In my School (School of Modern Languages, Newcastle University, UK) our feedback sheets just have one box for free text: 'Feedback comments and suggestions for improvement'. However, we also have three specific sections at the top of the sheet - Knowledge and Skills, Rationalisation, and Execution - with tick-boxes for 'Fail', 'Basic', 'Good', 'Very Good', 'Excellent' and 'Outstanding'. That's another way in which we can be more nuanced - we can easily indicate whether a student seems to have done the reading but not communicated it well / not referenced well / etc.
I seem to remember that at least one other UK university that I have worked at, if not both of them (Kent and York), had separate 'Things you did well' and 'Things you could have done better' boxes on their feedback sheets.
Damien
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Damien Hall
Newcastle University (UK)
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From: Teaching Linguistics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of TEACHLING automatic digest system
Sent: 20 June 2015 00:07
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Subject: TEACHLING Digest - 21 May 2015 to 19 Jun 2015 (#2015-21)
There is 1 message totaling 94 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. breaking the bad news
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Date: Fri, 19 Jun 2015 22:21:04 +0100
From: Dave Sayers <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: breaking the bad news
(I like the way I can search for this email thread by typing in 'breaking bad'.)
On Rob's point, do other institutions have this specific requirement to frame feedback in terms of 'good points' and 'areas for improvement'? For those who do, is it a troublesome constraint or a helpful nudge to be constructive? I know of one particular concern that it would make it more difficult to award very low grades, because the feedback would (superficially at least) generally look positive.
Sometimes you need to say that work is terrible!
Dave
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Dr. Dave Sayers
Senior Lecturer, Dept Humanities, Sheffield Hallam University Honorary Research Fellow, Arts & Humanities, Swansea University (2009-2015) [log in to unmask] | http://shu.academia.edu/DaveSayers
On 19/05/2015 12:09, Robert Lawson wrote:
> At BCU, our feedback sheets have two sections: Œthis is what you did
> well¹ and Œthis is how you could have improved¹. At least showing the
> good bits of an essay first goes some way to softening the blow of the
> more critical feedback.
>
> Rob
>
>
> Dr Robert Lawson
> Lecturer in Linguistics
> School of English
> Birmingham City University
> Birmingham, B42 2SU
> The Social Linguist <www.thesociallinguist.wordpress.com>
>
> Fulbright Scottish Studies Award, 2012/13
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 19/05/2015 11:57, "Dave Sayers" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> It's marking season... so let's hear your tips for how to break it to
>> students gently that their beloved essay or dissertation is actually,
>> well, a bit of a dog's breakfast.
>>
>> Personally I try to point out how each and every shortcoming could
>> have been improved (e.g. "Your analysis of the data was a little
>> impressionistic and could have been improved by performing a test for
>> statistical significance"). That way it feels less like a series of
>> complaints, more like a constructive dialogue.
>>
>> Of course, I'm seeing plenty of excellent work too, but it's much
>> easier to give students that message!
>>
>> Dave
>>
>> --
>> Dr. Dave Sayers
>> Senior Lecturer, Dept Humanities, Sheffield Hallam University
>> Honorary Research Fellow, Arts & Humanities, Swansea University
>> (2009-2015)
>> [log in to unmask] | http://shu.academia.edu/DaveSayers
>
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End of TEACHLING Digest - 21 May 2015 to 19 Jun 2015 (#2015-21)
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