This week, I was walking from lunch duty to my classroom behind two 8th grade girls. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I was only a couple of feet behind them while they talked about a test they had just gotten. "I got a 94," one of them said. "I wish I knew what I missed. We never get things back anymore, so I don't know what I got wrong."
Last week, I talked about the importance of feedback in helping students learn. This week, let's address how much more difficult it is to do digitally for some things.
If the assignment is very short, you can make a comment on your LMS or reply to an email relatively quickly. If it is answers to a multiple choice test, it is likely the online system you are using has the option of showing them what they got wrong and what the right answer was (That's not really the same as feedback, but it gives them something).
The problem comes from trying to give feedback on complex or partially subjective things. Where I used to be able to write in the margin of a NASA essay, that is hard to manage if the student is joining virtually. At the time of that essay, I only had three 8th grade students that were fully virtual, so I still did it that way, then scanned their essays, and emailed them. That wouldn't have been feasible with more virtual students because it was rather time consuming, but it worked for those three at that time. Where I have had the most trouble has been on the free response questions of tests. For the multiple choice part, GoFormative has done it for me by giving me the right answer and allowing me to comment on each individual question. For more complex free response questions, I have asked kids to make FlipGrid videos for their answers. While I can give feedback directly in there as well, it is awkward for mathematical processes in a way that writing directly next to the problem area was not. I also know that, while students need feedback, they don't like reading it. Having it in two separate places means they have to work to find it, which the girl in the hallways is likely to do, but those with less motivation are not.
I haven't solved this problem. I've tried it in a few ways (email, grade explanation sheet sent to them, LMS comments) during this crazy year, but I feel like I haven't given truly high quality feedback all year. It's important enough to keep looking for a good way, but I haven't found it yet.
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