Make your Grading Time More Efficient With a Feedback Bank

In last week's blog post I mentioned that I make use of a feedback bank when grading. I realized that this is not a topic I had previously delved into in this forum so I decided to focus this blog post on the use of feedback banks.

For those of you who are not familiar with a feedback bank, it is pretty much a table with suggestions for feedback for your assignments.

Before we get started, I want to caution you against arbitrarily using this feedback bank as a way of not actually reading student work. It goes without saying that this is an assessment process. It is likely that you will be making small additions and tweaks to each piece of feedback you provide. This feedback bank helps to standardize the common parts of the feedback you might give.

How to create a Feedback Bank

I typically begin with a 2 column table and list out all the assignments and due dates in one column. Then I consider the most common feedback I give for each assignment and create samples of feedback in the second column. I can then use this feedback when grading future assignments. I also create a template for the summary post I will create as an announcement to the class after all the grading is complete. Each semester I adjust the template, of course, but it is still much less time consuming than starting from scratch.

Another idea is to create a general feedback bank that you can use with any assignment. This type of a feedback bank can be used for common types of questions that address things such as poor grammar, formatting and timeliness. In the examples below, I provide general feedback stems that can be used with a variety of assignments.

Examples of Feedback you may want to include in a Feedback Bank

Feedback to stimulate higher thinking:

You may want to create a stem that highlights what a student has mentioned and then ask them to consider another perspective. A relevant piece of feedback you might include in your feedback bank might look like this:

• In your response you mentioned that _________. I wonder if you also considered ___________.

When I actually go to provide student feedback I can now fill in those blanks with appropriate feedback.

• Sarah,
  • You mentioned that therapeutic communication can help to foster rapport between the patient and the nurse. I wonder if you also considered the effect that therapeutic communication might have on patient decision making.

Feedback to correct a thought process:

You may want to create a stem that corrects or guides a student's ideas . A relevant piece of feedback you might include in your feedback bank might look like this:

• While you brought up some great points about _________, our readings this week indicate ___________.

When I actually go to provide student feedback I can might fill in those blanks with something like this.

• Edward,
  • While you brought up some great points about the limitations of qualitative research, our readings this week indicate that with proper design, sampling and analytical techniques, qualitative research can be just as rigorous as quantitative research.

These are just a couple of examples but I would encourage you to explore the different types of feedback you might be able to come up with in your courses. Developing an appropriate feedback bank that can be used to help decrease your grading time but is flexible enough that it can be tweaked is a great way to provide the individualized feedback our students deserve.

Want to learn more about feedback banks? In the October 2021 Innovative Online Educator Membership I present a Masterclass on Feedback Banks, how to use them and even provide you with a template that you can use in your own online courses! Join the membership today so you don't miss out on these great resources!

Can you see yourself using a feedback bank in your online course? Share your thoughts, experiences and ideas in The Online Educator Facebook Group by clicking the link HERE. Also, as a treat don’t forget to GRAB YOUR FREE GUIDE to the 3 Secrets to Teaching Online Successfully.