Digital Learning Blog

Book Bytes Using Feedback to Improve Learning

April 22, 2022  / Department of Digital Learning  / Tags: Book Bytes, Vlog

Video 

 

Title

Ruiz-Primo, M. A., & Brookhart, S. M. (2018). Using feedback to improve learning. Routledge.

 What is the topic?

• The authors propose empirically supported techniques for using feedback to improve student success.
• This book examines feedback and what critical characteristics of feedback strategies are most affirming to student success. It also explores those contextual elements surrounding the feedback and explains how they can positively or negatively impact the effects of the feedback.

Why is the topic important?

• Research shows that academic feedback is more strongly and consistently related to achievement than any other teaching behavior and is consistent regardless of grade, socioeconomic status, race, or school setting. (Bellon, Bellon & Blake.  1991)
• Quality feedback can improve affective elements of student learning like confidence, enthusiasm, and persistence. All of which increase student retention. (Yorke, M. 2002)

Who can use this information?

• Faculty (online and F2F)

 Top three takeaways

1. Empirically supported techniques for using feedback as a part of formative assessment (feedforward).
2. Feedback does not need to be a huge time commitment. Creating purposeful tasks that clearly demonstrate student learning and using targeted feedback that is explicitly aligned to learning goals is most beneficial.
3. Insightful chapter about challenges to providing quality feedback and getting students to utilize that feedback. (Explicit learning goals, zone of proximal development, tasks that show student thinking).