When working with clients who are new to online learning, we are frequently asked why we need to provide feedback for online assessment questions. They often feel that it’s enough to tell learners that their answers are correct or incorrect. From our experience with online learning and learner needs, we know that they need and want more.
Learners often have the following questions after answering an assessment question:
• Did I get the right answer?
• If not, why not?
• What’s wrong with my answer?
• What did I misunderstand?
• How can I correct my misunderstanding?
Feedback provides the opportunity to answer these questions and provide clarification. To provide effective feedback, we use the following guidelines:
• Provide feedback on the same screen that contains the question and place the feedback near the question.
• When learners choose the correct answer:
o Tell them they are correct and explain the main reason why.
o If more than one answer is correct, say so in the feedback and explain why more than one answer is
correct.
• When learners choose an incorrect answer:
o Tell them they are incorrect and explain why.
o For multiple choice answers, explain why the other answers are incorrect.
o Provide learners with a hint to the correct answer and let them try again. If they only have one try at the
question, feedback should explain the correct answer and explain why.
o Provide a link to the section of the course where the topic is covered so they can review the content.
Remember that in an online course, learners don’t usually have the opportunity to raise their hands and ask for clarification from the facilitator; feedback can provide the clarification learners need.
Darlene Ferras
Friday, February 18, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
Describing the Lemon
Many people struggle to put their thoughts into words, and yet the written word is an essential part of daily life (how many e-mails have you written today?). Whether it's writing a training manual or sending a quick e-mail, we don't always have the luxury of being present to explain our thoughts or draw a visual. The ability to accurately and vividly convey our meaning with written words is very important, particularly when you are trying to use those words to teach someone else.
If transferring your thoughts into writing is something that requires extra effort or time for you, consider trying the writing exercises below. By applying the task of explaining or describing to circumstances outside your usual work environment, these exercises may help you forget about all the rules and hindrances of writing and get to the art of really conveying your thoughts. You'll also benefit from immediate feedback from your reader, which isn't something that's always available. And of course, a little practice never hurts.
First, Do This
This exercise helps you practice accuracy by writing step-by-step instructions for a puzzle that your readers have never done before.
Select a tangram puzzle.
Review the solution to that puzzle.
Write step-by-step directions for placing the pieces into the solution shape.
Give the tangram puzzle pieces and your written directions to a coworker or friend (your "reader").
Without revealing the solution image, ask your reader to use your directions to complete the puzzle.
Watch your reader's progress and note where he/she goes wrong. Any step where your reader struggles is an opportunity for you to have been more accurate or clear. If your reader can complete the puzzle, you've been successful in laying out logical steps and guessing and addressing your reader's questions. If your reader can't complete the task, you need to reconsider the puzzle from your reader's perspective and try again.
Oh Lemon, My Lemon
Extremely accurate and clear writing can also be...boring. If you're writing something other than step-by-step instructions, you also want your words to have life and character, which is what this exercise can help you practice. This exercise also requires accuracy, but success relies more on vivid description than methodical detail.
Buy a lemon. (If you're doing this exercise by yourself, you'll need two extra lemons so your reader will have a selection. If you're doing this exercise with a group of people, have one lemon per writer.)
Take five minutes to study your lemon.
Take another 10 minutes to write a description of your lemon.
Place your lemon in a row among the other lemons.
After all the lemons are placed together, give the description of your lemon to your reader. (If you are in a group, collect all the descriptions, shuffle them up, and re-distribute to the group.)
Ask your reader to read your description, and based on that description, to select your lemon from among the other lemons. If your reader can identify your lemon, that means your description was vivid enough that the reader was able to see the lemon through your eyes, and could picture that lemon from your writing. If your reader can't select your lemon, point out your lemon and ask your reader where the description went wrong.
Too easy? Try giving yourself a word limit for the description of your lemon. Shoot for a paragraph, then try to reduce your words by half. Vivid and concise is the ultimate writing goal.
Jenny Beer
If transferring your thoughts into writing is something that requires extra effort or time for you, consider trying the writing exercises below. By applying the task of explaining or describing to circumstances outside your usual work environment, these exercises may help you forget about all the rules and hindrances of writing and get to the art of really conveying your thoughts. You'll also benefit from immediate feedback from your reader, which isn't something that's always available. And of course, a little practice never hurts.
First, Do This
This exercise helps you practice accuracy by writing step-by-step instructions for a puzzle that your readers have never done before.
Select a tangram puzzle.
Review the solution to that puzzle.
Write step-by-step directions for placing the pieces into the solution shape.
Give the tangram puzzle pieces and your written directions to a coworker or friend (your "reader").
Without revealing the solution image, ask your reader to use your directions to complete the puzzle.
Watch your reader's progress and note where he/she goes wrong. Any step where your reader struggles is an opportunity for you to have been more accurate or clear. If your reader can complete the puzzle, you've been successful in laying out logical steps and guessing and addressing your reader's questions. If your reader can't complete the task, you need to reconsider the puzzle from your reader's perspective and try again.
Oh Lemon, My Lemon
Extremely accurate and clear writing can also be...boring. If you're writing something other than step-by-step instructions, you also want your words to have life and character, which is what this exercise can help you practice. This exercise also requires accuracy, but success relies more on vivid description than methodical detail.
Buy a lemon. (If you're doing this exercise by yourself, you'll need two extra lemons so your reader will have a selection. If you're doing this exercise with a group of people, have one lemon per writer.)
Take five minutes to study your lemon.
Take another 10 minutes to write a description of your lemon.
Place your lemon in a row among the other lemons.
After all the lemons are placed together, give the description of your lemon to your reader. (If you are in a group, collect all the descriptions, shuffle them up, and re-distribute to the group.)
Ask your reader to read your description, and based on that description, to select your lemon from among the other lemons. If your reader can identify your lemon, that means your description was vivid enough that the reader was able to see the lemon through your eyes, and could picture that lemon from your writing. If your reader can't select your lemon, point out your lemon and ask your reader where the description went wrong.
Too easy? Try giving yourself a word limit for the description of your lemon. Shoot for a paragraph, then try to reduce your words by half. Vivid and concise is the ultimate writing goal.
Jenny Beer
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