Instructional Technology Spotlight: Joanna Do on Online Assessments & Feedback
"The best feedback is targeted, not general, and acknowledges something specific in a students’ work, shares insights, and suggests next steps to enhance their work. Peer feedback is a great way to reduce, complement, and supplement instructor feedback. It is also an opportunity for students to learn to give constructive feedback." Joanna Do, a DCE Instructional Technologist and Canvas Course Site Designer, shares the power of peer feedback.
Don't fear peer feedback.
This sentiment is expressed by Joanna Do, who shared the power of peer feedback in my conversation with her about assessment and feedback in online teaching and learning. Joanna is an Instructional Technologist and Canvas Course Site Designer who works with Harvard Extension School instructors to design on-line learning spaces using a range of learning technology tools. Below, Joanna shares assessment and feedback teaching tips and tools:
Teaching Tip
Consistent & Content-Specific Feedback
Quality feedback is consistent and content-specific. Don’t wait until the end of the semester to provide feedback. Periodic and frequent feedback give students guidance on how to grow and make progress throughout your course and beyond. The best feedback is targeted instead of general and acknowledges something specific in a students’ work, shares insights, and suggests next steps to enhance their work. Peer feedback is a great way to reduce, complement, and supplement instructor feedback. It is also an opportunity for students to learn to give constructive feedback.
Learning Technology Tools
Feedback in Canvas
Use Canvas SpeedGrader for instructor-to-student and peer-to-peer annotated feedback and comments. Comments do not have to be text only and you can attach a file such as a rubric and add a video and/or audio recording of verbal feedback. With attached rubrics, save time on recurring feedback on multiple students' submissions with the reuse comments feature.
Resource: How to Grade Your Students in Canvas
Peer Feedback
Implement individual or group feedback via Canvas Assignments, Feedback Fruits Peer Review, or Feedback Fruits Group Member Evaluations. Canvas Assignments has a simple setup to manually or automatically assign individual peer review. Feedback Fruits allows for individual or group peer reviews, multiple due dates, recommended or required feedback criteria, and configurable grading and analytics. Instructors can have a high or low touch and leverage Feedback Fruits to maximize the benefits of constructive peer assessment.
Resource: ITG Feedback Guides & Resources
Automated Instructor Feedback Through Assessments & Interaction
Use Canvas Quizzes or Feedback Fruits Interactive Video and Interactive Documents to check students' understanding of course content by providing answer comments and explanations. You can streamline feedback for basic and foundational concepts, such as guidance on APA citations or elements in HTML code.
Resource: ITG Feedback Guides & Resources
Canvas Rubrics
For each of your assignments, you can use Canvas Rubrics to set expectations and provide guidelines for your students.
Resource: Tips for Creating and Using Rubrics
Joanna encourages you to reach out to her and her team members on the DCE Instructional Technology Team. They want to support you to leverage learning technology in your course, and offer workshops and one-to-one consultations throughout the year.
With gratitude,
Zahra