As many of us struggle to build viable relationships with our students while continuing to navigate the vagaries of pandemic restrictions, it might be a good time to revisit one of the core opportunities for student-instructor interaction: grading and individualized feedback.
Given the structure of current state-of-the-art learning management systems (LMSs), instructors have great flexibility to provide individualized feedback in a variety of forms including audio or video commentary.
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Potentially the first and most important facet to ensure providing feedback is timeliness. There is no single best timeframe in which to provide feedback other than to ensure students know when to expect to receive it.
One good rule of thumb is to try to grade materials in the same amount of time in which students had to complete the assignment. So, if they had a week to submit the assignment, try to return materials within a week. If that is not practical, make sure students know when they should expect feedback. Beyond that, keeping grades up to date within the LMS so students can keep abreast of their status within the course is also important. One of the largest and loudest complaints students have of professors seems to be a lack of timely grade reporting.
Baule’s scholarly interests focus on online student engagement, educational technology-- particularly the impact of 1:1 implementations, social-emotional learning, and the history of education. Baule led several efforts to improve student emotional health and reduce discipline issues prior to moving into higher education. He also writes on aspects of early American history.
Baule has held memberships in the American Association of School Administrators, the American Library Association, the American Association of School Librarians, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the Consortium for School Networking, the International Association of School Librarians, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the National Staff Development Council, and many of their state affiliates. He has served as a consultant in the areas of educational technology, facilities design, library program development, team building, and communications.
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