Providing timely feedback to students is important if they are going to be able to use that information in their next task. It also follows then that the feedback would be be best if it was useful for their next task. This finding has implications for how tasks are sequenced in a semester unit.  BSSS guidelines communicate the expectation that students will receive feedback on one task before having to submit the next task. The Quality Assessment Guidelines provide guidance on feedback and the basis on which feedback will be reviewed during quality assurance processes on moderation days. 

Here are some findings from research summarised by Teresa McConlogue, (2020).

• "If there is no opportunity to use the feedback immediately, it becomes irrelevant (Price et al. 2010)." (Immediately meaning for the next task.) 

• "Alternatives such as generic feedback and the use of peer assessment, which can decrease turnaround times, can often produce hostile reactions from students and thereby reduce its take up and effect (Wilson et al. 2015)." However, some cultures, e.g. Pasifika, South-East Asian, value indirect rather than personalised feedback , so consider your students. (Evidence Based Education, 2023)

• "Too few varieties [of assessment] can disadvantage some students. … Too many assessment varieties – blogs, vlogs, reflective pieces, quantitative lab reports, posters and oral presentations – may confuse students who need to have practice in different varieties of assessment (Gibbs and Simpson 2005). Good practice involves designing a range of carefully planned assessments, linked over a programme ."

Another consideration is that feedback is required to ensure that the grade and score is transparent to the student.  If students have concerns they can ask their teacher and head of faculty about it. As such, they need to have time to access appeals processes should they conclude it is necessary. 

These are high stakes assessments with consequences for students lives, so procedural fairness, which includes timeliness, is an expectation under the BSSS Policy and Procedures Manual.

Teachers spend a lot of time on feedback, so it would be good if the students understood it! However, research shows that significant numbers of students don't understand feedback they receive. 

• "Teachers spend a lot of time composing feedback which students may not understand or may not be able to use (Ivani et al. 2000; Price et al. 2010). "

Feedback should be phrased specifically as possible to ensure student understanding. "More analysis needed" won't help if they don't know what analysis is, and that's probably the case if they haven't done it in the first place. Instead note specifically the action that was required or the missing step in the logic, e.g. "More analysis was needed by noting and discussing the target audience for this source and how the content was manipulated to suit that audience." e.g. "You needed another sentence here that explained how this evidence is relevant to the question". Joanne Y Chan and Shui-fong Lam have highlighted that feedback should form part of an effort to build self-efficacy in the student. By that they mean that feedback that shows students how the disciplinary method works and provides points on how to implement disciplinary method, processes and procedures, or commenting on how to do things as well as success of the endpoint. (Chan, J.Y., Lam S, 2008). Similarly, Doug Czajka et al point out the vital importance of feedback on the conduct of the scientific method and generic science inquiry skills if students are to improve their work as science students and build the skills to do science independently. (Czajka, D et al, 2021) Good feedback will build self-efficacy and aid the student to improve.

Feedback should be targeted as advice for both that piece of work and for the next task. For example, "Continue this effective questioning of error in your next task" or, "For the oral presentation coming up, you will need to name your sources in the text to make the origin of research clearer than this to your audience." 

Check that students understand your feedback. Give them a chance to ask you about the phrasings you have employed. McConlogue (2020) suggests asking students to paraphrase feedback back to you to see if they actually get what you are saying.  Having students attempt to use feedback to improve a task can also be effective to support student learning. Phrasing some comments as questions for students to answer in a subsequent lesson is also useful according to Edgerly et al. (2018)

To activate student engagement with feedback try this. If the same grammatical/punctuation issue persists throughout a paper, rewrite one sentence for students, insert the reason for the change, and encourage students to fix the issue throughout the paper. This can be undertaken in a subsequent lesson to reinforce the feedback. Standard grammatical/ punctuation explanations might also be shared as a faculty and applied to individual student work.  Similarly, Edgerly et al suggest keeping a comment bank of useful phrasing about process and critical thinking, as students often need similar advice. (Edgerly, H, et al, 2018 )

Summative feedback that focuses on methodological or disciplinary processes is very valuable for building students capacity. However, for making it clear to students why they have been ranked as they have been, the amount of critique provided should reflect that grade and ranking. 

Drafts should not form part of a grade or score. The BSSS Achievement Standards are designed for completed work, not work in progress, as a draft is unlikely to get an A and is therefore an unfair assessment. That is, how can a draft be marked other than by comparison to the ideal finished product? What does an A grade or B grade draft look like in comparison to an A or B grade finished product? 

There are no Achievement Standards for drafts. 

Further, if you used a pass/fail condition, there is no jurisdiction wide consistent measure of a passable draft. Any decision would be arbitrary and appealable. 

In addition, any component of a task that is awarded marks or grades must be subject to internal and external moderation.  That means that any marked draft would essentially be another assessment item.  

Similarly, a grade or score should not be predicted when giving draft feedback, as it cannot be quality assured by others, and may be misleading if the students fails to carry out the suggestions adequately.

As an aside, Students should be encouraged to keep multiple drafts of their work in case they are called on to defend their academic integrity.  Or work could be written in document with a draft back feature. Though there are now add-ons that can simulate naturalistic composition in draft back documents. 

To maintain equity in assessment, all students must have access to feedback on drafts. Of course, some students may not take up that opportunity.  

Schools should have a clear and consistent policy for access to feedback on drafts and ensure that it is implemented equitably and consistently.  Not implementing a stated policy fairly could well be grounds for appeal. 

Good draft feedback is often best phrased as questions. This builds capacity in the disciplinary methodologies needed to work independently. 

Unless it is a language/communication assignment, teacher should focus on analysis, research and argument and not editing unless meaning is obscured. Teachers are not the sub-editor.  Instead provide students with techniques for sub-editing, for example, reading a work aloud and backwards one sentence at a time. Also, be aware some students turn off grammar or spelling checker because they are overwhelmed by the feedback. Encourage them not to turn it off.  If there is a significant error that interferes with meaning or the misuse of terminology, that should be corrected in an example sentence.  Please note that corrections to language or vocabulary errors are most readily understood by students in the context of sentences appropriate to the discipline, as they need to know how to use a word not just the word itself. 

AI can be used by students to provide feedback to themselves.  This may offer opportunities to build student capacity and self-direction. AI use is also likely to be a key work skill going forward.  Students need to learn how to selectively and intelligently use AI feedback to improve. It will not always be right. Equally, teachers cannot outsource a key teacher function to AI. Careful oversight will need to be maintained to ensure consistency and accuracy in feedback provided to students, for example, consistent with curriculum and school expectations. 

However, teachers also need to be accurately measure student capacity.  This will then set limits on how much students should use AI in getting feedback. Students could ask the AI for initial ideas, appropriate structures, for basic expression tips, or for cues for improvement.  There are a range of applications and websites that will provide that service. Students need to learn how to use them with academic integrity .

Your assignment should clearly set limits for the use of AI in composition, drafting and editing. This can be done by providing model prompts of explicitly stating what is or is not allowed. 

For example, "You may use the following prompt: 'Without rewriting or doing it for me, please suggest some ways to improve my writing.'  or 'Without rewriting this piece for style or concision, please correct any spelling, grammar or punctuation errors.' or 'Please suggest any major ideas or themes that I have missed in my argument'."