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Providing Effective Feedback
A Resource Guide for New Faculty
This guide is designed for faculty who are content experts developing their teaching practice. Resources are organized around three high-impact areas: building community and belonging, helping students understand why content matters, and closing class effectively. Each resource has been selected for its practicality and research grounding.
How to use this guide
- Quick wins (name tents, housekeeping slide, muddiest point, bridge statement) can be implemented in the next class session.
- Early semester moves (syllabus quiz, Brightspace announcements, WIFM hooks) are best set up before or at the start of a term.
- Deeper investments (recommended books, TILT framework, relevance maps) reward a weekend of reading and modest course redesign.
- Two books worth reading first: Small Teaching by James Lang and Why Don’t Students Like School? by Daniel Willingham. Both are accessible and evidence-based.
Section 6: Providing Effective Feedback
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Giving Feedback in BrightspaceThis video demonstrates how to grade submissions and add feedback in the Assignments tool. Use the assignment evaluation experience to provide feedback, annotate submissions, and assign grades.
Resource link: Grading submissions and adding feedback |
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Lead with what is workingLead with what's working, not as a "compliment sandwich" formality, but because naming genuine strengths tells students what to keep doing. |
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Share developmental feedbackDon't let feedback become purely evaluative (justifying a grade) when the goal is developmental (improving the next attempt).
Example of developmental feedback: “Your thesis right now says 'social media affects teenagers in many ways.’ That's a topic, not an argument. Try narrowing it to a specific claim you can defend, like 'social media use increases teen anxiety by removing natural stopping points in social comparison.' Once you have a sharper claim, paragraph 3 will be easier to fix, too. Right now, it describes what social media does, but doesn't yet connect back to your argument. For the conclusion, try ending on why your specific claim matters beyond this essay, rather than restating the body paragraphs.” |
