Key Takeaways
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Grades Stop Learning: The moment a student sees a grade, they tend to stop processing anything else on the page and focus on their ranking instead.
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No "Best of Both Worlds": It's a common assumption that giving a grade alongside a comment offers the benefits of both. In reality, the grade washes out the learning benefit of the comment entirely.
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Ego vs. Task: Grades trigger ego-involvement, a focus on self-esteem and comparison. Effective feedback keeps students in task-involvement, focused on the work and how to improve it.
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Focus on the Future: Feedback should look forward to the next task, not backward at the one just finished. The goal is always to improve the learner, not just the piece of work in front of you.
Learning Intention Achieved
By completing this module, you have evaluated the difference between feedback that triggers ego-involvement and feedback that triggers task-involvement, and identified where grades may be overshadowing the written comments your own students receive.
In the Next Module...
We've established that comments are more effective than grades, but simply writing a good comment doesn't guarantee a student will engage with it. In Module 2, we'll look at how to make sure they do, turning your feedback into something students have to think about, not just read.
