Providing+Feedback

Educational Strategy:
 * Providing Feedback **

Another key strategy is providing feedback. Feedback is extremely important, not just for monitoring student progress. Studies have shown that when feedback is used instructively, given in a timely manner, and provides multiple attempts at a task, it motivates students to meet the objective. There are many ways to provide positive feedback, including Audacity, Rubistar, and Moodle.

Technology Resources:

Audacity is a software program that allows users to record, edit, and mix sounds. There are several versions that can be downloaded from the Sourceforge website. Audacity is useful in providing feedback because it allows the educator to simultaneously view an assessment and provide feedback in a podcast. In the same way, a student is able to view an assessment and listen to the educator feedback. In my classroom, I already use this technology to create listening assessments, but I could also use this to provide feedback for speaking assessments. Students would create a speaking assessment, and I could make oral notations with the correct pronunciation for any errors that the student makes. The software is free, and can be downloaded at [|www.sourceforge.net]. Users may also need to download the LAME encoder, which is required if the files are to be converted to an MP3 file. Recordings can also be exported as WAV files, but MP3 files are more widely accepted in programs like PowerPoint, for example. Users can import files from an external source, but in order to make their own recordings, must have a microphone.



Most educators would agree that rubrics are an essential tool to providing feedback, but creating them can be time consuming and difficult to create. Rubistar is an online tool that provides ready-made rubrics, templates, and interactive rubrics that track student progress for various assessments. The software is useful for providing feedback because it gives a detailed assessment of the work done and a breakdown of the points given. I have used other rubric generators in my classroom, but not Rubistar. I usually make my own rubrics and distribute them to the students along with the project so that they can see exactly what the objectives are for the assessment. It also makes the grading uniform and non-subjective to have a guide when I am grading each project. Rubistar is free, but requires a site subscription. To use the Waypoint system, which connects the feedback to a CMS site, like Blackboard, the district must purchase a site license, and the cost is determined upon the district’s information. No other tools are necessary for using Rubistar.



Moodle is a course management system that allows educators to create assessments and provide feedback in a number of ways. Pages are set up for each course, and educators can edit pages to fit their individual needs. Educators have a large number of resources and activity options, including chat, forums, online lessons, wiki pages, and quizzes. The chat and forum options are useful for providing feedback because they allow the students to ask questions of both their peers and the instructor on assessments, and receive instant responses with the chat feature, and rapid responses with the discussion forum. Students can post an assessment and be reviewed by their peers or the instructor, revise, and submit an improved version. Educators can get feedback from students using the survey feature. Our district recently implemented Moodle, and it has slowly become more frequently used. I use the quiz option frequently, because the options can be edited to give the students instant feedback, and I can set the number of attempts each student has. For example, in preparation for final exams, I posted a series of sample questions as a practice quiz. I had the option of giving feedback for individual questions. At the end of the quiz, correct answers would be given comments, such as “Good work!” or “Excellent!” and negative answers would be given suggestions on what materials to review, and an encouraging note to make another attempt. To use Moodle, an administrator must set up an account, but the software is free. Moodle can be downloaded to various operating systems, and provides updates on a regular basis. An internet connection is necessary, and to use other features, educators may use microphones, headphones, and webcams.

Educational Challenge 4:
 One of the educational challenges described by NREL is challenge #4: “Reward with care. Students who are motivated only to avoid failure or to earn a certain grade rarely exert more than the minimum effort to meet their goal. Give prompt feedback and praise good work to help build students' self-confidence. “ (2005). Moodle meets this challenge by giving the educator the opportunity to give instant feedback on assessments, and create feedback that is more than simply “right” or “wrong." Feedback can be individualized, to provide an encouraging learning atmosphere.

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