My first post for 2025 and following on from a previous post on Generative AI back in 2023 (which is still relevant today) I’m going to kick off #OneWord style.
Without further ado my #OneWord2025 is Learning. After all, learning is our business and why we do what we do, isn’t it?!
I hope to continue this post as a series exploring the Educator Toolkit throughout the year. The opening strategy up for exploration is feedback; the communication that you as an educator have with students to guide, support and facilitate their learning.
This short video pulls back the curtain on feedback, and I can pretty much guarantee that you will relate in some shape or form as either the giver or receiver – I know I can! Go on, give it a watch and read on – the lesson planning, feedback, phone calls or 100 other educator tasks on your list can wait 😉
All done? Great. Let’s jump in!
Feedback is a routine part of our day to day lives as educators that we may take it for granted, overlooking just how complex it really is. Typically, the process looks like this:
1. Educator reviews a piece of student work
2. Educator adds something – maybe a mark, grade, a tick or an x or a comment
3. Student reviews what the educator has written.
The goal, of course, is for the educator’s feedback to enhance the student’s learning. Research, like the work of Kluger and DeNisi (1996), has shown that students sometimes learn less from feedback than when none is given at all. What? That’s right – potentially learning less.
What seems like a straightforward process – reviewing work and providing meaningful feedback – is actually much harder than it appears. To make feedback truly effective, we need to focus on one crucial idea: the real value of feedback lies in what students do with it (William, 2016).
Why? Feedback
Think about “why?” we’re giving feedback… and I ask that you try to avoid jumping straight to or only thinking about termly reporting – an educator knows! Where feedback is concerned the why is always: learning.
For feedback to have the greatest impact on student learning try to take the following into consideration:
- Keep it positive: even if it seems a stretch, be supportive and find a positive!
- Clear, specific, frequent and timely: Don’t have students wait too long or your valuable feedback could potentially lose its meaning. Whilst some students enjoy puzzles avoid setting them the challenge of decoding cryptic comments.
- Relevant, constructive and meaningful: Focus on assessment criteria, the task or the piece of work rather than the person.
- Accessible: Try to provide feedback that can be revisited, whether it’s written, audio, or video. As much as possible, try to keep it in plain English.
If feedback is too complex or vague, unfortunately, it could often be a waste of your time. Students need guidance they can understand and implement. Otherwise, whether they can apply your feedforward or ‘even better if’ suggestions are often dependent on their ability to “decode” what you’re saying. As such, receive the message you are trying to communicate. Remember we want to avoid the communication illusion trap! This is where we can often level the playing field to meet students where they are at, ensuring all students can receive and benefit from the feedback we provide.
Feedback and Mindset
Keep in mind that we are only truly learning when we experience discomfort. Real learning is uncomfortable – we should always aim for students to feel safe, supported, and encouraged when we give feedback.
Formative vs Summative Feedback
In technical terms, what is the difference?
Formative Feedback: Happens during learning, generally isn’t graded, and uses a variety of approaches (e.g., work in class, discussions, comments, quizzes and learning activities). Its goal? To improve and guide the student’s work.
Summative Feedback: Happens after learning, is graded, and tends to be more prescriptive, focusing on what was achieved.
Think about your own approach to both – how are you using feedback to support learning, achievement and your students’ development?
Practical Approaches to Feedback
Let’s talk about the “how?”.
Feedback doesn’t have to be overwhelming or demanding of your time – for you or your students. Here are some ideas:
1. Text-Based Feedback on Student Work
Layer comments directly on assignments or use digital inking. OneNote or the draw feature in the Edge Browser or other Microsoft apps is great for this.
2. Audio or Video Feedback
Record a short audio or video to feedback for clarity and personalisation.
3. Use a Rubric
A rubric is a fantastic tool for students for self-assessment and for educators to use to give feedback. Digital tools like the Assignments feature in Microsoft Teams, Khanmigo, or Magic School AI can help you to create rubrics quickly. In case you may have missed the news…
The rubric block in Assignments in Microsoft Teams now has an in-built AI Assistant!
Here’s why I love rubrics, they can:
- help students plan and check their work
- allow educators to focus on key knowledge, skills, and competency
- improve reliability, consistency, and transparency of assessment
- make marking faster and encourage fairness
- reduce admin of assessment by providing feedback
Think of Feedback as a Two-Way Street
When it comes to feedback. Aim for a dialogue between you and your students. Encourage discussion. This gives them a chance to reflect, ask questions to clarify, and understand what they can do to improve.
Final Thoughts
Feedback is one of the most powerful tools in our educator toolkit to support and enhance learning. It’s not just about acknowledging what was done well or what needs improvement; it’s about supporting students to reflect, grow, develop and ultimately achieve their goals. If we think of the bigger picture of life and the world of work; receiving and engaging with feedback is a hugely valuable skill.
You can supercharge the power and potential of feedback to students when you take a digital or AI assisted approach. On a side note and to avoid mixed messages here. I don’t recommend or support inputting student work into an AI machine for review, for now that’s where I draw my ethical line.
So, how are you using feedback? Are you leveraging it to support and enhance learning? Do you already or what would it look like it if you asked your students what they are going to do with your feedback? Has it become a tick-box exercise? Awareness, simple changes or a step into the digital realm of tools to assist you could help you to leverage the power and full potential of feedback.
On a final note. As educators, our words are powerful. To students, they have meaning. Our words have an impact. Positive or negative you control whether you create comfort or fear. Here’s to making feedback in 2025 clear, accessible, and empowering – for all students.
All the very best for 2025!