Goals & Feedback

Evidence Based TeachingGareth Edwards

Staff Development - Sep 2014

Evidence Based - Focus your work

• What can I change about my teaching that is going to make the biggest difference to my students?

• Any teacher can try out new ideas, but the danger is we spend a lot of time trying out new ideas that don’t help our students.

• Given that college is a one shot deal for our students, we need to be really picky about the things we work on.

Feedback

Definition• Information about reactions to a product, a

person’s performance of a task, etc. which is used as a basis for improvement.

(Oxford Dictionary)

Why give feedback?

• Setting goals and objectives helps the learner see where they are going.

• Providing feedback shows them how far they have come on their learning journey.

Feedback• Research shows that:

1. Much of the feedback that students get has little or no effect on their learning

2. Some kinds of feedback are actually counterproductive

Difficulty!!!

• What is clear through the research conducted is that providing feedback is VERY difficult.

• Get it wrong and students1. Give up2. Reject the feedback3. Choose an easier goal

How do we give feedback then?

1. Give feedback that helps them move forward2. Reinforce the belief that effort leads to

success3. Ability is incremental rather than fixed

(Growth Mindset – Carol Dweck)

Smart is not something you are, it is something you get.

AfL

• Setting goals and objectives helps the learner see where they are going.

• Providing feedback shows them how far they are on this learning journey.

• Assessment for Learning (AfL} is an example of this.

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTFEEDBACK GIVEN TO A STUDENT WHICH INCREASES THEIR LEARNING.

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT A TEST OR TASK WHICH IS MARKED BY THE TEACHER AND THE STUDENT RECIEVES A NUMERICAL MARK, GRADE ETC…

What the research says…

• Research shows that summative tests have an overall slight negative effect on learning and should be used as little as possible.

• Formative Assessment is a highly effective learning device.

• Through your formative assessment you are trying to find out whether the student understands the task, question etc.

• By doing this you will be able to provide meaningful feedback which will help them move forward.

• To do this you need to create a classroom culture where it is okay to be wrong.

• Students should feel safe enough to make mistakes.• If they’re not making mistakes, they are not being

challenged.

Classroom Culture

Something to take away…Mini-Whiteboards• Gets all students engaged• Found out if they understand instantly• Ask a question, get students to write answer

and hold up• Quickly eye-ball the class• Quick and effective

Something to take away…

Traffic Lights• Everyone has 3 cups• Beginning of lesson• Signal to the teacher they are going too fast• Stop and ask a question

• Simple, low tech ideas• Ways to improve the quality of information

you get from your students.

Thanks for listening