How to Give Effective Feedback to Your Students

by Susan M. Brookhart

For feedback on work that is scored or graded, annotatable rubrics or assignment cover sheets work well. Research does suggest students will be more interested in their grade than in the feedback, which is why practice work should not be graded. However, on final projects some students will want to know the reason for their scores or grades, and offering feedback can serve to explain how the grade was determined. Annotating rubrics and using cover sheets are both useful for projects, term papers, and other lengthy written assignments. Good feedback can inject some formative moments into otherwise summative assessments. It is especially useful if revising and resubmitting the work is a possibility or if a similar assignment is coming up.