10 feedback prompts for students that work
Let's move from feedback to feedforward.
The whole purpose of feedback is to help students focus on development, not on ratings. How do we get our students to tune up their mental dashboards after receiving feedback? How do we get our students to commit to self-improvement?
It begins with creating a feedforward learning environment. This can’t be done if you are constantly asking your students to submit, hand-in or turn-in work to you. This transaction sends the wrong message students. “Submission” says that they are at the end of the road. That the work is done. When in fact, this is when students should be just getting started. This is checkpoint 1.
So how do we create a safe space for our students to share their work-in-progress? To learn? My students often worked in silos and hid their rough stuff until they felt like they had something polished enough to share. Why? Probably because they thought they were going to be assessed every time they showed me something.
I think back to my classroom environment and the changes that could have been made to support a feedforward culture; to create a safety net for exploration, ideation and iteration. How could I make my students believe that they were not going to be judged, but supported. That sharing was and is the very process of learning. We share to learn. The “KWL” or “NTK’s” chart need to be embedded in the entire learning experience, not just a one-off activity you do to jump start a lesson. When it comes to learning, there will always be “Need To Knows” and our students need to know that.
Spinndle has designed the learning experience so that students constantly feedforward in their projects. At every step, Spinndle shares their work-in-progress so that students get the feedback they need when they need it.
First, students need to do a needs assessment. What do they need help with? Otherwise, they may not get the feedback they are looking for.
FEEDBACK REQUEST PROMPTS
What did I miss?
How do I improve this?
Do you know of any resources that could help me?
What should I do next?
What was confusing or unclear?
Now for giving feedback. We need to move our students away from “Good Job” or “Nice work” and onto more constructive feedback. How can students actually improve each other’s work?
FEEDFORWARD PROMPTS
Identify what’s done well: I like that you…
Highlight a strategy. One thing you did well was…
Offer a reminder: Just a reminder to…
Ask a question: Who… What… When… Where… Why… How…
Make a suggestion: I wonder…
Strengthen a co-learning environment.
Unlike most other edtech platforms, students are not submitting their work to the teacher to be assessed. Instead, Spinndle acts as a co-learning space for students to share their ideas, plans, and creations with mentors (teachers and peers) at every step of their projects. The Spinndle platform also provides feedback prompts to help students of all ages frame their feedback to be more constructive. If you are trying to encourage a culture of feedback, collaboration and effective communication, Spinndle has formalized this process for your students.
“Spinndle changed the way I learned by seeing what other people said and brainstorming ideas to make my product and theirs better. I feel like an actual entrepreneur
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