This is the 3rd post in a series exploring how to build connections in the remote classroom. I'll be honest, I've never given enough thought to how I utilize feedback in my classroom. It just seemed to happen organically during class discussions, group work, or one-on-one meetings when a student was struggling. I did not have a system in place to consistently provide specific feedback to every student in my class. Teaching remotely has forced me to reevaluate my current practices because feedback is one of the few ways that I can make sure that I make consistent contact with every student.
Feedback is routinely recognized as one of the most effective instructional strategies. John Hattie & Robert Marzano both agree that feedback that includes comments on the quality of the work and ways to improve on it are essential to learning. Recent research indicates that the type of feedback offered can lead to increases in:
1. Connections between teacher and students
2. Overall student satisfaction with the class
3. Mastery of the content and student achievement
In this post, I will be sharing the results of three fascinating research studies. They each offer unique insights into how feedback can be leveraged to increase connections between the teacher and student and potentially improve student achievement.
Apologize for the Rain (Brooks, Dai, & Schweitzer, 2013)
This study was conducted by the Harvard and Wharton Schools of Business. The premise of the experiment is that the act of apologizing builds social connections and trust. In this experiment, the researchers asked an actor to approach strangers at a train station and ask to borrow their phone. Half of the time he prefaced his ask with the following statement. "I'm sorry about the rain." The strangers were much more likely (47%) to let him use the phone if he offered the apology before the ask versus just the straight ask (9%). One of the most interesting things about this study is that the apology was superfluous. It is about something that the apologizer had no control over! The researchers concluded that the apology signaled a social connection. This led to increases in perceived likability and trust.
The researchers pointed out three ways that the apology increased compliance: it showed empathy, acknowledged adversity and expressed regret. As a teacher I can easily incorporate these practices into the feedback that I provide students. I need to recognize that my students are suffering and that learning remotely is a struggle! Feedback provides me with a consistent opportunity to empathize with students on a weekly basis.
Magical Feedback (Coyle, 2013)
The results of the next research study were so extraordinary that it has been called "magical". A joint study conducted by Yale, Stanford and Colombia Universities revealed that the wording of feedback has a dramatic impact on student revision rates. In this study, the students were asked to write an essay and the teachers were asked to provide feedback in a variety of ways. At the end of the study, one feedback method stood out. Students who received this feedback were 40-320% more likely to revise their work. The results were so extraordinary that they were called "magical." In "magical feedback," the students were provided feedback regarding what was wrong with their essays along with this comment:
“I’m giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know you can reach them.”
The researchers contend that this feedback was effective because it provides a social connection in which the student identified as part of a group, internalized the high standards associated with being a group member and was explicitly told that they can meet the standards of the group.
Dave Stuart, Jr. explains how to leverage this research in this podcast about Flash Feedback. If students are more likely to accept feedback when a personal connection is made, we need to make sure that we connect with our students! We can use all of the information that we learn from our students using strategies like Moments of Genuine Connection or class activities like "Savor." This not only affirms their connection to the class community but also increases student achievement. It's a Win-Win!
Your Voice Matters (Ice, Curtis, Phillips, & Wells, 2007)
There is a body of research that suggests that providing students with audio feedback can increase student satisfaction. In this study, students were divided into experimental and control groups. The control group received written feedback on their work and the experimental group received recorded auditory feedback on their work. The students greatly preferred the auditory feedback. There were three themes that emerged regarding why students preferred auditory feedback:
1. The students indicated that they were better able to detect nuance and emotion in the audio mode. This led to a better understanding of the content of the feedback and they were then more likely to incorporate the feedback in their revision.
2. The students experienced increased feelings of social involvement and connectedness with the teacher. The presence of audio feedback increased the "social presence" of the teacher. According to one subject, "The audio, well, I also like it because it makes me feel like a real part of the class. You don't feel like a number when you get that." (Ice, Curtis, Phillips, & Wells, 2007). It reinforced the sense of a "being there" which can be so difficult to mimic in an online classroom.
3. The students indicated increased satisfaction with the teacher. As one participated put it, "the final thing is about the way I think audio shows that you cared about us." (Ice, Curtis, Phillips, & Wells, 2007) For me, this is really what it is all about. I teach because I care about my students. I believe that feeling cared for is an essential human need. Providing audio feedback is an efficient and consistent way to help meet the needs of my students.
There are some easy ways to implement audio feedback in the classroom.
- It must be sustainable for the teacher. It is probably not feasible to record a comment on every assignment that your students complete. Decide which assignments are the most important and will provide the highest yield.
- Decide how you will provide the feedback to your students. I use the Canvas LMS to provide feedback for my students. In Speedgrader, there is a media comment icon under "Assignment Comments." Each comment takes about a minute per student but I can provide much more detailed feedback than I can using written feedback.
- If you do not have access to Canvas, another great opinion is Mote. Mote is a Chrome extension that allows teachers to easily add voice comments and feedback to shared google documents. It works for slides, docs and sheets. Both of these options will help you build a social presence with your students.
I know many of you are teaching remotely just like me. You have probably found yourself feeling isolated from your students and other teachers. One of the participants in the audio study really summed up how I am feeling when she likened online classes to learning in a bubble. I feel like I am teaching in a bubble with little feedback or authentic interaction with my students. Conversely, I imagine that my students feel like they are learning in a bubble. This student described hearing the teacher's voice like that bubble was being popped: "It was like that bubble started getting popped in all these different places and made me feel like you were reaching in there and touching me." (Ice, Curtis, Phillips, & Wells, 2007).
This is how I want my students to feel at the end of my class. I want them to know that I care about them and their learning. I want them to feel like they belong in my classroom. I feel that these studies provide me a way to get there. I'd love to hear how you use feedback in the classroom. Please share your ideas below!
Resources:
Brooks, A. W., Dai, H., & Schweitzer, M. (2013). I'm sorry about the rain! Superfluous apologies demonstrate empathic concern and increase trust. PsycEXTRA Dataset. doi:10.1037/e571292013-112
Coyle, D. (2013, December 13). The Simple Phrase that Increases Effort 40%. Retrieved September 04, 2020, from http://danielcoyle.com/2013/12/13/the-simple-phrase-that-increases-effort-40/
Dave Stuart Jr., Says, D., Lewis, D., Says, D., Says, T., Jaggard, T., . . . Ashleighmargeth. (2020, September 01). How (and Why) to Leave Audio Feedback on Student Work This Year, Whether During In-Person or Distance Learning. Retrieved September 04, 2020, from https://davestuartjr.com/how-and-why-to-leave-audio-feedback-on-student-work-distance-learning/
Gonzalez, J. (2020, August 22). Creating Moments of Genuine Connection Online. Retrieved September 04, 2020, from https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/genuine-connection-online/
Ice, P., Curtis, R., Phillips, P., & Wells, J. (2007). Using Asynchronous Audio Feedback To Enhance Teaching Presence And Students' Sense Of Community. Retrieved September 04, 2020, from https://olj.onlinelearningconsortium.org/index.php/olj/article/view/1724
Johnson, M. (2020, May 10). Flash Feedback: How to Provide More Meaningful Feedback in Less Time. Retrieved September 04, 2020, from https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/flash-feedback/
Voelkel, S., & Mello, L. V. (2014). Audio Feedback – Better Feedback? Bioscience Education, 22(1), 16-30. doi:10.11120/beej.2014.00022
.jpg)
Comments
Post a Comment