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a response for Youssef!!

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Project Based Learning (PBL) has made a mark in traditional face-to-face classrooms. There is no shortage of evidence showing the beneficial impact of project-based learning on student outcomes. However, this progressive instructional strategy has yet to be adapted to work in conjunction with the advancements in blended and online education. Still, PBL is likely an ideal model of student-centered learning for blended and online environments, because these environments provide additional flexibility in time and space--two resources highly-valued, yet often limited, in the face-to-face classroom. Still, effective PBL in the online or blended classroom depends on teacher ability to design high-quality online content.

Fully-Online Learning Grows

More students than ever before are availing themselves of the opportunity to learn by taking online courses. It is not only college students that are moving to online education. Many K-12 school districts are allowing middle and high school students to take several courses online through their district or a partner online provider. However, often this K-12 online instruction is very didactic in nature and lacks a progressive student-centered approach seen in many face-to-face classrooms today. Current common practice does not mean that online instruction lacks the potential for great student-centered experiences, and progressive learning models like PBL could be the key to improving K-12 online curriculum. However, translating PBL principles into the online environment has been a challenge for K-12 teachers and curriculum developers. How can teachers design a full PBL unit in an online environment that supports learners whether they see the teacher face-to-face (blended) or not at all (fully-online)?

Working on a Solution

As educators, we're trying to come up with a solution to this challenging question. Gwinnett Online Campus (GOC), a public 4th through 12th online grade school in metro Atlanta, wanted to improve curriculum quality through PBL. It had been difficult for GOC teachers to establish the scaffolding needed in the online environment in order for a PBL unit to be successful. In the past, the PBL units were really just long term student research and report assignments, not true Gold Standard PBL projects. We wanted to change this so that the online student could benefit from the 21st century skills that brick-and-mortar students experience with PBL.
In an effort to make the curriculum more student-centered, we developed a partnership with Kennesaw State University to develop an instructional design model that would help teacher-developers incorporate the PBL strategy into their online courses. We call our model Project-based Online Learning, or PBOL. The model started off very organically in a co-design and development process. We documented every step of this creative process, with multiple iterations as a design and development research project. Based on that study, a draft of the design process model emerged:

PBOL Lesson Structure Model

This image shows the order in which PBOL content is offered to the learner in a learning module, or online unit of instruction. The seven major components of this instructional design model are:

1. Driving Question and Hook: Gain the student's attention and set the stage. This lesson should pique learner interest and make the project relevant for the learner.

2. Introduce the Project: This video explains the path the learner is about to embark upon at an overview level.

3. Formative Assessments: These will continue across several steps of the project to gauge student understanding. Distinguishing between a student's content knowledge and his/her project understanding helps the teacher plan between student interventions or online lesson changes.

4. Build Content Knowledge: This part of the lesson includes the readings, videos, and images that introduce the learner to new content for understanding and recall that will be used to complete the project.

5. Tutorial-by-Example: The tutorial has several sub-components that scaffold the learner's understanding of the project expectations and processes. This tutorial requires a) an in-depth description of the project, b) a rubric, c) at least one student sample, d) at least one video or screencast where the teacher grades the student sample using the rubric, and e) the opportunity for critical peer or self-evaluation.

6. Summative Assessment: The learner submits his or her project, and an opportunity for revision is facilitated.

7. Sharing: Student publishes the work to share with an authentic audience.

If you are interested in this model, each step is described in more detail in a paper by us linked among the BIE Research Resources for PBL.

An Example PBOL Unit

For this post, we want to share an example PBOL unit to get you thinking about how you could incorporate PBL into your blended or online courses. Here is a link to a video about a GOC chemistry unit about dietary sugar for high school students as well as student samples.

In this PBOL unit, we challenged students to answer the driving question "Is it better to have natural or synthetic sugar drinks in school vending machines?". Students completed investigative labs and collaborative activities to help them form their position and supporting evidence. The project culminated in a vending machine policy proposal to school leaders. Their arguments helped determine whether or not the school would provided sugary drinks in the school vending machines.

The strength of this unit is the topic, which is timely and authentic to the students' everyday life. A primary weakness is that we did not involve outside experts to collaborate with the students on their projects. As the unit is refined over time this weakness will be addressed. How would you change this unit plan to meet the Gold Standard PBL model? Tell us on twitter #BIEPBOL.
For questions about the model, contact Anissa with Kennesaw State University at [email protected] or on Twitter @LokeyVega. For questions about the PBOL examples provided, contact Kimberly with Gwinnett Online Campus at [email protected] .

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Project Based Online Learning: Meeting the Challenge

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Project Based Learning (PBL) has made a mark in traditional face-to-face classrooms. There is no shortage of evidence showing the beneficial impact of project-based learning on student outcomes. However, this progressive instructional strategy has yet to be adapted to work in conjunction with the advancements in blended and online education.

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27 Formative Assessment Tools for Your Classroom

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In this post, you will find 27 Formative Assessment Tools for Your Classroom! Formative assessment is such an essential part of the learning process and student success, and many digital tools can help support this process.This list has a wide variety of features and options to help you solidify your formative assessment strategies! Many of the tools below are great for both formative and summative assessments.

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Listen to the Interview with Matthew Johnson:
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My study of feedback began in earnest on a sunny afternoon during my third year of teaching. I was living in California - much to the envy of my midwestern friends and family - but I was also harboring a secret, a secret that was troubling me that afternoon. The secret was that while my social media pictures showed me at the beach and hiking past redwoods, those excursions were rare, maybe once-a-quarter outings. Instead, the vast majority of my days were spent doing exactly what I was doing in that moment: responding to and grading papers.

For the better part of my first three years as a teacher, student papers acted as the chains that shackled me to my desk day after day. Like Tantalus, I could see the beach gleaming through a crack between the apartment buildings next to mine, but when I looked at the towers of student work in front of me, the sand and waves receded out of reach. Maybe tomorrow after I chop these essay stacks down I would tell myself once again.

That afternoon though, for reasons I don't fully understand, something inside me finally snapped and I admitted to myself what I'd long known unconsciously: I didn't want to live like this anymore. I was drowning, submerged under a never-ending torrent of student work in need of feedback and assessment. I didn't want to leave the classroom, but I also didn't want to stay if it meant that my next forty years would endlessly orbit stacks of student work in the way that my first three years did.

That night, in a last-ditch effort to stay a teacher, I began to read whatever I could find about responding faster and better to student work, and it didn't take long for me to realize that I was far from the first teacher to resent living a life with papers at its geographic center. In fact, the very first article of the very first volume of the The English Journal in 1912 begins with a simple question written in all caps: CAN GOOD COMPOSITION TEACHING BE DONE UNDER THE PRESENT CONDITIONS?

The answer given by the author, Dr. Edwin M. Hopkins? "No." There were simply too many students and papers to manage. By the way, it is worth noting that Dr. Hopkins had 100 students. I currently have 158.

And the problem is that Dr. Hopkins wasn't fully wrong, then or now. The issue largely comes down to feedback, which is an essential part of good teaching-not just for composition, but for any content area. Just like the conditions in Dr. Hopkins' time, our present conditions make providing quality feedback incredibly difficult. This is because effective feedback generally shares a handful of characteristics: It is given regularly, returned in a timely manner, and written in clear language. It also works best when students are in the midst of creation, as opposed to as a postscript on final drafts once they finish.

When one digs down, the logistics of providing regular, timely, and formative feedback are absurd when one has 158 or even 100 students. Take my classes: Each minute of feedback I provide to each of my 158 students takes a time investment of over two and a half hours. That means reading and responding to one essay or project or test in ten minutes-a blisteringly fast speed based on the teachers I've talked to-will take over 25 hours. Even if a teacher works 60 or 70 hours, sacrificing countless evenings and weekends to student work, there exists a hard cap on the amount of feedback a teacher can give if it's only given in big chunks on big assignments.

Of course more global feedback on larger assignments is important, and there are ways to get more efficient and effective with that feedback (I wrote a book largely on this subject, Flash Feedback: Responding to Student Writing Better and Faster-Without Burning Out, and this very site has excellent suggestions here, here, and here), but if teachers want to provide timely, regular, formative, and meaningful feedback, we need to diversify our practices.

Feedback, after all, is just a teacher's response to something, and we can meaningfully respond to different assignments in a multitude of ways, many of them only taking a minute or two. I call these practices Flash Feedback, and while they come in small packages, they can pack a serious educational punch.

Characteristics of Flash Feedback

Teachers can take countless approaches to Flash Feedback. The exact structures will depend on the discipline, students, and teacher, but the most efficient and effective Flash Feedback tends to share these four characteristics:

It focuses on one or two learning objectives. A long history of scholarship argues that feedback, even on large assignments, should generally focus only on a manageable number of topics, no more than a few. Covering too many topics tends to overload students, so they learn no lessons (or no lessons deeply) and it takes longer, making it the exact opposite of Flash Feedback.

Students do the heavy lifting. Teachers often fall into the trap of correcting work for students and doing more reflection on student work than they require the students to do. Kelly Gallagher and Penny Kittle call this Helicopter Teaching, and while it generally comes from a place of wanting to help, it often holds students back for two reasons: First, when students don't have to work for an answer, they are less likely to remember it. Second, the time it takes to correct student work and solve problems for the students severely limits how much feedback the teacher can give them. For Flash Feedback to work, students must be the primary ones finding answers, patterns, and approaches, as the teacher plays the role of the guide standing well off to the side.

It utilizes systems and technology. Feedback often has a lot of redundancies that can be mitigated with better systems or by using technology, and even little efficiencies add up. For me, each 15 second increase in efficiency saves me 40 minutes when taken on the scale of all of my students!

There is a spillover plan and time allotted for special cases. There will inevitably be times when a student's specific needs won't fit within the system and structure being used by the teacher. This is why having a clearly defined spillover plan/time will help to make sure that the needs of one or two individuals don't derail the plan for the rest of the class.

Three Ways to Do Flash Feedback

In my classes, and especially during the time when I'm writing this-an era of emergency distance learning when time is tight-there are three types of Flash Feedback that I find myself coming to again and again: Targeted Response, Micro-Conferences, and Wise Interventions.

1. Targeted Response

My students, like most people, tend to struggle with comma usage. My approach to helping them with commas used to be to circle and correct every comma error I found in every paper, but this never led to much progress and it took a tremendous amount of time.

Now I mainly use Targeted Response, which is where the teacher focuses an assignment and its feedback solely on 1 to 2 targeted learning goals. When it comes to commas, my students write a very short one-page paper about anything they want in any genre. It is called the Comma Paper, and its only criteria (and the only thing I give feedback to) is that they must include at least four correctly used examples of each type of comma we studied in class.

To speed my assessment of and response to these papers, I have students turn them in on Google Classroom. That enables me to use the Find Function (Command-F) to highlight all of the commas in the piece, so I can quickly scan for comma issues. It also allows me to pre-populate two comments in the comment bank (if you don't know how to do this, here is a quick tutorial). One is a short congratulatory note for students who had no comma errors. The other is a message where I tell students the number of comma errors and let them know that to get credit for the assignment, they must find the errors and fix them during the class time provided.

By keeping the scope of the paper and feedback focused and using the technology tools available, I can give specific, individual, and meaningful feedback in less than a minute per student, and the best part is that the deep focus on commas leads to more student growth in one short paper than a year of circling and correcting commas ever did!

2. Micro-Conferences

Conferencing is one of the most celebrated pedagogical tools, and there is good reason for that. It is a rare one-on-one opportunity to offer individualized instruction and feedback, fix misconceptions, build relationships, and give students the opportunity to be heard by a caring adult. Like written feedback though, the logistics of conferences can be daunting in most classes. My classes meet for 210 minutes each week and average 32 students. This means doing a five minute conference with each student takes over 75 percent of the class time that week.

While larger conferences are sometimes worth this time investment for me, I can only do so many if I want to cover everything else I need to do. Enter the Micro-Conference, which is a conference that is done in a fraction of the time (generally 1 to 2 minutes) by being focused and carefully structured.

One of my favorites is one I do around paraphrasing, which is another deeply important skill that students tend to struggle with. Here's how it works:

1. Students write a rough draft of a paper with paraphrasing, like a research paper, and bring it to class.

2. As a whole class, we read and discuss mentor texts with strong paraphrasing.

3. Students take out their own drafts, pick a page to work with, and then highlight each moment of paraphrasing they see.

4. They then rate their paraphrasing in their paper from 1 to 10, based on the mentor text we read, and write at least four sentences justifying their rating.

5. Once students have rated and reflected on their work, they call me over and we quickly conference. I generally start conferences by asking students to share their ratings and what they noticed when comparing their work to the example. We then use those thoughts to plan an actionable path forward together. My role in this is mainly that of the gadfly - asking questions and helping the student to orient in the right direction - and while I try to keep the conferences to no more than a minute, most generally wrap up naturally in that time without feeling rushed.

Like the Targeted Response, everything about these conferences is designed to maximize time efficiency. The students have already laid the groundwork and highlighted the paraphrased sections, allowing us to jump right in at a high level. Further, by focusing just on paraphrasing, a minute is not too short to go deep, answer questions, and figure out meaningful action steps forward for the student.

3. Wise Interventions

Wise Interventions is a practice that came out of Stanford and the University of Virginia, among others, and the idea behind it is that while shifting negative student mindsets, beliefs, and behaviors is often painstakingly slow, in the right circumstances it can also happen incredibly quickly. The key to these moments of rapid positive change is that if teachers can find the exact moments that fuel and perpetuate negative student beliefs/mindsets/behaviors and disrupt them, sometimes it can open students up to better alternatives in surprisingly little time.

Probably the most famous example of this was a study of Massachusetts middle schools that found that students did twice as much revision on an essay when they each received a sticky note on the top of their essays that read "I'm giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know that you can reach them," versus those who got a sticky note that read "I'm giving you these comments so that you'll have feedback on your paper."

The researchers theorized that the reason for why one sticky note-the product of no more than a few seconds work - would have such a large effect on student mindsets and behavior was that many students in the study might have felt the teachers didn't believe in them. Those narratives were disrupted by a note coming just at the moment they were preparing for teacher disappointment once again via the teacher comments, which in turn cleared the way for those students to put in more work.

I use a number of Wise Interventions in my classes, but my favorite with feedback is one called "I'm so sorry about the rain." It comes from Daniel Coyle's book The Culture Code, and the basic premise is that a study out of Harvard found that people were 422% more likely to let a stranger borrow their phone if the stranger prefaced asking for the phone by saying "I'm so sorry about the rain." The reason this rather banal comment about the weather led to a striking shift in behavior was likely that it was enough to signal a relationship, which changes nearly everything about how a brain responds to a request.

I have found that little personal things that take only a few seconds to write-like quickly referencing something a student said in class or an aspiration the student shared at some point-can often have the same effect on students, especially those who are wary of writing, and shift the attention and care they give to feedback on that paper and beyond.

By being focused and carefully structured, Flash Feedback allows us to make feedback a part of class that is as regular as the bells in the halls. It also allows us to teach many more personalized lessons each semester; gives us regular points of contact with students, which have been shown to improve performance and relationships; and best of all, can be done quickly, allowing teachers to break those shackles to student papers and take a day at the beach every once in a while.

Come back for more.
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Flash Feedback: How to Provide More Meaningful Feedback in Less Time

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If we want to provide timely, regular, formative, and meaningful feedback, we need to diversify our practices. These three strategies pack a lot of punch in very little time.

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Use these tech tools to boost engagement while also getting great feedback about what your students know.

Formative assessments are an important way to meet our students' learning needs. When we can see what our students know (or don't know) we can better adjust our teaching to meet them right at their level. Beyond giving feedback, the best formative assessments help students recognize and value the process of learning, not just the outcomes. These reflective, metacognitive moments can foster kids' genuine excitement, engagement, and lifelong learning.

There are lots of digital -- and non-digital -- formative assessment methods that teachers can employ. At times, something as simple as a show of hands, or a physical "thumbs up; thumbs sideways; thumbs down" poll can be just the right thing. But other times, it's valuable for us to get a closer look at exactly what our students are learning and comprehending.

Digital polls and quizzes are great for quick check-ins, offering real-time, whole-class feedback. Backchannels offer students the chance to ask questions and chat in real time during other activities like lectures, discussions, or even Socratic seminars. Discussion forums help students create a lively and productive exchange of ideas. A lot of tools use a combination of these features -- the best ones offer teachers the most control, with custom setups, detailed feedback, and moderation options. Here are some great digital formative assessment tools for the job:

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Fantastic Formative Assessment Tools that Give Great Feedback | Common Sense Education

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Formative assessments are an important way to meet our students' learning needs. When we can see what our students know (or don't know) we can better adjust our teaching to meet them right at their level. Beyond giving feedback, the best formative assessments help students recognize and value the process of learning, not just the outcomes.

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Create Effective Feedback With Education Technology - ViewSonic Library

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Effective feedback from learning comes from teachers responding to students work. Give and get better feedback with the right classroom technology.

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by Mark Barnes

Teachers may reside in a society driven by standards and high stakes testing, but this doesn't change the fact that the best way to evaluate learning is with formative assessment and narrative feedback. When evaluation becomes a conversation, students are transformed into critics of their own progress and achievement improves.

In decades researching more than 250 million students worldwide, John Hattie, author of Visible Learning, discovered that student self-assessment and teacher feedback impact achievement over the course of a school year far more than traditional assessment techniques. Assuming this is true, and it's difficult to argue with a sample of 250 million, teachers should be providing meaningful narrative feedback daily to students.
Digital Tools Make Providing Feedback Easy and Engaging
While many teachers readily admit that narrative feedback is a powerful means for evaluating learning, these same educators often struggle with providing feedback, because it's far more time consuming to write feedback than it is to simply place a number or a letter on a student's work.

Although providing detailed feedback will always consume more time than the simply giving outdated numbers and letters, there are numerous digital tools that make feedback less cumbersome for teachers and more engaging for students.
5 Web Tools for Feedback
1. Kidblog: Not only will Kidblog turn students into writers and self-evaluators, its comment section provides a powerful feedback platform, as teachers can leave private or public comments on anything a student posts. Plus, teaching students how to provide feedback to peers helps them become better evaluators, in general.

2. Schoology: Best known as a high-powered Learning Managing System (LMS), Schoology is, arguably, even better as a feedback tool. Like Kidblog, Schoology gives teachers and students the option to communicate in writing. Better still, Schoology has built-in media features, making audio and video feedback as easy as point and click.

3. Kaizena voice commenting: Kaizena (Japanese for "good change") is an app that interacts with Google Docs, empowering teachers with a variety of feedback tools. With Kaizena, teachers can highlight text and leave voice comments. Kaizena also has a wonderful module for uploading outside resources to a library. The resources library allows teachers to provide narrative feedback, followed by a link to teaching model. This is a fantastic time saving feature.

4. Voki: Known as an animated podcasting site, Voki is vastly underrated as a feedback tool. Creating avatars and giving them a voice does take time, but students love the interactivity of Voki. Ask your most shy student to evaluate her work with Voki, and she'll quickly come out of her shell.

5. Diigo: Most people know Diigo as a social bookmarking website and app. While it serves this purpose well, Diigo is undervalued as an excellent tool for meaningful narrative feedback. Students can bookmark and annotate websites with Diigo, and teachers can comment on this content. Like most of the aforementioned web tools, Diigo has an EDU version, so teachers can turn a classroom Diigo into a Learning Management System.

Providing daily narrative feedback is challenging and time consuming. Using a variety of web tools, though, makes feedback more meaningful and engaging for students and fun for teachers.
Mark Barnes is the author of Role Reversal: Achieving Uncommonly Excellent Results in the Student-Centered Classroom (ASCD, 2013), The 5-Minute Teacher: How do I maximize time for learning in my classroom (ASCD, 2013) and the forthcoming Teaching the iStudent: A quick guide to using mobile devices and social media in the K-12 classroom (Corwin, 2014). Mark is the publisher of the education and variety site, Brilliant or Insane and the acclaimed how-to video site for educators, Learn it in 5; image attribution flickr user flickeringbrad; 5 Excellent Web Tools For Giving Students Narrative Feedback

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5 Excellent Web Tools For Giving Students Narrative Feedback

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by Mark Barnes Teachers may reside in a society driven by standards and high stakes testing, but this doesn't change the fact that the best way to evaluate learning is with formative assessment and narrative feedback. When evaluation becomes a conversation, students are transformed into critics of their own progress and achievement improves.

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Formative Assessment Ideas

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A decade ago, English teacher David Narter had a revelation. One of his students had asked for extra guidance on her writing. She and Narter, a teacher at the Leyden High Schools, outside Chicago, sat down to review an essay of hers that he'd marked up. Narter started by simply reading his comments aloud. To his surprise, that process made a big difference.

In an article for the English Journal, Narter recounts how the student found his feedback more encouraging when he expressed it orally. As his student explained to him, "When I see the writing all over the paper, it just sounds like you're saying, 'You're a bad writer.' But now I feel like I can actually write this."

Feedback is a funny beast. We all need pointers on our performance, but giving and receiving feedback can be fraught with misunderstanding. Take red pens. Social psychologists and sociologists have found that, as opposed to blue ink, grading in crimson can lead to more aggressive critique. The recipients of these mark-ups, meanwhile, may see their teacher as less approachable.

Fortunately, some simple, creative changes can help. Although Narter could not provide one-on-one counseling to every student, he has found a way to simulate such tête-à-têtes to reach a larger audience: by replacing written comments with personalized, five-minute video reviews of each assignment. The videos, he has found, allow him to provide useful, big-picture commentary. They also keep students feeling motivated rather than deflated - and the task takes Narter less time than writing out his notes.

The implication, then, is that the more we know about a speaker or writer, the better we'll interpret his or her meaning. Riordan has studied text messages and email where, broadly, we struggle to communicate fully. In 2016, she found, for instance, that we tend to overestimate how well we share our feelings via email - even among friends. Happily, the study also hinted that this confidence was slightly more warranted when people have known each other longer. (It also found that people were more likely to accurately interpret negative emotions than positive ones.)

If a student doesn't know his teacher well, Riordan points out, it may be easier for him to misinterpret her feedback. What's more, without cues like tone of voice or facial expression, a reader's mood can easily color his interpretations. If a student is feeling anxious and distressed, it's probable he'll take corrections critically. (Thus, it's easy to imagine why Narter's student was so reassured by his spoken commentary.)

Of course, we receive even more cues when we communicate in-person. Mahdi Roghanizad, an assistant professor of management and organizational studies at Canada's Western University, has demonstrated that we're more persuasive when we make requests face-to-face than via email. He has also found that people are better at gauging a stranger's potential generosity when chatting in person, rather than in a video-to-video format (a la Skype). This in-person advantage disappears, however, when people wear mirrored sunglasses, obstructing eye contact.

Evolutionary psychology, he says, offers a possible explanation: "Our brain has evolved to communicate face-to-face, the more we go away from that specific channel, the less efficient we are."

That logic might also explain why online-only courses, including much-vaunted MOOCs, struggle to retain students. But could video technology enhance these courses by adding more human elements?

Another Chatham professor, Meigan Robb of the nursing department, is trying to find out. Robb teaches an online course to experienced, degree-holding nursing professionals. Yet, just like Narter, she's found that many pupils take away far more from a brief video than a densely edited manuscript. "I was pouring my heart and soul into [written feedback]," she recalls. But the students, she says, "didn't do anything I asked them to do."

To remedy that, she now combines written edits, audio files and narrated presentations to comment on her students' work, both at the level of individual assignments and their overall progress in the course. Although it's time-consuming, Robb believes the approach makes the class more engaging.

Back at Monash, Phillips reports that students in classes with video feedback seem to take greater responsibility for their work. "It's the only time ever that I've had a student apologize for failing," he says of a recent class in which he used video. He suspects the rich, individualized feedback helped the student form a more personal connection to the course. That may be a small fail for the student but a big win for video.
This story about video grading was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for our newsletter.

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Science of Learning: Has video grading killed the dreaded red pen?

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In the past few years, a handful of educators, working in different disciplines and various education levels, have made similar observations. Michael Phillips and Michael Henderson, education faculty at Monash University in Australia, have been experimenting with video feedback for years.

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high school

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Example Video Review  (AP Synthesis Essay)

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One of the most powerful aspects of Bloom's taxonomy is that it offers you, as an educator, the ability to construct a curriculum to assess objective learning outcomes, including advanced educational objectives like critical thinking. Pre-created Bloom's taxonomy questions can also make planning discussions, learning activities, and formative assessment part of this much easier.

For those unfamiliar with Bloom's Taxonomy, it consists of a series of hierarchical levels (normally arranged in a pyramid) that build on each other and progress towards higher-order thinking skills. Each level contains verbs, such as "demonstrate" or "design," that can be measured to gain greater insight into student learning.
Click here to download 100+ Bloom's taxonomy question stems for your classroom - and get everything you need to engage your students.
Bloom's taxonomy (1956)

The original Bloom's Taxonomy framework consists of six levels that build off of each other as the learning experience progresses. It was developed in 1956 by Benjamin Bloom, an American educational psychologist. Below are descriptions of each level:

Knowledge: Identification and recall of course concepts learned

Comprehension: Ability to grasp the meaning of the material

Application: Demonstrating a grasp of the material at this level by solving problems and creating projects

Analysis: Finding patterns and trends in the course material

Synthesis: The combining of ideas or concepts to form a working theory

Evaluation: Making judgments based on the information students have learned as well as their own insights

Revised Bloom's taxonomy (2001)

A group of educational researchers and cognitive psychologists developed the new and revised Bloom's Taxonomy framework in 2001 to be more action-oriented. This way, students work their way through a series of verbs to meet learning objectives. Below are descriptions of each of the levels in revised Bloom's Taxonomy:

Remember: To bring an awareness of the concept to learners' minds.

Understand: To summarize or restate the information in a particular way.

Apply: The ability to use learned material in new and concrete situations.

Analyze: Understanding the underlying structure of knowledge to be able to distinguish between fact and opinion.

Evaluate: Making judgments about the value of ideas, theories, items and materials.

Create: Reorganizing concepts into new structures or patterns through generating, producing or planning.

Bloom's Taxonomy for adjunct professors
Free Download: Bloom's Taxonomy Question Stems and Examples
Bloom's Taxonomy questions are a great way to build and design curriculum and lesson plans. They encourage the development of higher-order thinking and encourage students to engage in metacognition by thinking and reflecting on their own learning. In The Ultimate Guide to Bloom's Taxonomy Question Stems, you can access more than 100 examples of Bloom's taxonomy questions examples and higher-order thinking question examples at all different levels of Bloom's Taxonomy.

Examples of Bloom's Taxonomy question stems

Bloom's Taxonomy (1956) question samples:

Knowledge: How many...? Who was it that...? Can you name the...?

Comprehension: Can you write in your own words...? Can you write a brief outline...? What do you think could have happened next...?

Application: Choose the best statements that apply Judge the effects of... What would result ...?

Analysis: Which events could have happened...? If ... happened, how might the ending have been different? How was this similar to...?

Synthesis: Can you design a ... to achieve ...? Write a poem, song or creative presentation about...? Can you see a possible solution to...?

Evaluation: What criteria would you use to assess...? What data was used to evaluate...? How could you verify...?

Revised Bloom's Taxonomy (2001) question samples:

Remember: Who...? What...? Where...? How...?

Understand: How would you generalize...? How would you express...? What information can you infer from...?

Apply: How would you demonstrate...? How would you present...? Draw a story map.

Analyze: How can you sort the different parts...? What can you infer about...? What ideas validate...? How would you categorize...?

Evaluate: What criteria would you use to assess...? What sources could you use to verify...? What information would you use to prioritize..? What are the possible outcomes for...?

Create: What would happen if...? List the ways you can...? Can you brainstorm a better solution for...?

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Bloom's Taxonomy Question Stems For Use In Assessment [With 100+ Examples] | Top Hat

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One of the most powerful aspects of Bloom's taxonomy is that it offers you, as an educator, the ability to construct a curriculum to assess objective learning outcomes, including advanced educational objectives like critical thinking. Pre-created Bloom's taxonomy questions can also make planning discussions, learning activities, and formative assessment part of this much easier.

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Feedback Plan Template

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Copie de [Shared] Feedback Plan Template

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The practice of using single point rubrics is slowly but surely catching on. The simplicity of these rubrics - with just a single column of criteria, rather than a full menu of performance levels - offers a whole host of benefits:

Teachers find them easier and faster to create, because they no longer have to spend precious time thinking up all the different ways students could fail to meet expectations.

Students find them easier to read when preparing an assignment. With only the target expectations to focus on, they are more likely to read those expectations.

They allow for higher-quality feedback, because teachers must specify key problem areas and notable areas of excellence for that particular student, rather than choosing from a list of generic descriptions.

Want to Learn More?

I first talked about this type of rubric in an earlier post ( Know Your Terms: Holistic, Analytic, and Single-Point Rubrics). If this is the first time you've encountered this type of rubric, reading this will give you some background knowledge on all the different types of rubrics and why the single-point deserves world domination.

To give credit where it's due, I did not come up with the name single point rubric. Although the idea for a simplified rubric with a single set of criteria came to me independently, when I went looking for academic support for its use, I found that the type of rubric I had in mind was given the name "Single Point Rubric" in 2000 during a conference presentation by someone named Mary Dietz. Attending that conference was a researcher named Jarene Fluckiger, who published a study on its effectiveness in 2010. (The reference to Dietz is in Fluckiger's paper, but no one named Dietz has published anything on the topic.)

Show Us Your Rubrics!

I urge you to take one of your most convoluted rubrics and make a single-point version of it. Then show it to the world, so other teachers can learn: Take a screenshot of it and post the picture on Twitter with the hashtag #singlepointrubric. If you aren't on Twitter or don't feel like doing this, just put a link to your rubric in the comments below. Help us start a movement to rid the world of ineffective rubrics!

Another Variation (Added in 2017)

After considering some of the limitations of this format, I played around with the rubric a bit more and came up with this variation:

The original version of the single point rubric allowed no space for actually pointing out when the student hit the standard, apart from maybe circling or highlighting the middle column. With this format, teachers can pinpoint where the student is on each descriptor, then offer feedback, either constructive, positive, or both.

To grab a copy of this for your own modification, click here.

Need Ready-Made Rubrics?

My Rubric Pack gives you four different designs in Microsoft Word and Google Docs formats. It also comes with video tutorials to show you how to customize them for any need, plus a Teacher's Manual to help you understand the pros and cons of each style. Check it out here:

Stick around.
Join my mailing list and never miss another post. You'll get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration - in quick, bite-sized packages - all geared toward making your teaching more effective and joyful. To thank you, I'll send you a free copy of my new e-booklet, 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half. I look forward to getting to know you better!

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The practice of using single point rubrics is slowly but surely catching on. Try one for yourself and let us see it!

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75 digital tools and apps teachers can use to support formative assessment in the classroom

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We’ve compiled an extensive list of 75 digital tools that can help teachers use formative assessment to elicit evidence of student learning.

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Vol. 70

No. 1

Abstract

What Is Feedback, Anyway?

Feedback Essentials

Progress Toward a Goal

"But There's No Time!"

Advice, evaluation, grades-none of these provide the descriptive information that students need to reach their goals. What is true feedback-and how can it improve learning?

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Abstract

What Is Feedback, Anyway?

Feedback Essentials

Progress Toward a Goal

"But There's No Time!"

Who would dispute the idea that feedback is a good thing? Both common sense and research make it clear: Formative assessment, consisting of lots of feedback and opportunities to use that feedback, enhances performance and achievement.

Yet even John Hattie (2008), whose decades of research revealed that feedback was among the most powerful influences on achievement, acknowledges that he has "struggled to understand the concept" (p. 173). And many writings on the subject don't even attempt to define the term. To improve formative assessment practices among both teachers and assessment designers, we need to look more closely at just what feedback is-and isn't.

What Is Feedback, Anyway?

The term feedback is often used to describe all kinds of comments made after the fact, including advice, praise, and evaluation. But none of these are feedback, strictly speaking.

Basically, feedback is information about how we are doing in our efforts to reach a goal. I hit a tennis ball with the goal of keeping it in the court, and I see where it lands-in or out. I tell a joke with the goal of making people laugh, and I observe the audience's reaction-they laugh loudly or barely snicker. I teach a lesson with the goal of engaging students, and I see that some students have their eyes riveted on me while others are nodding off.

Here are some other examples of feedback:

A friend tells me, "You know, when you put it that way and speak in that softer tone of voice, it makes me feel better."

A reader comments on my short story, "The first few paragraphs kept my full attention. The scene painted was vivid and interesting. But then the dialogue became hard to follow; as a reader, I was confused about who was talking, and the sequence of actions was puzzling, so I became less engaged."

A baseball coach tells me, "Each time you swung and missed, you raised your head as you swung so you didn't really have your eye on the ball. On the one you hit hard, you kept your head down and saw the ball."

Note the difference between these three examples and the first three I cited-the tennis stroke, the joke, and the student responses to teaching. In the first group, I only had to take note of the tangible effect of my actions, keeping my goals in mind. No one volunteered feedback, but there was still plenty of feedback to get and use. The second group of examples all involved the deliberate, explicit giving of feedback by other people.

Whether the feedback was in the observable effects or from other people, in every case the information received was not advice, nor was the performance evaluated. No one told me as a performer what to do differently or how "good" or "bad" my results were. (You might think that the reader of my writing was judging my work, but look at the words used again: She simply played back the effect my writing had on her as a reader.) Nor did any of the three people tell me what to do (which is what many people erroneously think feedback is-advice). Guidance would be premature; I first need to receive feedback on what I did or didn't do that would warrant such advice.

In all six cases, information was conveyed about the effects of my actions as related to a goal. The information did not include value judgments or recommendations on how to improve. (For examples of information that is often falsely viewed as feedback, see "Feedback vs. Advice" above and "Feedback vs. Evaluation and Grades" on p. 15.)

Decades of education research support the idea that by teaching less and providing more feedback, we can produce greater learning (see Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000; Hattie, 2008; Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001). Compare the typical lecture-driven course, which often produces less-than-optimal learning, with the peer instruction model developed by Eric Mazur (2009) at Harvard. He hardly lectures at all to his 200 introductory physics students; instead, he gives them problems to think about individually and then discuss in small groups. This system, he writes, "provides frequent and continuous feedback (to both the students and the instructor) about the level of understanding of the subject being discussed" (p. 51), producing gains in both conceptual understanding of the subject and problem-solving skills. Less "teaching," more feedback equals better results.

Feedback Essentials

Whether feedback is just there to be grasped or is provided by another person, helpful feedback is goal-referenced; tangible and transparent; actionable; user-friendly (specific and personalized); timely; ongoing; and consistent.

1. Goal-Referenced

Effective feedback requires that a person has a goal, takes action to achieve the goal, and receives goal-related information about his or her actions. I told a joke-why? To make people laugh. I wrote a story to engage the reader with vivid language and believable dialogue that captures the characters' feelings. I went up to bat to get a hit. If I am not clear on my goals or if I fail to pay attention to them, I cannot get helpful feedback (nor am I likely to achieve my goals).

Information becomes feedback if, and only if, I am trying to cause something and the information tells me whether I am on track or need to change course. If some joke or aspect of my writing isn't working -a revealing, nonjudgmental phrase-I need to know.

Note that in everyday situations, goals are often implicit, although fairly obvious to everyone. I don't need to announce when telling the joke that my aim is to make you laugh. But in school, learners are often unclear about the specific goal of a task or lesson, so it is crucial to remind them about the goal and the criteria by which they should self-assess. For example, a teacher might say,

The point of this writing task is for you to make readers laugh. So, when rereading your draft or getting feedback from peers, ask, How funny is this? Where might it be funnier?

As you prepare a table poster to display the findings of your science project, remember that the aim is to interest people in your work as well as to describe the facts you discovered through your experiment. Self-assess your work against those two criteria using these rubrics. The science fair judges will do likewise.

2. Tangible and Transparent

Any useful feedback system involves not only a clear goal, but also tangible results related to the goal. People laugh, chuckle, or don't laugh at each joke; students are highly attentive, somewhat attentive, or inattentive to my teaching.

Even as little children, we learn from such tangible feedback. That's how we learn to walk; to hold a spoon; and to understand that certain words magically yield food, drink, or a change of clothes from big people. The best feedback is so tangible that anyone who has a goal can learn from it.

Alas, far too much instructional feedback is opaque, as revealed in a true story a teacher told me years ago. A student came up to her at year's end and said, "Miss Jones, you kept writing this same word on my English papers all year, and I still don't know what it means." "What's the word? " she asked. "Vag-oo," he said. (The word was vague!)

Sometimes, even when the information is tangible and transparent, the performers don't obtain it-either because they don't look for it or because they are too busy performing to focus on the effects. In sports, novice tennis players or batters often don't realize that they're taking their eyes off the ball; they often protest, in fact, when that feedback is given. (Constantly yelling "Keep your eye on the ball!" rarely works.) And we have all seen how new teachers are sometimes so busy concentrating on "teaching" that they fail to notice that few students are listening or learning.

That's why, in addition to feedback from coaches or other able observers, video or audio recordings can help us perceive things that we may not perceive as we perform; and by extension, such recordings help us learn to look for difficult-to-perceive but vital information. I recommend that all teachers videotape their own classes at least once a month. It was a transformative experience for me when I did it as a beginning teacher. Concepts that had been crystal clear to me when I was teaching seemed opaque and downright confusing on tape-captured also in the many quizzical looks of my students, which I had missed in the moment.

3. Actionable

Effective feedback is concrete, specific, and useful; it provides actionable information. Thus, "Good job!" and "You did that wrong" and B+ are not feedback at all. We can easily imagine the learners asking themselves in response to these comments, What specifically should I do more or less of next time, based on this information? No idea. They don't know what was "good" or "wrong" about what they did.

Actionable feedback must also be accepted by the performer. Many so-called feedback situations lead to arguments because the givers are not sufficiently descriptive; they jump to an inference from the data instead of simply presenting the data. For example, a supervisor may make the unfortunate but common mistake of stating that "many students were bored in class." That's a judgment, not an observation. It would have been far more useful and less debatable had the supervisor said something like, "I counted ongoing inattentive behaviors in 12 of the 25 students once the lecture was underway. The behaviors included texting under desks, passing notes, and making eye contact with other students. However, after the small-group exercise began, I saw such behavior in only one student."

Such care in offering neutral, goal-related facts is the whole point of the clinical supervision of teaching and of good coaching more generally. Effective supervisors and coaches work hard to carefully observe and comment on what they observed, based on a clear statement of goals. That's why I always ask when visiting a class, "What would you like me to look for and perhaps count?" In my experience as a teacher of teachers, I have always found such pure feedback to be accepted and welcomed. Effective coaches also know that in complex performance situations, actionable feedback about what went right is as important as feedback about what didn't work.

4. User-Friendly

Even if feedback is specific and accurate in the eyes of experts or bystanders, it is not of much value if the user cannot understand it or is overwhelmed by it. Highly technical feedback will seem odd and confusing to a novice. Describing a baseball swing to a 6-year-old in terms of torque and other physics concepts will not likely yield a better hitter. Too much feedback is also counterproductive; better to help the performer concentrate on only one or two key elements of performance than to create a buzz of information coming in from all sides.

Expert coaches uniformly avoid overloading performers with too much or too technical information. They tell the performers one important thing they noticed that, if changed, will likely yield immediate and noticeable improvement ("I was confused about who was talking in the dialogue you wrote in this paragraph"). They don't offer advice until they make sure the performer understands the importance of what they saw.

5. Timely

In most cases, the sooner I get feedback, the better. I don't want to wait for hours or days to find out whether my students were attentive and whether they learned, or which part of my written story works and which part doesn't. I say "in most cases" to allow for situations like playing a piano piece in a recital. I don't want my teacher or the audience barking out feedback as I perform. That's why it is more precise to say that good feedback is "timely" rather than "immediate."

A great problem in education, however, is untimely feedback. Vital feedback on key performances often comes days, weeks, or even months after the performance-think of writing and handing in papers or getting back results on standardized tests. As educators, we should work overtime to figure out ways to ensure that students get more timely feedback and opportunities to use it while the attempt and effects are still fresh in their minds.

Before you say that this is impossible, remember that feedback does not need to come only from the teacher, or even from people at all. Technology is one powerful tool-part of the power of computer-assisted learning is unlimited, timely feedback and opportunities to use it. Peer review is another strategy for managing the load to ensure lots of timely feedback; it's essential, however, to train students to do small-group peer review to high standards, without immature criticisms or unhelpful praise.

6. Ongoing

Adjusting our performance depends on not only receiving feedback but also having opportunities to use it. What makes any assessment in education formative is not merely that it precedes summative assessments, but that the performer has opportunities, if results are less than optimal, to reshape the performance to better achieve the goal. In summative assessment, the feedback comes too late; the performance is over.

Thus, the more feedback I can receive in real time, the better my ultimate performance will be. This is how all highly successful computer games work. If you play Angry Birds, Halo, Guitar Hero, or Tetris, you know that the key to substantial improvement is that the feedback is both timely and ongoing. When you fail, you can immediately start over-sometimes even right where you left off-to get another opportunity to receive and learn from the feedback. (This powerful feedback loop is also user-friendly. Games are built to reflect and adapt to our changing need, pace, and ability to process information.)

It is telling, too, that performers are often judged on their ability to adjust in light of feedback. The ability to quickly adapt one's performance is a mark of all great achievers and problem solvers in a wide array of fields. Or, as many little league coaches say, "The problem is not making errors; you will all miss many balls in the field, and that's part of learning. The problem is when you don't learn from the errors."

7. Consistent

To be useful, feedback must be consistent. Clearly, performers can only adjust their performance successfully if the information fed back to them is stable, accurate, and trustworthy. In education, that means teachers have to be on the same page about what high-quality work is. Teachers need to look at student work together, becoming more consistent over time and formalizing their judgments in highly descriptive rubrics supported by anchor products and performances. By extension, if we want student-to-student feedback to be more helpful, students have to be trained to be consistent the same way we train teachers, using the same exemplars and rubrics.

Progress Toward a Goal

In light of these key characteristics of helpful feedback, how can schools most effectively use feedback as part of a system of formative assessment? The key is to gear feedback to long-term goals.

Let's look at how this works in sports. My daughter runs the mile in track. At the end of each lap in races and practice races, the coaches yell out split times (the times for each lap) and bits of feedback ("You're not swinging your arms!" "You're on pace for 5:15"), followed by advice ("Pick it up-you need to take two seconds off this next lap to get in under 5:10!").

My daughter and her teammates are getting feedback (and advice) about how they are performing now compared with their final desired time. My daughter's goal is to run a 5:00 mile. She has already run 5:09. Her coach is telling her that at the pace she just ran in the first lap, she is unlikely even to meet her best time so far this season, never mind her long-term goal. Then, he tells her something descriptive about her current performance (she's not swinging her arms) and gives her a brief piece of concrete advice (take two seconds off the next lap) to make achievement of the goal more likely.

The ability to improve one's result depends on the ability to adjust one's pace in light of ongoing feedback that measures performance against a concrete, long-term goal. But this isn't what most school district "pacing guides" and grades on "formative" tests tell you. They yield a grade against recent objectives taught, not useful feedback against the final performance standards. Instead of informing teachers and students at an interim date whether they are on track to achieve a desired level of student performance by the end of the school year, the guide and the test grade just provide a schedule for the teacher to follow in delivering content and a grade on that content. It's as if at the end of the first lap of the mile race, My daughter's coach simply yelled out, " B+ on that lap!"

The advice for how to change this sad situation should be clear: Score student work in the fall and winter against spring standards, use more pre-and post-assessments to measure progress toward these standards, and do the item analysis to note what each student needs to work on for better future performance.

"But There's No Time!"

Although the universal teacher lament that there's no time for such feedback is understandable, remember that "no time to give and use feedback" actually means "no time to cause learning." As we have seen, research shows that less teaching plus more feedback is the key to achieving greater learning. And there are numerous ways-through technology, peers, and other teachers-that students can get the feedback they need.

So try it out. Less teaching, more feedback. Less feedback that comes only from you, and more tangible feedback designed into the performance itself. And, of course, send me some feedback on this article at gwiggins@authenticeducation.org.

Feedback vs. Advice

› You need more examples in your report.

› You might want to use a lighter baseball bat.

› You should have included some Essential Questions in your unit plan.

These three statements are not feedback; they're advice. Such advice out of the blue seems at best tangential and at worst unhelpful and annoying. Unless it is preceded by descriptive feedback, the natural response of the performer is to wonder, "Why are you suggesting this?"

As coaches, teachers, and parents, we too often jump right to advice without first ensuring that the learner has sought, grasped, and tentatively accepted the feedback on which the advice is based. By doing so, we often unwittingly end up unnerving learners. Students become increasingly insecure about their own judgment and dependent on the advice of experts-and therefore in a panic about what to do when varied advice comes from different people or no advice is available at all.

If your ratio of advice to feedback is too high, try asking the learner, "Given the feedback, do you have some ideas about how to improve?" This approach will build greater autonomy and confidence over the long haul. Once they are no longer rank novices, performers can often self-advise if asked to.

Feedback vs. Evaluation and Grades

› This is a weak paper.

› You got a C on your presentation.

› I'm so pleased by your poster!

These comments make a value judgment. They rate, evaluate, praise, or criticize what was done. There is little or no feedback here-no actionable information about what occurred. As performers, we only know that someone else placed a high or low value on what we did.

How might we recast these comments to be useful feedback? Tip: Always add a mental colon after each statement of value. For example,

"Good work: Your use of words was more precise in this paper than in the last one, and I saw the scenes clearly in my mind's eye."

"This is a weak paper: Almost from the first sentence, I was confused as to your initial thesis and the evidence you provide for it. In the second paragraph you propose a different thesis, and in the third paragraph you don't offer evidence, just beliefs."

You'll soon find that you can drop the evaluative language; it serves no useful function.

The most ubiquitous form of evaluation, grading, is so much a part of the school landscape that we easily overlook its utter uselessness as actionable feedback. Grades are here to stay, no doubt-but that doesn't mean we should rely on them as a major source of feedback.

References

Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (Eds.). (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Hattie, J. (2008). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. New York: Routledge.

Mazur, E. (2009, January 2). Farewell, lecture? Science, 323, 50-51.

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Advice, evaluation, grades-none of these provide the descriptive information that students need to reach their goals. What is true feedback-and how can it improve learning?

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Part of being an educator is having the skills to make hard concepts easier to understand, and the ability to make any student feel accomplished no matter how much they're struggling. It's all part of giving student feedback.

Proper feedback should enable and inspire.

It should make someone feel good about where they are, and get them excited about where they can go.

These strategies for helping you with giving student feedback could be things that you already practice with your students. If so, then they're merely listed here as refreshers and possibly new takes on old ideas. That said, you may also discover a tip here that you can use in your own one-on-one feedback conversations with students. If so, all the better.

7 Keys to Giving Student Feedback

1. Make the Student Feel Safe

Our students want us to know that they need to feel protected and supported in their learning environments. They want to do well and to succeed, and sometimes you'll find a student being overly hard on themselves when they make mistakes or didn't do something as well as they'd hoped.

Whatever the reasons for this may be, you're in the perfect position to provide comfort and solid reassurance that your classroom is not a place of judgment, but one of empowerment.

The student may need to know that they aren't in trouble, and may need guidance in realizing that mistakes are opportunities in disguise. This is the perfect time to promote the concept of useful failure among students.

2. Stress Teamwork

When giving student feedback, let them know you're working on this together, and that you're there until you both figure it out or get it right.

Sometimes all it takes is for someone to realize they're not alone in order to find a renewed interest in taking up the next step of the challenge.

In the words of Helen Keller, "Alone we can do so little, but together we can do so much."

It's more common than we think. When we believe we didn't do well, especially when everyone around us seems to be excelling, then alone is exactly how we feel.

As an educator, you're always there for your students at the best times and for the best reasons. Remain available and connected, and your students can draw strength from that.

3. Use Proactive Language

When giving student feedback, be constructive and encouraging.

Always speak from a standpoint of exploring what's possible.

This isn't to say we should ignore what went wrong-quite the opposite, in fact. It's simply a matter of rethinking how we talk to a student about what needs to be improved. This ties in with the next point, which is also about the language we use in giving student feedback.

4. Avoid Using These 3 Words

This topic is actually a bone of contention for many, so I merely share it here with you to keep the conversation on giving student feedback proactive. I've found that diligently avoiding these 3 words has allowed me personally to keep giving the most responsive and constructive feedback possible.

So here's what's worked for me ...

1. Avoid the word "should."Saying shouldor should have can have a psychological effect on the listener that's similar to how they would feel if they were being punished. On a subconscious level, it can be mistaken for a comparison to some imaginary standard (presumably set by someone better than we are), although we may have the best of intentions regarding its usage.

The minute a student begins feeling inferior or not good enough, we've lost them for good.

I've found the word "should" to be limiting and deconstructive in so many ways. If you can find a positive way to incorporate it, then by all means, do so. But I think it will surprise you just how easy it is not to use it at all.

2. If possible, also try to avoid the words "but" and "however." This is tricky. They seem harmless enough, but here's an interesting fact: they often tend to cancel out what comes before them in a conversation, and it's so subtle an effect that we don't even know it's happened.

The truth is, it wouldn't matter how positive or constructive what we've said is-the person we are speaking to can ultimately forget all of it right after we slip either one of these into the conversation. It sounds far-fetched, but it's actually been experienced by most of us without our even realizing it.

It comes in the form of statements like this:

"I really like what you did here, but..."

"This seems to be a really solid piece of work. However..."

An example of turning this around might sound something like this:

"I really like what you did here, and I think you're on the right track. Why not try adding/continuing with/trying this as well?"

Once again, I'd like to reiterate that consciously omitting these three words from feedback has worked well for me personally, and I expect many may not agree that it's a plausible strategy. If you like, I'd urge you to consider just experimenting to see if it makes a difference with your students.

I can only say that staying away from these words has worked wonders for how positively people are affected by my feedback. I haven't used them in my conversations in years, and I sure don't miss them. Neither does anyone else.

5. Ask Guiding Questions

When students believe you're expecting a specific or "correct" answer, they can be very slow or hesitant to respond.

Let them know that the focus is on them and that the student feedback is meant to be exploratory.

These kinds of questions are great when you want to encourage problem-solving and brainstorming, and engage higher-level thinking awareness. By asking guiding questions, you can learn more about where the student may be stuck or what they're interested in discovering in order to move forward.

Guiding questions such as "What do you think?" or "What's another way we can approach this?" invite reflection and engagement, and a chance for students to develop crucial independent thinking skills.

As the discussion rolls along, you can shift your perception into high gear. Look for nonverbal cues like nodding, frowning, fidgeting, or looking either down or someplace else in the room, all of which are indicators of the effects your questions are having.

6. Use Visuals

We are inherently visual learners, and images always have power in learning. This is especially true with our digital learners because of the pervasive visual media they are constantly immersed in.

A study published on Changing Mindsindicates just how much we remember when visuals are added to our learning experiences. Additionally, 3M indicates that employing visuals can increase comprehension by nearly 400%. If a student is struggling with understanding your feedback, it's a perfect opportunity to use diagrams, images, or quick sketches that relate to what you're discussing.

7. Check for Understanding

When all is said and done, the student is feeling much better about what they've done up to this point, and they are inspired to dive in again and make their project/assignment even better. With this in mind, it's a great time to check that the student fully understands what you've discussed and ask if there is anything else that needs clarification.

Asking these kinds of questions before the work resumes can be very helpful in hitting the mark with student feedback:

Does this all make sense to you?

Do you have any other questions or anything to add?

Are you seeing some new possibilities for how you can move forward?

As you continue to inspire your students with positive and empowering feedback, look towards developing your own unique approaches to add to your personal teaching toolbox. Happy learning!

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Giving Student Feedback: 7 Best Practices for Success

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Part of being an educator is having the skills to make hard concepts easier to understand, and the ability to make any student feel accomplished no matter how much they're struggling. It's all part of giving student feedback. Proper feedback should enable and inspire.

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contributed by Laura Reynolds

While assessment gets all the press, we often misunderstand effective feedback for learning.

When feedback is predominately negative, studies have shown that it can discourage student effort and achievement (Hattie & Timperley, 2007, Dinham). In my experience, the only thing I knew is that I hated public speaking and I would do anything possible to get out of it. As a teacher, most of the time it is easy to give encouraging, positive feedback.

However, it is in the other times that we have to dig deep to find an appropriate feedback response that will not discourage a student's learning. This is where the good teachers, the ones students remember forever in a positive light, separate themselves from the others.

A teacher has the distinct responsibility to nurture a student's learning and to provide feedback in such a manner that the student does not leave the classroom feeling defeated. Here you will find 20 ideas and techniques on how to give effective learning feedback that will leave your students with the feeling they can conquer the world.

20 Ways to Provide Effective Feedback

1. Feedback should be educative in nature.

Providing feedback means giving students an explanation of what they are doing correctly and incorrectly. However, the focus of the feedback should be based essentially on what the students is doing right. It is most productive to a student's learning when they are provided with an explanation and example as to what is accurate and inaccurate about their work.

Consider using the concept of a 'feedback sandwich' to guide your feedback: Compliment, Correct, Compliment.

2. Feedback should be given in a timely manner.

When feedback is given immediately after showing proof of learning, the student responds positively and remembers the experience about what is being learned in a confident manner. If we wait too long to give feedback, the moment is lost and the student might not connect the feedback with the action.

3. Be sensitive to the individual needs of the student.

It is vital that we take into consideration each student individually when giving feedback. Our classrooms are full of diverse learners. Some students need to be nudged to achieve at a higher level and others need to be handled very gently so as not to discourage learning and damage self-esteem. A balance between not wanting to hurt a student's feelings and providing proper encouragement is essential.

4. Ask the 4 questions.

Studies of effective teaching and learning (Dinham, 2002, 2007a; 2007b) have shown that learners want to know where they stand in regards to their work. Providing answers to the following four questions on a regular basis will help provide quality feedback. These four questions are also helpful when providing feedback to parents:

What can the student do?

What can't the student do?

How does the student's work compare with that of others?

How can the student do better?

5. Feedback should reference a skill or specific knowledge.

This is when rubrics become a useful tool (single-point rubrics, for example). A rubric is an instrument to communicate expectations for an assignment and a useful way to provide effective feedback for learning. Effective rubrics provide students with very specific information about their performance, compared to an established range of standards. For younger students, try highlighting rubric items that the student is meeting or try using a sticker chart.

6. Give feedback to keep students 'on target' for achievement.

Regular 'check-ins' with students let them know where they stand in the classroom and with you. Utilize the '4 questions' to guide your feedback.

7. Host a one-on-one conference.

Providing a one-on-one meeting with a student is one of the most effective means of providing feedback. The student will look forward to having the attention and allows the opportunity to ask necessary questions. A one-on-one conference should be generally optimistic, as this will encourage the student to look forward to the next meeting.

As with all aspects of teaching, this strategy requires good time management. Try meeting with a student while the other students are working independently. Time the meetings so that they last no longer than 10 minutes.

8. Feedback can be given verbally, non-verbally, or in written form.

Be sure to keep your frowns in check. It is imperative that we examine our non-verbal cues. Facial expressions and gestures are also means of delivering feedback. This means that when you hand back that English paper, it is best not to scowl.

9. Concentrate on one ability or skill.

It makes a far greater impact on the student when only one skill is critiqued versus the entire paper being the focus of everything that is wrong.

For example, when I taught Writer's Workshop at the elementary level, I would let students know that for that day I was going to be checking on the indentation of paragraphs within their writing. When I conferenced with a student, that was my focus instead of all the other aspects of their writing. The next day would feature a new focus.

Utilize this strategy when grading papers or tests to provide effective feedback for learning. This strategy allows you the necessary time to provide quality, written feedback. This can also include using a rotation chart for students to conference with at a deeper more meaningful level. Students will also know when it is their turn to meet with you and are more likely to bring questions of their own to the conference.

11. Educate students on how to give feedback to each other.

Model for students what appropriate feedback looks like and sounds like. As an elementary teacher, we call this 'peer conferencing.' Train students to give each other constructive feedback in a way that is positive and helpful. Encourage students to use post-it notes to record the given feedback.

12. Ask another adult to give feedback.

The principal at the school I taught at would often volunteer to grade history tests or read student's writing pieces. You can imagine how the student's quality of work increased tenfold! If the principal is too busy (and most are), invite a 'guest' teacher or student teacher to critique work.

13. Have the student take notes.

During a conference over a test, paper, or a general 'check-in,' have the student do the writing while you do the talking. The student can use a notebook to jot down notes as you provide verbal feedback.

14. Use a notebook to keep track of student progress.

Keep a section of a notebook for each student. Write daily or weekly, dated comments about each student as necessary. Keep track of good questions the student asks, behavior issues, areas for improvement, test scores, etc. Of course, this requires a lot of essential time management but when it is time to conference with a student or parent, you are ready to go.

Returning papers and tests at the beginning of class, rather than at the end, allows students to ask necessary questions and to hold a relevant discussion.

16. Use Post-It notes.

Sometimes seeing a comment written out is more effective than just hearing it aloud. During independent work time, try writing feedback comments on a post-it note. Place the note on the student's desk the feedback is meant for. One of my former students had a difficult time staying on task but he would get frustrated and embarrassed when I called him out on his inattentive behaviors in front of the class.

He would then shut down and refused to do any work because he was mad that I humiliated him. I resorted to using post-it notes to point out when he was on task or not. Although it was not the most effective use of my time, it really worked for him as a way to provide effective feedback for learning.

17. Give genuine praise.

Students are quick to figure out which teachers use meaningless praise to win approval. If you are constantly telling your students 'Good Job' or 'Nice Work' then, over time, these words become meaningless. Make a big deal out of a student's A+ on that vocabulary test. If you are thrilled with a student's recent on-task behaviors, go above and beyond with the encouragement and praise.

Make a phone call home to let mom or dad know how thrilled you are with the student's behavior. Comments and suggestions within genuine feedback should also be 'focused, practical, and based on an assessment of what the student can do and is capable of achieving' (Dinham).

18. "I noticed...."

Make an effort to notice a student's behavior or effort at a task. For example; "I noticed when you regrouped correctly in the hundreds column, you got the problem right." "I noticed you arrived on time to class this entire week." Acknowledging a student and the efforts they are making goes a long way to positively influence academic performance.

19. Provide a model or example.

Communicate with your students the purpose of an assessment and/or feedback. Demonstrate to students what you are looking for by giving them an example of what an A+ paper looks like. Provide a contrast of what a C- paper looks like. This is especially important at the upper learning levels.

20. Invite students to give you feedback.

Remember when you finished a class in college and you were given the chance to 'grade' the professor? How nice was it to finally tell the professor that the reading material was so incredibly boring without worrying about it affecting your grade? Why not let students give you feedback on how you are doing as a teacher?

Make it so that they can do it anonymously. What did they like about your class? What didn't they like? If they were teaching the class, what would they do differently? What did they learn the most from you as a teacher? If we are open to it, we will quickly learn a few things about ourselves as educators.

Remember that feedback goes both ways and as teachers, it is wise to never stop improving and honing our skills as teachers.
20 Ways To Provide Effective Feedback For Learning; A version of this post first appeared on opencolleges.edu.au;

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20 Ways To Provide Effective Feedback For Learning

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One way to provide effective feedback for learning is a 'feedback sandwich' to structure your feedback: Compliment, Correct, Compliment.

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Get Students to Self-Assess After a Quiz with Kahoot | Common Sense Education

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Check out this simple formative assessment tip designed to make the most of Kahoot. Go beyond quiz games and explore how Kahoot's polling and surveying features can get students reflecting, self-assessing, and figuring out next steps for their learning.

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Providing feedback is proven to increase student learning, and there are ways to make the work involved more manageable.

NuPenDekDee / Shutterstock

We know that giving students feedback works: In his meta-analysis, John Hattie found that it has an effect size of 0.7, which is beyond the "hinge point," or average effect size, of 0.4-meaning that it has a significant effect on student learning.

However, giving feedback can be challenging, and it's certainly a lot of work. We've all taken student assignments home over the weekend or stayed late after school grading papers. This may be necessary from time to time, but there are strategies we can use to reduce this workload by working smarter for our students.

Reducing the Feedback Workload

1. Recognize when instructional feedback is called for: Sometimes written feedback is not the best or most effective strategy for improving student learning. If you collect an assessment and notice that there are significant errors common to many students' responses, it may be more appropriate to correct these errors through reteaching.

This is instructional feedback-using student assessments as a tool to reflect on our teaching and reteaching the content in a new way. Instead of providing written feedback for each student, we can say to the class, "I noticed that many of us didn't do so well. Rather than give feedback on every student's paper, I'm going to do something different to help us all learn."

2. Promote thinking, but don't do the thinking: A common mistake in giving feedback-one that often takes a lot of time, and isn't the best use of that time-is providing it in a way that does the thinking for students, rather than pushing them to think and learn. An example of this is correcting every grammar or punctuation mistake in a paper-circling all the capital letters that should be lowercase, or correcting all of the end punctuation. The student is given the answer and isn't required to do any cognitive work.

Instead a teacher might verbally say, "I'm noticing many capital letter and punctuation mistakes." Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey refer to this as providing prompts and cues that guide student thinking. It's better for the students because it requires them to figure out where they're going wrong. And handing this work to the students takes it off the teacher's plate.

3. Don't provide feedback on summative assessments: This might seem counterintuitive-or perhaps even mean. We always want to support our students, so why wouldn't we give feedback on major assignments?

The key question when giving feedback is: Will it be actionable and useful? If an assignment is truly summative-an end-of-unit test, for example-students most likely won't have an opportunity to redo it or to use the feedback. If that's true, providing detailed feedback may be a waste of time.

But note that if you're going to allow students to redo the assessment, you should provide the students who will redo it with feedback that will help them learn the content better. You don't need to provide feedback to the students who will not redo the assessment.

4. Address feedback requests: Another way to work more efficiently is to have students request feedback when they need it, rather than giving feedback to all students. Students may request it at any time-even on a summative, when you don't ordinarily give feedback.

One teacher I worked with offered feedback conferences that interested students could sign up for. These were similar to the 60-second interview, except the teacher's intent was to give feedback rather than to check for understanding. She worried that students who really needed the feedback wouldn't sign up, and she was correct about that-initially they didn't. But as other students found the conferences to be useful, all of her students became more inclined to request one when they felt they needed it because the conferences provided "just in time" feedback. These took place during normal instructional time.

5. Focus on self-assessment and peer feedback: Instead of doing all the work, put some of the onus on students to provide feedback. In his meta-analysis, Hattie found that self-assessment or student-reported grades had a significantly positive effect on student achievement. Giving students assessment criteria and having them gauge their progress not only increases student learning, but also saves time.

Peer feedback can also benefit both students and teachers, while promoting a collaborative classroom and culture. It takes clear protocols and modeling to support students in doing peer feedback, but the effort is worthwhile.

6. Don't wait: Instead of spending hours in epic sessions of writing feedback on a full draft, provide it in smaller ways that are spread out over time. This is not only more efficient but better for students, who get more digestible feedback that is actionable and timely.

For example, instead of providing feedback or setting up a peer review session that covers all parts of an essay-from the thesis to the organization to the conclusion-give feedback in chunks. Do a peer review on the thesis and the introduction, and then later give feedback on the next body paragraph, and so on.

Feedback is powerful and is proven to increase student learning, and there are many strategies teachers can use to make it more effective and efficient.

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6 Tips for Managing the Feedback Workload

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Providing feedback is proven to increase student learning, and there are ways to make the work involved more manageable.

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7 Online Publishing Tools for Budding Bestsellers

These tools are among some of the most popular ones out there. There are a couple we haven't seen before, and a few are old standbys. All in all, each one offers a terrific platform for online publishing projects. Students can take a look and see which ones they'd like to learn more about.

Atavist

Atavist is a beautiful tool. It was founded in 2011 on the heels of what we once called the "death of longform." As you can imagine, it's highly visual. It's a drag-and-drop editor for creating beautiful online publications. You can view examples of what's possible here. And it gets better-check out Atavist for Education.

For the Students: Students have total creative design power here. They can submit assignments with visual flair. Get them doing presentations and online journalling with this tool. It also supports bigger writing projects. If they're feeling ambitious, they can promote and sell work if they wish.

Calameo

If students are looking to do magazines, Calameo is the tool to use. It's an online e-magazine publishing tool that lets you add multimedia and personal branding to anything you create. With one-click publishing, you can share it instantly. Websites, social media, and more all integrate with Calameo.

For the Students: This is a great tool for learning about design and layout for magazines. It's perfect for smaller writing projects, like a brochure or flyer design. Students writing for the school paper can link to custom publications. They can even promote their own series of e-magazine using Calameo.

Tikatok

This is a creative publishing studio for young children. K-6 kids will love Tikatok. They can use it to publish digital and printed books of all kinds. Tikatok was designed specifically for the K-6 classroom. It's media literacy-oriented and aligned with Common Core. Take a look at their subscriptions page for plans.

For the Students:Kids can upload their own photos and drawings for their creations. They can also take advantage of preloaded project templates for classroom lessons. Tikatok's digital library contains lots of ideas to get kids inspired.

Storybird

It's hard to find anything else on the Web quite like Storybird. It brings your words and global artists' work together in amazing storybooks. Be sure to check out the section for educators. Storybird is at work in hundreds of thousands of classrooms all over the world. It's free for educators, now and forever. Take a look at what's possible with this tool.

For the Students:Students can create storybooks, long chapter books, and poetry books with Storybird. They also have a fundraising program for students to get into. This is a great way to use creativity for raising money for great causes.

Lulu

LuLu was one of the first players that offered serious online publishing features. They established themselves in 2002 and they're still going strong. They've greatly expanded their interface over the last few years. Everything you need to know about doing online publishing is right here. They offer tutorials, resources, guides, and more to learn with.

For the Students:LuLu is a great information database for self-publishing. They can create all sorts of projects. These include print books, ebooks, photo books, and calendars. Check out this article on how graduate students are even using LuLu for publishing a thesis.

Flipsnack

Flipsnack is a flip book creator. It's as simple as uploading a PDF file. It also supports PNG and JPG files. It renders shareable interactive creations that can also include multimedia. Flipsnack looks great across all online platforms and social media.

For the Students: This is a simple way to create and share a publication that has a unique look and feel. Flipsnack lets students upload 3 publications of 15 pages each on their free plan. Paid plans are quite reasonable and offer lots more features.

Penzu

Online journalling is the focus of Penzu and it works well. Journalling is a great writing and self-reflective exercise. With a free online tool like Penzu, it becomes more appealing. The interface replicates an old leather-bound journal with lined paper. The basic formatting features are everything you need to get started. Upload photos to your journals too. You can also go pro for even more features.

For the Students:With Penzu Classroom, you can create class journals that can be graded and managed. Students can also submit diary entries by email. They can even receive comments from their teacher right inside the journal. Create and send assignments to students with a due date, grading scheme, and more.

Further Reading

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7 Cool Tools for Experimenting With Online Publishing

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These tools are among some of the most popular ones out there. There are a couple we haven't seen before, and a few are old standbys. All in all, each one offers a terrific platform for online publishing projects. Students can take a look and see which ones they'd like to learn more about.

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Teacher guidance can help students improve their performance, but it still takes work to get them to engage with and act on that advice.

We know that feedback enhances performance, and research indicates that it is most effective when it is timely and actionable. Yet many of us have watched students toss graded papers into the recycling bin without a glance at the comments. This happens even when students receive the feedback while there's still time to improve their performance-and their grade. It's therefore worth considering strategies that will foster student responsiveness to feedback, since the only feedback that really matters is the kind that is acted upon.

Offer Work That Matters and Explain Why

For students to be motivated to act on feedback, they need to understand why what they're learning is important. For example, if you task students with memorizing Lincoln's inaugural address, the parts of a cell, or a passage from Shakespeare, remind them that the more they know, the more they can learn. Show them how they can access previously memorized information and apply it as they read, debate, figure out complex ideas and problems, and make connections.

For example, as we examine what it means to be black in America, I intersperse throughout my lesson lines from Langston Hughes's poems "I, Too," "A Dream Deferred," and "Theme for English B" that I have committed to memory. Hughes's language offers a clarity that I can't accomplish on my own, and reciting it demonstrates the power of memorization to deepen our understanding and ability to convey meaning.

Whenever possible, we need to offer students choices that enable them to practice skills they're passionate about and explore topics that pique their curiosity. When students care about the work they're doing, they will not only be receptive to feedback but will ask for it. An aspiring writer wants to improve his expository piece, a future computer scientist to perfect her code, and a student artist to fine-tune his craft. In my English class, student coders create apps to illustrate poetic themes, artists design found poems through pencil drawings and pastels, and design thinkers build models that symbolize literary concepts.

Although these kinds of opportunities may not meet learning outcomes for every assignment, they create the conditions that support student responsiveness to feedback.

Empathize and Ask Questions

It is difficult for students-and the rest of us-to acknowledge mistakes. It's easier to crumple the graded paper, toss the rejection letter in the trash, or quickly delete the email than to accept feedback we don't want to hear. One path toward helping students respond to feedback begins with acknowledging a task's difficulty, expressing gratitude for their earnest attempt, and asking questions to help them identify their next steps.

We can frame our comments using warm, cool, and hard feedback. We would begin with warm feedback that sounds something like, "This was a really challenging assignment, but I really like the way you...." We can then follow up with cool feedback by asking a probing question designed to help students determine how they might improve: "If I read this aloud to you, can you identify whether your writing conveyed what you were trying to say?" This type of question invites students to collaborate in the feedback process and puts them in charge of deciding how to improve.

Lastly, we can provide so-called hard feedback, which challenges students to expand their ideas. When students are writing essays, I ask them questions like "So what? and "Who cares?," so they can consider the implications of their work and how they might exceed the goals of the assignment. These three types of feedback work well together, but it's essential that we only offer hard feedback once we've worked with a student and they know and trust us, so they'll be comfortable taking further academic risks.

Focus on Strengths

Students often receive feedback in the form of a grade, with tests highlighting their incorrect answers, essays marked to show how their thesis is unsubstantiated, and science labs noting their faulty reasoning and incorrect conclusions. Yet neuroscience research indicates that "getting attention to our strengths from others catalyzes learning, whereas attention to our weaknesses smothers it." The way we learn is by noticing patterns of what we do well and building upon those patterns.

To that end, we can cue students to notice the skills and habits of mind in which they are already proficient. They can then not only work to improve upon them but transfer them to other areas. For example, if a student is persistent and hardworking, you can ask them how they might apply those strengths to an area in which they need to grow. If a student expresses himself more clearly through speaking than writing, you can suggest that he try using a voice-to-text option to see if it results in further clarity in writing.

A guiding principle to remember is that feedback needs to be objective, individualized, and anchored in a student's performance. This way it exists separately from us, so students can draw upon it independently.

Although these strategies are helpful in increasing student responsiveness to feedback, author and educator Dylan William reminds us that "there is just no substitute for the teacher knowing their students." Knowing our students helps us decide when to push and when to back off. And, of course, students are always more likely to consider and implement feedback when they trust that we care about not only their academic improvement but also their overall well-being.

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Maximizing Students' Responsiveness to Feedback

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Teacher guidance can help students improve their performance, but it still takes work to get them to engage with and act on that advice. We know that feedback enhances performance, and research indicates that it is most effective when it is timely and actionable.

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Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

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February 2, 2017
Below is a collection of some of our favourite audio recording apps for iPad. Whether you want to capture an idea or thought on the go or you want to create to-do lists and memos, these apps will definitely make a difference in your audio recording experience. They are also ideal for recording lectures and audio notes, a feature which students might find useful. Some of these apps also provide speech transcription so you can have a written script of your audio recording. We invite you to check them out and share with us your feedback in our Facebook page.

1-Audio Memos

'Audio Memos is a professionally made audio recorder. It has an amazingly intuitive interface, which is easy to use and full of powerful features. Use it in interviews, lectures, music session, briefings, ... and simplify your recording tasks.'

'Perfect for Lectures, Meetings, Conferences, Interviews, Debriefings, Brainstorming, Quick notes, To-Do Lists, Planning, and more...Type, record, or type while recording/playing, also add in photographs and capture everything...Super Note helps you create notes very rapidly and make voice recordings during, as well as add photos. The notes are color coded so you can find them instantly and you can change the note color/category on the fly. You can also set future alert reminders on individual notes.'

In their review of Recorder Plus, iDB () featured Recorder Plus as one of their favourite audio recording apps. It provides a wide variety of features including:one touch recording, a user friendly interface, high quality audio recording, record and playback in the background and many more.

'It is a full featured best voice recorder application with stunning interface for business, audio professional, sound engineer, journalist, lecturer, school/college student and anyone else who needs to manage voice memos.'

'Just Press Record is a simple, professional audio recorder that brings the ultimate convenience of one-tap recording and instant syncing via iCloud to all your devices. Perfect for capturing ideas, thoughts and memos on the go.'

'Smart Record is a professional recording tool that enables you to assign notes and photos to your recordings, helping you to capture the moment and context, transforming the recording into transparent and organized piece of information.'

'This audio record manager lets you dictate notes and memos, as well as record meeting, lecture, interview, and day-to-day sounds. Time to free up your hands and get rid of the traditional note pad! Stop taking handwritten notes in a note pad and start audio recording everything you need -- from a to-do list to a critical memo with the use of speech.'

'iRecorder is designed to be quick and easy use, and simple to understand. Great for on-the-go capture of your thoughts, ideas, notes-to-self, lectures, concerts, music, you name it! Record for hours, or just seconds.'

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8 of The Best Audio Recording Apps for Teachers and Students

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February 2, 2017 Below is a collection of some of our favourite audio recording apps for iPad. Whether you want to capture an idea or thought on the go or you want to create to-do lists and memos, these apps will definitely make a difference in your audio recording experience.

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Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

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Over the last few months we have reviewed a number of interesting web tools and mobile apps teachers can use to collect students feedback. And as we have argued elsewhere, access to students feedback can positively impact both the teaching and learning process. On the one hand, it provides teachers with a discerning window through which they can assess their teaching methodologies, assess students comprehension, and based on gleaned insights, formulate working plans to meet students learning needs. On the other hand, the act of providing feedback empowers students with a voice, makes them feel valued and that their opinion matters and therefore engages them on a deeper level in the learning process.

In today's post, we are particularly focusing on two basic feedback gathering strategies: polls and surveys. We have curated for you some of the most popular web tools you can use to create various types of polls and surveys. In doing so, we have divided our collection into two main categories: education-focused tools which are basically tools that are primarily created for use within educational settings (yes, we included Google Forms in this category) and general survey and poll creation tools. Check them out and share with us your feedback in our Facebook page.

There is an infographic version of this post which you can access and download from this page.

I- Education-focused tools

This is definitely our best in this list. Google Forms allows you to easily create polls and surveys using a wide variety of forms and question types. It also lets you include multimedia materials into your forms such as images and videos. Its collaborative features enable you to work with your team to build a survey or poll together. 'Responses to your surveys are neatly and automatically collected in Forms, with real time response info and charts. Or, take your data further by viewing it all in Sheets.'

'Plickers lets you poll your class for free, without the need for student devices. Just give each student a card (a "paper clicker"), and use your iPhone/iPad to scan them to do instant checks-for-understanding, exit tickets, and impromptu polls. Best of all, your data is automatically saved, student-by-student, at plickers.com.'

'Kahoot allows teachers to create quizzes and surreys that include a wide variety of multimedia elements such as videos, pictures and text. Each quiz you create can be accessed by students across different devices . Also teachers have the possibility to create time-controlled quizzes. You can set a specific period of time for the answer of each question. In this way students are rewarded not only for the correct answer but also for their timeliness.'
4- Socrative

'Socrative is your classroom app for fun, effective classroom engagement. Quickly assess students with prepared activities or on-the-fly questions to get immediate insight into student understanding. Then use auto-populated results to determine the best instructional approach to most effectively drive learning.'

'GoSoapBox is a powerful, flexible, and intuitive student response system for educators to use in their classrooms. Leveraging web-enabled devices, teachers digitally engage students to conduct formative assessment and gain insight into student comprehension that was never before possible.'
6- Quizalize

'This tool allows teachers to create fun classroom exams or homework. Teachers can see the results live and easily spot students' strengths and weaknesses. The process to create a quiz is simple and easy. After you log in to your account (registration is required,Quizalize is free for individual teachers), go to 'Your Quizzes' tab and click on 'Create a new quiz'. Follow the instructions and type in your data. Once you are done click on 'Save' to save your quiz. To assign the quiz to your students click on 'Set Quiz' button and enter the name of your class. A unique code will be generated for you to share with students. The students can then go to www.quizal.me and input the class code and their name to access the quiz.'
7- Formative

Another excellent web tool to collect students feedback. You can use it to create various types of polls and surveys and track students responses as they happen.

II- General survey and poll creation tools

A good web tool to engage your audience in real time interaction. It lets you design interactive polls and surveys and deliver them live to your audience. 'Responses appear in an animated graph or chart embedded in your presentation. Results update live for all to see.' Poll Everywhere works in major presentation tools such as Powerpoint, Keynote, and Google Slides.

A simple tool to easily create polls to embed on your blog or website. Micropoll provides you with the tools to customize your polls, add various types of questions, and analyze audience responses.

Use Zoho Survey to create multilingual surveys that others can access from any device. You can use pre-designed templates or start your survey from scratch. Results are graphically displayed in real time.

Lets you create and deliver online polls quickly and easily. Just compose your questions, email or post the link to your poll online, and get results.

'Typeform allows you to easily create a poll that looks beautiful, and gets more responses...You can make a poll in minutes by dragging and dropping questions and adding design elements so that it blends beautifully into your brand. Increase the level of engagement and turn the poll into an experience by adding icons, images, GIFS and video.'

It allows you to create your own surveys, questionnaires, and quizzes. It offers a real time reporting dashboard that enables you to see results and statistics of your survey. You can share your surveys through a generated URL, embed them on your website or share them through email.

'SurveyPlanet offers a tremendous set of free tools for designing your survey, sharing your survey online, and reviewing your survey's results'. Some of its features include: custom survey themes with responsive layouts, images upload, multiple languages, pre-written questions, various question types, question branching and many more.

8- Free Online Surveys

'Create a full page survey with multiple questions, question types and pages. Advanced features like question branching/skip-logic, file uploading and more.'

'Create your own questionnaire with our fast and intuitive survey tool. We have a wide range of question types for you to choose from. You can add your own colors and logo to the questionnaire, use skip logic and much more. No third party software is required. You simply need your browser and a user account!'

10- Pollmaker

Another easy and simple tool to create and share polls and surveys. First, type in your questions and answers, select a theme or create your own and on the 'settings tab set options like allowing multiple answers, allowing voters to enter their own answers and much more. Next, click share and copy your poll Vote url to share with voters. You can also hit Embed to place the poll directly on your website or blog.'

Sources:
The 20 Best Online Survey Builder Tools (Zapier).
15 Good Tools for Quickly Gathering Feedback from Students (Free Technology for Teachers).
12 Great Formative Assessment Tools for Teachers (Educational Technology and Mobile Learning).
Teaching Tools: Surveys/Polling/Quizzes (Harvard Library).
13 Great free survey tools for teachers (Educational Technology and Mobile Learning).
Polling The Classroom: 4 Free Polling Tools to Keep Students Engaged (Open Education Database).

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17 of The Best Surveys and Polls Creation Tools for Teachers and Educators

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Over the last few months we have reviewed a number of interesting web tools and mobile apps teachers can use to collect students feedback. And as we have argued elsewhere, access to students feedback can positively impact both the teaching and learning process.