Praising the student
Giving the students positive praise increases their ability and drive to do better on the next assignment or test.
Romanda,
Positive reinforcement is great and when combined with constructive feedback can encourage student to do better. Thanks!
People always respond favorably to praise. Everybody wants to be noticed in a favorable way. Academic encouragement must be intermixed with constructive feedback to facilitate student motivation.
Ed,
That combination of positive feedback, yet providing constructive feedback is key, but difficult for some instructors. Keep it up!
I think it is most positive with some students but I also notice that I have some learners who don't even need the external motivation. But I also see some who need the external - I giggle inside sometimes when I will put a Good Work! stamp on an adult learners work with some comments and then another time NOT put a stamp and they (I think jokingly) will say, Hey! where is my stamp? I love those! It is great when I can find what works as affirmation with adult learners - and it can reach back into their school days!
david,
Ha! It's amazing what people will do for a little praise. A stamp can go a long way! ;-)
Praising the student should be more than the constructive criticism. I find that when the student feels good for what they did correctly, the student is open to changing what was done incorrectly. Self-esteem is very connected to motivation.
Karen,
Praise is a good start in the feedback process, but then the constructive feedback can be added as well. Keeping everything connected to the objectives as well is a good thing. Thanks!
Enjoy praising but not just to praise. There is a different and I find wording is key. Saying something like, "thanks for that 2nd paragraph as it will help the students connect more in the discussion",or "your discussion submission has lots of "meat" so keep up the good work."
Little remarks and sayings, along with constructive criticism helps to get the point across nicely.
Maureen,
Yes - good point. We have to start positive, but include some constructive feedback as well so the students know how to improve. Thank you.
I know that when we evaluate student's work, we have a tendency to jump on the negative stuff. However, like most people, we like to be recognized for doing a good job once in awhile. This takes the sting out of the mistakes.
John,
Positive, constructive, and positive. Think about that feedback sandwich. ;-)
Thanks!
I agree, in that, a student naturally wants to please a teacher who appears to want the student to succeed. If a student only hears negative feedback, he or she quickly gives up, sensing that either they are not capable of good work OR that the teacher simply does not like them.
Giselle,
Negative feedback can "push the students down" instead of bringing them up. We have to help students learn how to improve. Thanks.
I try to give as much positive feedback as possible but I also try to be critical of student work from an industry point of view. I think the encouragement I give them first makes the student a bit more receptive to constructive criticism.
Zac,
Ah - from an industry point of view. This is great. It will help students connect course content to the workplace. Thanks!
This may work on some students drive, but it definitely doesn't work on all. I was first taught the sandwich method of feedback when training for my first online school; praise, coach, encourage. I quickly learned that online students need tons of spoon feeding that ground students simply does not need and that I had never even heard of attending ground campuses. It seems that you have to constantly praise because it is expected of you and go out of your way to get online students to do their work, which they should do without because they are racking up tons of student loan debt to get it. I have found that even with motivational poems and videos posted weekly along with tons of praising that is tough to get online math students to have more drive to go on to the next assignment. Of course, when you are adding that praise to an F on a math test, that takes some of it away.
Vince,
I haven't found anything that works on all students. Whoever discovers that will be a millionaire. ;-) We just have to keep working and use a variety of techniques to try to help all students. Thanks for your input.
Dr. Tena Crews
I agree. At times, it's easy to focus on those students who aren't doing well to try and help them improve their performance but positive reinforcement is just as important.
Cheryl,
Thanks for continuing the conversation. Keep your ideas coming!
