Provide Regular Feedback

The switch to online also affected the feedback loop for students and faculty. Feedback in this sense is any information instructors and students provide each other on their performance in relation to achieving class goals or expectations.¹ It can include traditional, formal assessments such as exams and written essays, but can also include more informal opportunities for both students and faculty to check their understanding, reflect on their progress, and make adjustments along the way.

In an in-person learning experience, students and faculty can rely on those around them to guide their teaching and learning. One student said he missed this part of in-person learning. He said you lose the ability to just "lean over to your person sitting next to you [and ask] 'Hey, how did you do that?' and they would just take a couple of minutes and show you real quick." Instructors also struggled to get immediate feedback in online courses. One student said that his professor required students to keep their camera on because he hated "talking to a bunch of little black boxes." The professor likely wanted to be able to see students' reactions to what he was saying to guide his lecture. When things went online, however, the way students and faculty received feedback changed. Online education made it harder for them to quickly see how they were doing in a class.

Without many of the typical sources of feedback from in-person classes, instructors need to incorporate structured feedback opportunities throughout the course.² Historically, research has documented the importance of feedback for learning regardless of modality because it is a way for learners to identify misconceptions or areas for growth that would otherwise go unnoticed.³ Feedback is also important for students because it provides an opportunity to reflect on their progress in relation to learning goals and class expectations.⁴ For faculty, it can help them understand the student experience, how students are progressing in the class, and how they can improve their own teaching.⁵ Both parties can benefit from a structured feedback loop.

A quality digital learning experience has various means by which students and instructors can give and receive feedback. One method is by consistently monitoring student progress. Faculty can do this through traditional means of assessment, such as tests, quizzes, essays, and projects for which students receive a grade. They can also take advantage of online learning management systems (LMSs) to gain real-time insight on how students are performing that could go otherwise unnoticed in in-person classes. All of these data points can alert instructors if a student is struggling so that they can reach out and offer support. While LMSs were available pre-pandemic, many instructors did not use them due to lack of familiarity.⁶ The pivot to online served as an opportunity for faculty to embrace the platforms and tools they offer and integrate this type of feedback into their traditional face-to-face classes upon the return to normal.

Similarly, a quality online class should incorporate opportunities for students to reflect on their own progress. Effective online learning requires that students frequently reflect on their progress, make and adjust goals and learning strategies, and identify areas for improvement.⁷ Many students might not know that they should do this, or how to, so incorporating self-reflection opportunities is important. Self-reflection opportunities can vary. They could be as simple as an exit question at the end of a lecture or module or as complex as an essay about learning goals and challenges.⁸

Finally, instructors can incorporate opportunities for students to give feedback on different aspects of the class, like their teaching, how the class is going, or how students are doing outside of class. This opens an opportunity for instructors to make adjustments to ensure students are engaged and can succeed. Students can give feedback through surveys, during an assigned time in a synchronous lecture, or through questions incorporated into an exam. A student in our focus groups liked that his professor included this kind of an opportunity in a final. He said, "whenever you give a test or a quiz of some sort, one of your questions that is graded [should be] 'What do you like about what I'm [the professor] doing in Zoom and what don't you like about it?'…[The professor thought] it was the best thing ever." Faculty can also offer opportunities for check-ins with students individually or in small groups.