Marking & Feedback

As a tutor, you will be involved in marking assignments and giving feedback to students. Be encouraging and try to avoid being overly critical. Below are tips on how to give constructive feedback.

General Advice on Giving Constructive Feedback

Giving constructive feedback is important. Below are some tips on how to give feedback.

Tips:

• Be encouraging. When giving feedback in the form of commentary, be mindful of the tone used. Be encouraging through noting what is good and what can be improved on and how. 

• Balance the positive and the negative.  When giving constructive criticism, it's important to make sure you're presenting a balanced perspective, whether your feedback is ultimately positive or negative. It is helpful to be able to point out some positives in the student’s essay structure, use of language or output. For example, if a specific project doesn't meet expectations, you could frame the feedback by saying how you've been impressed with the student’s work in the past, which is why you know that this deliverable could be improved. It is important to be truthful - don't mislead the student into thinking their performance is better than it actually is - but giving the student a few positives to help motivate them can go a long way.

• Be specific. One of the best ways to give constructive feedback is to focus on specifics.  If there are errors provide detailed explanations and how it can be avoided or corrected. Telling the student that their work needs improvement, but not giving details on what exactly is lacking or how it might be fixed, isn't helpful - the student won't know what is required, so they will be frustrated and you most likely will not get the results you hoped for. 

• Don’t make it personal. It is important to distinguish a student from their actions. Focus on the issue at hand, whether it's a pattern or performance on a specific project, without making broader claims about who they are.

Below are tools that can be used for marking and giving feedback. Please note that you may have to use other tools depending on which faculty you are based in.