literature review ( n  = 30).

Comparing the frequency of the additional in‐text feedback characteristics (specific, easy‐win, feedforward), there was much less variation. In almost all assignments (96%), the majority of the in‐text comments were specific. In fact, in 70% of the assignments, 80% or more of all in‐text comments were classified as specific. There was no assignment that did not contain any specific feedback. However, easy‐win feedback was not as frequently found: in only 4% of the cases was easy‐win feedback the most common category. Still, in 35% of the assignments at least half of the in‐text comments were classified as easy‐wins. By contrast, feedforward comments were consistently infrequent with only 4% of the assignments containing 50% or more of their in‐text feedback comments assigned to this category. 38% of the feedback pieces had no feedforward comments at all (Fig.  4 ).

Percentage of in‐text comments that were specific, easy or feedforward in each individual piece of work (Note that feedback comments could be characterised as neither, one or more of the three categories ‘specific’, ‘easy‐win’, ‘feedforward’). (A) Second‐year essay ( n  = 21), and (B) third‐year literature review ( n  = 30).

Students’ views

The second part of the study focused on students’ views of what constitutes good feedback. We used a questionnaire, interviews and a focus group.

Questionnaire

Altogether, 46 questionnaires were analysed. When asked to explain in their own words what they found good about the feedback they had received, 84% of the respondents said that their feedback had been specific, 45% liked that the feedback comments were easy to follow‐up, and 31% thought that their feedback would help them in future assignments. In addition, 16% mentioned that in this assignment they were able to discuss their feedback face‐to‐face with their marker. When asked how their feedback could be even better, the most common suggestion was that the feedback could be more specific, but only 16% said this. 10% thought that the feedback could refer more to the marking criteria, and 8% would have liked examples of good work. Regarding the question what they did in response to their feedback, all respondents said that they had addressed those comments that were easy to implement to improve their essay or future final report.

Most of the seven interviewed students appeared to be high achievers. All of them had a keen interest in receiving feedback, and they appreciated that feedback will be constructive in order to help them improve. Even if they were reticent to engage with the feedback directly after receiving it for a day or so, they would not be discouraged by a high number of comments and suggestions for improvements.

Interviewees consistently said that good feedback should specifically and clearly point out what they have done well, but also to tell them what they have done wrong. For the interviewed students, it was also important that feedback tells them how they can improve or ‘fix it’. A number of students commented on verbal, face‐to‐face discussions being helpful after receiving their written feedback. This would allow for clarification and discussion of details. Students said they would generally engage least with their written feedback when they received their expected grade. Where they underachieved, they had a look at their feedback to see what they have done wrong, or if they got an unexpected high grade, then they looked at their feedback to find out why (Table  4 ).

The main themes identified in student responses to the main interview questions. Seven students were interviewed, and the names listed here are fictitious.

Six students took part in the session, and none of them had contributed to the other parts of this study. The focus group explored students’ general views on feedback (for typical quotes, see Table  5 ). The first discussion topic (What does ideal feedback look like?) revealed an additional aspect to the feedback discussed in the feedback analysis and interviews, namely the importance of feedback during the drafting stage of an assignment. Once students received the assignment brief, they would start working on the assignment using the marking criteria to see how to shape the assignment. It is at this drafting stage, when students would value feedback most. This feedback helps them to get on the right track, making sure that they are compiling an assignment that was envisaged by those who set it.

Focus group – Student views on what makes feedback ‘good’.

When asked about their idea of ‘ideal feedback’ after grading, students agreed on the following key characteristics (wish list), presented in order of students’ preference:

• Justification of the mark: students find it useful to know how the marker arrived at their grade. This is about being aware of what the grading means and how to achieve better grades.
• Positive reinforcement: emotionally, students value positive reinforcement of work done well. It makes it easier for them to receive criticism. Another reason for students signalling a need for praise is that they felt it validated their work. Such reinforcement has the power of making explicit what it is that they are doing is positive; they are not always aware if they are doing something well. It helps them ‘learn’ what it is they are doing well and then being able to reuse that strategy again in other places.
• How to improve: Ideal feedback for students includes instructions how they can improve their work in specific ways. Students also find it valuable if we tell them the reasons why the improvement is necessary. This is particularly helpful if it is linked to the marking criteria.
• Feedback should be detailed, clear and specific. Students need to be told exactly what they have done well and why; or details of what is lacking and why. Students said that if the feedback was just saying ‘good’, they would not be able to tell what it is that they did well. Another important aspect is that comments specify the location in the text that the feedback refers to.
• Honest and constructive criticism: students emphasise that feedback only works if it is honest. Sometimes students themselves know if their work is not as good, and in this case, reinforcing this is justified.
• Advice on improving content and structure or argumentation of assignments is seen as much more valuable than having grammatical or stylistic errors pointed out to them.

The aim of this study was to find out what our students want from feedback, and based on that, to develop a guide for markers. To achieve this, we firstly asked students to share with us an example of good written (electronic) feedback they had received. We did not specify what we meant by ‘good’, other than that they should have found the feedback useful. We then analysed the feedback examples to see if there were any common characteristics that would help define good feedback. We found that the quantity of the written feedback varied hugely. For example, students with as little as 40 or 50 words of feedback summary (and no in‐text comments) still thought their feedback was good. Clearly, it was not a matter of ‘the more the better’ for the students. This echoes Lilly et al .’s [ 24 ] finding that the length of feedback does not in itself matter so much to students.

With regard to the composition of the good feedback provided as in‐text comments, the majority of these comments related to writing skills, followed by subject content‐focused comments, and only a relatively small percentage was praise. The prevalence of writing skills‐related feedback confirms Hyland’s study [ 40 ], which also found that most feedback given to students was about ‘form’ (including structuring, grammar). But the small proportion of praise found in our study was surprising, as several previous studies indicate students’ desire for praise (e.g. [ 28 , 41 ]). When Orsmond and Merry [ 42 ] analysed feedback comments, they indeed found that praise was the most frequent form of feedback. On the other hand, according to Dawson et al . [ 38 ] only a minority of students think that the purpose of feedback is to motivate students. In our study, it is possible that students’ desire for praise was satisfied via the summary comments (rather than the in‐text comments), almost all of which contained some form of praise.

We also analysed the ‘depth’ of in‐text feedback comments. Although there was a lot of variation between markers, many comments were either an acknowledgement of a mistake, or a correction; only a small number contained explanations. Glover and Brown [ 37 ] similarly analysed the depth of written feedback to students in biological and physical sciences. They found that the majority of comments addressed omissions and language issues, whereas only about 11% of comments consisted of tutor clarification. Although the latter study did not focus on feedback that was identified as good by students, this outcome indicates a tendency towards low ‘depth’ feedback. Interestingly, the study found no or little relation between the depth of feedback and the grade [ 37 ]. In our study, the majority of students did not seem to need or expect any explanations. Instead, they found it important to know how to improve. Other studies also found that students wanted constructive criticism that contained suggestions for improvement, for example by correcting errors [ 29 , 42 ]. As pointing out errors and suggesting a correction would enable students to amend their drafts, it may not be surprising that students liked this form of feedback.

The frequency of the additional feedback characteristics (specific, easy‐wins, feedforward) was less variable than the depth. Firstly, almost all in‐text comments were specific. This ties in with other studies emphasising the importance of detailed and specific feedback comments (e.g. [ 16 , 38 ]). This finding also mirrors the results of the questionnaire, where most students liked the fact that the feedback was specific. Surprisingly, much less feedback was classified as easy‐wins. Our expectation had been that students would favour easy comments, that is comments that made it easy for them to correct mistakes, for example by providing the correct information without the need for the student to do any further work on it. However, students might have a different view on what are easy‐wins. In the questionnaire, many students said that they liked the fact that comments were easy to implement and that they used them to improve their work. It is possible that students found comments easy to implement because they were specific, but were not relying on markers to provide the ‘easy fix’.

Another surprising result was that relatively few comments were classified as feedforward, that is potentially useful for future assignments in other modules. In the second‐year assignment, only 24% of the in‐text comments were feedforward. This roughly tallies with the questionnaire where only just under a third of the second‐year students said that the feedback would help with future assignments. In the third‐year assignment, even fewer (9%) comments were feedforward. We would have thought that the ability to use feedback to improve future assignments would be more important to students. Many studies identify feedforward as an essential part of effective feedback (e.g. [ 43 ]). However, it is possible that because both assignments in this study were directly related to another submission in the same module, students were focused on specific improvements, and not so much on other, unrelated assignments. Indeed, 65% of the second‐year students resubmitted their essay and all of them achieved a higher mark for their second submission (average mark increased from 65% to 73%), indicating that the students had enough information to be able to improve their essay. This ties in with Reimann et al . [ 44 ] who found that feedforward practices are often situated within current modules. In our study, it is noteworthy that even in the focus group which addressed feedback more generally, feedforward was not mentioned as an important ‘ideal feedback’ characteristic.

Overall, one of the most surprising outcomes of our analysis of good feedback examples was how much the good feedback varied in terms of quantity and many feedback characteristics. However, Poulos and Mahoney [ 27 ] state that students do not have a homogenous view on what effective feedback actually is. Orsmond and Merry [ 28 ] found that low‐ and high‐achieving students differ in their perception of feedback, which may be related to a higher degree of self‐regulation in high achievers [ 19 ]. However, a recent systematic review on feedback found conflicting results and concluded that engagement with feedback may be affected by prior experience and not only depend on students’ academic skills [ 45 ]. Bjork et al . [ 46 ] discuss that students’ judgement of their own learning is highly subjective and influenced by intuitions and beliefs. What is more, Pitt and Norton [ 47 ] argue that students vary in their emotional maturity and this, together with their grade expectations, might affect their views on and engagement with feedback. According to Lizzio and Wilson [ 48 ], feedback is most likely found to be effective by students if it is developmental, encouraging and fair. All comments that were analysed in our study could be characterised as such. Neither in‐text nor summary feedback in the examples submitted contained any negative, demoralising phrases, which could have affected students’ willingness to engage with their feedback [ 47 ].

The analysis of good feedback examples and the questionnaires was complemented by interviews and a focus group. A consistent theme in all parts of the study was that according to students, good feedback should be specific and detailed. Similarly, information about how to improve was highlighted as important during both interviews and focus group. This is mirrored by the feedback examples that mostly contained information about what students had done wrong and how to correct this. The focus group put ‘justification of mark’ at high priority. Although this was not a strong theme in the interviews, this might be due to the fact that the interviewees were mostly high achievers, whereas a justification of the mark may be more important for students who achieved disappointing results [ 49 ]. Looking at the analysed in‐text comments, these rarely justify the mark, but more than half of the feedback summaries provide this. Positive reinforcement (praise) again was identified as important in the focus group, but less so in the interviews, and very few in‐text comments praised. But as almost all the general comments contained praise, this might again have fulfilled the students’ needs.

The present study has a number of limitations that need to be kept in mind when trying to generalise the findings. Firstly, this study mainly reflects the views of students who were engaged and who had achieved good marks, ranging from 58% to 87%. We did not hear from weak or failing students, and we did not see any feedback provided to them. This may not be surprising, as Jones et al . [ 50 ] point out that high achieving students are more likely to complete questionnaires about feedback. However, this means that we cannot draw any conclusion regarding feedback that weaker students might find useful, and therefore, the findings of this study might not be representative of all students. Secondly, this study only involved second‐ and third (final)‐year students, and there is a possibility that students in other years have different views. Thirdly, this study only involved students from the life sciences, and we do not know if the results also apply to students in other disciplines. Fourthly, we did not collect information about student characteristics (e.g. English as second language or specific learning disabilities), and therefore, we cannot comment on feedback characteristics that specific student groups might have found useful.

In addition, it should be remembered that both assignments had an inbuilt option for improvement (resubmit, use for final), which is not necessarily typical for written assignments. Some students’ written feedback was complemented by face‐to‐face discussion, so they might have confounded this interaction with their written feedback, rating their feedback overall as good although the written feedback alone might not have been sufficient. Also, there are other ways to analyse feedback: for example, Kumar and Stracke [ 51 ] used feedback categories based on the three functions of speech (referential, directive or expressive). And finally, this study is entirely based on students’ perception of what constitutes good feedback. We did not analyse any impact of feedback on students’ learning, and therefore, we cannot comment on the actual effectiveness of the feedback.

Conclusions and recommendations

This study has used a combination of mixed methods (drawing from four data resources: feedback analysis, questionnaire, interviews and a focus group) to identify characteristics of good feedback based on student perceptions. This high degree of triangulation allows us to suggest a list of recommendations for staff wishing to compose written feedback on assignments that students find useful. It is clear from our study that for feedback to be perceived as good by students, quality is more important than quantity. What is also clear is that there are many ways of providing good feedback. Although this study does not provide a ‘model method’ for feedback, it does contribute to the development of feedback models by presenting aspect of feedback that are valued by students.

According to students, good feedback:

• Is detailed, clear and specific and relates to specific areas of their work.
• Tells students exactly how to improve. Some students also find it valuable if we tell them the reasons why the improvement is necessary.
• Is honest and constructive.
• Includes positive reinforcement. Praise for aspects of the work done well makes it easier for them to receive criticism. It also reinforces positive aspects of their work, explaining what it is they’ve done well and should keep doing.
• Justifies the mark. Knowing how the marker arrived at their grade helps students understand what the grading means and how to achieve better grades.

Although advice on subject content, structure or argumentation is seen as more valuable than having grammatical or stylistic errors pointed out to them, some students also struggle with language and find corrections helpful.

In addition, students highly appreciate a feedback opportunity during the drafting stage. This enables them to clarify the task and make sure they are on the right track.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Author contributions

SV conceived, and SV and LVM designed the project. SV, LVM and TVA collected the data; SV and TVA analysed the data. SV wrote the manuscript, and LVM and TVA commented on multiple versions of the manuscript.

Supporting information

Appendix S1. Screenshot of an example assignment in Turnitin feedback studio. An example of an in‐text comment is shown. Assessors can highlight specific text passages and place a comment directly within the text of the assignment. Summary comments are usually provided in a specific section or placed at the end of the assignment.

Acknowledgements

This study was funded by a Learning and Teaching Fellowship at the University of Liverpool, UK, awarded to one of the authors (SV) in 2016.

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   Blogue

8 Examples of Constructive Feedback With Sample Scenarios

Being a manager in the 21st century is not at all a child's play. The work culture now demands the managers to lead the workforce by adopting multiple roles as a motivator, a mentor , and a leader all at the same time. And one of the most important aspects of these roles is the ability and the will to deliver constructive feedback to the employees.

Feedbacks are an integral part of ensuring an efficient work culture. Frequently giving positive feedback not only impacts employee morale but also acts as a guide for them. Further, it sets the performance standard expected from the teams.

However, delivering constructive feedback is not as smooth as a hot knife through butter. There's a fragile line that separates feedback from criticism, and this is where most managers mess up.

The tone of delivering the feedback and the words you use may sometimes make your feedback sound more like a criticism which negatively affects the professional relationship . Furthermore, the majority of feedback is gathered through surveys, such as pulse surveys or one question surveys , making it critical to make the questions truly meaningful.

That's why to help you deliver the best constructive feedback to your employees, I present to you a few feedback samples with their relating scenarios.

But before beginning with the same, here are some of the essential points that you need to keep in mind while conveying constructive feedback to your employees.

Steps to Frame a Constructive Feedback

1. state your observation.

Feedbacks are totally based on your observations as a professional. Deciphering these observations based on your managerial skills will further allow you to give precise and well-feedback. Also, when you state your observations clearly to the receiver, it uplifts your persona as a mentor whom everyone can look up to. Thus, building confidence and camaraderie with your employees.

2. Pinpoint the Areas for Betterment

The thin line that lies between criticism and constructive feedback is defined with this very point. The main motive behind conveying constructive feedback is to help others realize the scope of betterment complemented with a bit of advice or a suggestion.

Read more: 5 Useful Tips On How To Give Constructive Criticism

3. Keeping Up an Appreciative Tone

Always ensure that you maintain a respectful tone in your voice while conveying constructive feedback. The meaning behind the input is further amplified with the way you say them. Thus, your employees are more likely to pay attention and take your feedback positively when you deliver the same with an appreciative tone.

4. Understand their Concerns

Everyone has their own unique way of looking into things and problem-solving capabilities. And in this case, your employees are no different. Even they might have a different opinion about the assigned task. Therefore, you should always leave some space between your feedback for your employees to express their views.

Related: 9 Powerful Tips For Conducting Successful One on One Meetings

Scenarios With Examples of Constructive Feedback

Scenario #1.

A hardworking employee but he or she is frequently late for office

The Feedback -

"Hi (Employee Name), I was going through everyone's performance report from the last few months, and I must say you have done a great job. Also, I feel that you could achieve more every day by coming early, and that way, you'll also be able to maintain a sound work-life balance ."

Scenario #2

Bella has constantly been missing her project deadlines due to some jargons in her personal life

Positive employee feedback would be like this -

"While taking a score of everyone's progress, I came to realize that your numbers aren't matching up. Is there something that's bothering you about getting your work done as per schedule?

Also, I got to know from your team members that you put a lot of effort into your work, and I sincerely appreciate it. However, we all work in a competitive environment where the only thing that matters is being fast-paced in your personal and professional endeavors. And going with the professional part, I would suggest you keep up with your end dates which will benefit both you and your team to stay ahead in the game."

Scenario #3

Travis keeps up with his great performance when working alone but he avoids being a team player

A Constructive performance review would be-

"I respect people who have the caliber to solve problems alone and move ahead. They learn from their experiences, and I guess you're one such person Travis.

However, I must also emphasize that everyone requires help at some point in time. It may be either you or someone else who might be needing an extra hand. And that is the perfect moment when you should exhibit your capabilities and help others out by sharing your knowledge. Also, at the same time, you can observe how others do their work and learn a few more things.

So, I would suggest you actively take part in team-based projects and help your team excel with your capabilities added to it."

Scenario #4

Ruby makes up as one of the great team members in terms of performance but struggles with her communication skills

An encouraging feedback here would be-

"I have heard many compliments about your work and I would like to appreciate you for the same. However, I noticed that you tend to remain silent most of the time even during your team meetings . I must say that I'm concerned with this observation of mine and would like to know if you're facing any difficulties out here.

My only advice here for you is to keep up your communication in whatever way you can. Even if you make mistakes, you should keep on trying, and also, we are all here to help you out."

Scenario #5

An employee who frequently remains absent without any prior notice

Subtle constructive feedback to reduce employee absenteeism would be-

"Since the past few days, I have been noticing that you are seldom present in the workplace. May I know if you're facing any problems that I can help you with?

I realize that every one of us has other responsibilities outside the workplace, but we should also treat our jobs equally. Also, you are missing out on a lot of information by being frequently out of work. I'm afraid that it might affect your overall performance, which I don't want to happen. And so, I would like to extend you my help in every way possible to help you overcome this issue."

Scenario #6

Max often ignores what his superiors say and makes silly mistakes while getting his job done

Constructive feedback here would be-

"As your manager, it's my job to keep everything and everyone organized in the workplace. Owning things is comparatively easier, but I have to rely on you guys to keep everyone on the same track to understand each other's concerns.

I respect the fact that everyone has their own way of doing things, but at the same time, I would like to ask you not to overlook any meaningful feedback that comes your way, especially from people who are more experienced. We convey our feedback to help you guys keep up the excellent job. Also, we like receiving feedback from our employees too.

Having said the same, I hope that you would respect my words and help me promote positive behavior in our organization."

Scenario #7

An employee has been struggling for the past few days with the assigned task

An example of constructive feedback for your employee here-

"These days, I noticed that you're staying late in the office. Would you like to tell me what it is that you're working on?

Being your manager, I like to see you all working hard to meet your goals. But I equally emphasize ensuring that you guys enjoy a sound work-life balance. That's the reason I called upon you to share a few goal-setting tricks which I believe would help you out."

Scenario #8

As a manager, you are required to give feedback on your employee’s performance.

Positive employee feedback here would be-

"I'm glad that we finally caught up, and as you already know, I wanted to talk to you regarding your performance. During our conversation, I might point out both the positive and negative traits regarding your performance. Here, I want you to embrace your positive qualities and learn from the negative feedback and improve the concerned issues.

Speaking about your performance (Give your honest reviews on it).

The penultimate reason I'm delivering this constructive feedback is that my employees feel confident about themselves. And going with the same I want to further strengthen the employee engagement efforts within our organization.”

Wrapping Up

These were some of the scenarios with their respective examples of constructive feedback. Giving feedback from time to time is a quintessential part of a manager's job role, which one must never ignore.

Further, if you have some more ideas or suggestions regarding examples of constructive feedback, please drop an email. We would love to hear your thoughts.

Working as a SEO Analyst and Content Marketer at Vantage Circle, Angshuman always stays curious and is passionate about learning new things. Got any question? Drop a mail at [email protected]

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