Get the Most from Instructor Feedback on Your Assignments

Criticism is an integral part of academic success. No one likes to hear negative criticism about their work; however, negative feedback is an excellent way to learn new skills and to help you demonstrate your ability to learn. Implementing feedback suggestions in future work shows that you are open to new concepts and ideas and willing to work hard to reach expectations. Unfortunately, many students react to criticism as if the feedback were a personal attack. Recognizing that criticism and critique are about YOUR WORK and not about you, helps students develop a good attitude about receiving critiques.

Students need to understand and accept the purpose and goal of feedback. The purpose is to instruct students on skills and concepts that need improvement. The goal is for students to study and learn the new concepts or new skills, and then implement this new learning in future work in the class. Read the feedback with an open mind, set it aside for a few hours, then review the comments and suggestions again.

Here are some helpful strategies for getting the most value from your instructor’s critique of your work:

• Make a list of your strengths and weaknesses. Generally, there will be a few comments about strong aspects of your work; however, do not be surprised if the feedback is mostly about areas that need improvement. If there are no suggestions for improvement on a particular concept or skill, then you can assume your work is correct. This would go in the “strength” list. Some instructors don’t necessarily give praise for work that is done correctly or meets the minimum requirements, but might do so when students go above and beyond to meet higher expectations. Review the assignment requirements and note everything that you did correctly in the “strength” column of your chart.
• Read and review carefully all the comments related to areas in which you need to improve. These may be related to expanding on the concepts or content, content organization, or writing skills. Add all these notations to your “weakness” list. For each item, write an example of the sentence, phrase, or paragraph that you wrote incorrectly.
• This next strategy is the most important. Look at each example and rewrite so that you are making the suggested changes and implementing the new concepts or skills as suggested by your instructor. Recheck this list often and check all your current work to be sure that you have implemented the new skills. This should be part of your proofreading process before submitting work for a grade. If you do not understand what needs to be done, contact your instructor.
• Don’t waste time waiting for feedback before starting your next assignment. Get the first draft of your weekly assignment written (discussion postings and writing assignments or homework) and then you’re in the perfect position to make revisions based on the critique of your previous work. After you receive your graded work with feedback and critiques, begin immediately to work on reviewing comments, making lists of your strengths and weaknesses, and implementing the necessary corrections on the current week’s assignment. Give yourself at least 3 days before the due date so you can request assistance and receive additional instruction as needed.
• When requesting help, asking specific questions and providing examples streamlines the communication process. When students ask for help, instructors really appreciate a list of one or two specific items, your original writing that warranted the critique, and also your attempt at correcting the errors. This helps the instructor quickly determine the areas of misunderstanding that need to be addressed and locate additional resources to help with your understanding.

Instructors welcome questions when students don’t understand feedback and critiques and they can help you in a variety of ways. Sometimes an instructor may suggest taking advantage of the writing center or tutoring services if you need additional and ongoing help. Usually the instructor will recommend several specific learning resources available in the course, writing center, or online. Using the feedback and resources from your instructor will help you improve academic work and, of course, improve your grades as well.

What kind of feedback have you received about your work that you found most helpful?