3.4 Providing feedback online

As you transition to online teaching, you may find your current feedback practices need to be adapted for the online environment. In classroom settings, students often receive spontaneous or informal feedback through informal interactions with the instructor, TAs and other students (Meikleham & Hugo, 2017). This informal feedback is important because it is intended to help the student “modify his or her thinking or behavior for the purpose of improving learning” (Schute, 2008, p. 154). In online courses, the opportunities for informal feedback are more limited. To supplement the lack of informal feedback in online courses, Meikleham and Hugo (2017) suggest the following:

Increase low-stake formative assessments such as quizzes that can be automatically marked by Canvas.
Provide opportunities for virtual meetings such as virtual office hours, synchronous lectures, small group meetings, where students can ask questions or get clarification.
Review the Course Analytics Links to an external site. data provided by Canvas and reach out to students who are less involved in the course.

What makes feedback effective

In education, feedback plays a critical role in student development, motivation, and satisfaction. However, not all feedback is effective to promote learning. When providing feedback, consider the following elements:

Content of feedback: Include explicit information about what aspects of students’ knowledge or performance did not meet the success criteria. Inform how they can adjust their current knowledge or performance to reach the desired goal.
Amount of feedback: Avoid overwhelming students with too many comments and prioritize feedback to important matters so students can understand where they should focus their future efforts.
Timing of feedback: Choose appropriate timing of feedback (how soon and how often; immediate vs. delayed) based on the learning goals, activity/assessment types and difficult levels, and learner needs. Feedback is most effective when delivered as quickly as possible.
Revision opportunities: Provide opportunities for students to reflect and use feedback. Students should have opportunities to incorporate feedback into subsequent assignments or their final product.

Adapted from Ambrose, Bridges, DiPietro, Lovett & Normal, 2010 and Shute, 2008.

It may feel as if giving regular feedback will be a daunting task. There are ways to reduce the workload associated with regular feedback such as using tools that can provide automated feedback, engaging students in peer-feedback, and providing feedback to the entire class instead of individual students.

Ideas for communicating feedback online

The principles of effective feedback remain the same regardless of educational settings, but the ways you communicate and provide feedback may need to be adapted for the online environment. Here are some ideas of how feedback (formal or informal) for different types of activities and assessments can be communicated to students asynchronously or synchronously.


Feedback	Asynchronous Options	Synchronous Options
Informal feedback to whole class	Broadcast via Canvas Announcement tool Links to an external site..	Announce during regular synchronous sessions.
Informal feedback for an individual student or a specific group	Send a message via Canvas Inbox Links to an external site..	Meet an individual student or a group of students during virtual office hours.
Formal feedback on individual or group assignments	For assignments submitted via the Canvas assignment tool, you can leave feedback in many different formats via SpeedGrader Links to an external site.. A rubric can also be added to a Canvas assignment tool and can be used in SpeedGrader.	Synchronous options are more suitable for informal, in-person feedback on the progress of student work.
Non-graded or low-stake quizzes	Consider providing automated feedback. Feedback can include details about answer choices and additional information about the topic assessed by the question.	Use the participation tools like hand-raising, chat functions, and polling deliberately to check students’ understanding and engagement during synchronous sessions and provide immediate feedback.
Informal peer feedback	Create student groups and have students use group discussions.	Use MS Teams or Zoom for class feedback groups. Create rooms so students can enter as a participant.
Formal peer feedback	Use the Peer Review Links to an external site. option in Canvas Assignments.	Use the breakout room feature in Zoom.