Beyond the Rubric with Individualized Feedback

One of big questions we must ask ourselves as teachers when grading writing is “how much feedback should I give each student?”. As Karly and Jen discussed in their post, rubrics are an incredibly helpful tool for providing feedback about various aspects of student writing. Depending on the goal of the writing assignment, the size of the class, and your workload, rubrics may not be the only way you give feedback. Today I’ll share some of my personal approaches for giving more detailed feedback as well as some strategies that others have shared with me. 

---

As I shared in the intro to my contribution to last week’s focus on writing assignments, I have recently committed to providing more writing opportunities and thus more opportunities for my students to get writing feedback and to incorporate that feedback into future assignments. To manage that grading, here are three things that I have done:
​

• Provide significant feedback on the first one or two assignments and then ratchet down as the semester progresses. On the very first essay exam or reflection, I spend several hours grading the 30ish assignments. I use track changes and comment features on Word to provide suggestions for phrasing, correct grammar, and point out where more details need to be provided. When the second assignment comes along, I generally see improvements, so less feedback is needed. By the third assignment, students who review the feedback and incorporate it need much less guidance. Students who have not reviewed the feedback will likely never review the feedback so there is no sense in repeating the same suggestions again and again (that said, any student who wants additional feedback can request it and I suggest either a one-on-one meeting or a visit to the writing center). By this point, I also have a good sense of the common mistakes and can address those to the class as a whole. I haven’t incorporated any kind of peer review into this process yet, but this would be a good time to review sample answers and discuss what makes them good or not so good. The great thing about this strategy is that early in semester I tend to have more time to dedicate to grading; I have fewer meetings and am usually still ahead in course prep. As the other parts of academic life begin to increase, the feedback load lessens.

​

• Find an app/add-in/software to assist in electronic commenting. For a long time I preferred to grade papers in hard copy. This is an easy way to grade because you can take papers with you to meetings (if that is your style) or home or to class when students are watching a film. However, it prolongs the grading process because you have to hand write comments. This is especially tedious if you find yourself making the same comments over and over. Research shows that electronic feedback (e.g., edited word doc) tends to be better because comments were more exhaustive (see Jen’s summary of that research here). The great thing about electronic feedback is that there are several different methods for keeping electronic comments so you can save time when you are repeating comments. This January I went looking for such as program on Twitter and below you can see the responses I received. I ended up with Ditto because it is free (See Sue Frantz’s review of Ditto here). I have been using it for about a month and a half and have found it incredibly useful for productivity in general, but especially for grading. ​

• ​Break larger assignments into smaller sections. This is common practice in teaching writing generally, but still worth mentioning. For larger research papers (5+ pages) it is helpful to break up the assignment for several reasons. First, it forces students to better manage their time. There are no last minute papers if students must submit bibliographies, outlines, and rough drafts throughout the semester. Second, it allows you to focus on different aspects of their assignments when grading. For example focusing on identifying good resources, then on the structure of their arguments and basic content, and then on the delivery of the content. Having different focuses shortens the time you have to spend on grading each portion and the final product. 

​Finally, here are some other strategies that I have heard about.
 

• Provide audio feedback. This personalizes the message (especially important in an online class where the student doesn’t get face time with you) and allows for you to record your thoughts as you work through the assignment.
• Triage writing skills. At one of the NITOPs I attended (I think it was in 2018) a professor shared that her approach to individualized feedback was based in part on the grade the student received. Unfortunately I don’t have all of the details to share (email or comment if you remember and can provide more info; I would love to provide credit) but here is the gist: students who did poorly (D or F) automatically received the highest level of feedback; students who received a middling grade received general feedback; and A students did not receive individualized feedback. At any point, any student could request higher level feedback. Regardless of the details, the point with this method is to provide significant feedback to those who need it and/or want it, and save time on those who do not need or want it.  

 
What strategies do you use to provide individualized feedback beyond the rubric?
 
Written by Ciara Kidder