Giving Student Feedback Using an Inquiry Approach
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Table 1. The role of student and professor in inquiry-based feedback
Students rely on feedback – whether qualitative, quantitative, or both; from peers, from you, or both – to understand how they performed on an assessment task. Crafting quality feedback takes thought and care from the person providing it. In this post, we’ll explore strategies for providing feedback to students through an inquiry approach: non-directive and invitational, this approach positions you as a curious audience to your students’ work.
Characteristics of effective feedback
Research suggests that feedback is often ineffective because it’s too brief, vague, or disconnected from what the learner understood they were to do in the assessment task (Adcroft, 2013, p. 139). By contrast, effective feedback leads to 1) an adjustment in learning behaviours and/or 2) a reinforcement of desirable learning behaviours. In other words, effective feedback prompts students to reflect on, adjust, and refine their learning approaches.
To prompt reflection and action from the learner, Adcroft and Willis suggest (2012), effective feedback:
- Clarifies what the learner is doing well – what they should keep doing or hone.
- Identifies gaps in the learner’s knowledge or understanding – for example, oversights, questions raised, and additional considerations.
- Develops the learner’s metacognition or self-awareness as a learner.
- Motivates the learner and supports their independent learning, including their ability to self-diagnose and solve learning challenges.
What is an inquiry approach to providing feedback?
An inquiry approach to providing feedback stems from inquiry-based learning, a broad term describing approaches to learning that are led by learner curiosity, question-asking, and problem-solving (Adcroft, 2013, pp. 139-40).
In inquiry-based learning:
- Professor and student are partners in creating the conditions for learning, but the student leads their own learning.
- Students drive their acquisition of skills, knowledge, and attitudes.
- Presented with problems and tasks, the student must identify their learning needs, pursue their curiosity, and take responsibility for their learning process.
The curious author, the curious audience
In this context, feedback is an iterative dialogue between student and professor:
| Student | Professor | |
| Roles | Mentee, independent agent, creator | Mentor, consultant, guide, facilitator, observer |
| Archetype | “The Curious Author” | “The Curious Audience” |
The purpose of feedback from the curious audience (you) is to raise questions, make observations, and extend invitations for the student to think differently. For example, let’s imagine a group of students delivering a presentation to the class has gone over their allotted time by almost 10 minutes. In your feedback, you might write, “At 24 minutes, the presentation felt long to me. I noticed I wasn’t paying as close attention as I had been at the beginning. I sensed others in the class were getting restless after the 20-minute mark. If you had to cut something from your material, what would you get rid of?”
In response to such feedback, the curious author (the student) reflects, and problem solves on what they might do differently in subsequent assessments. Ideally, such feedback provides the prompting and resources students need to develop confidence, awareness, and independence as learners. For clarity, it’s a good idea to specify how – or if – you expect students to respond to questions raised in feedback: Should they develop and submit a plan for revisions (graded or ungraded)? Consult with you during office hours to discuss further? Reflect and identify for themselves the next steps in a process?
Some considerations
An inquiry approach to feedback may not be suited to all learning tasks or learners. For example, the ability to follow a process safely and comprehensively might be better assessed using a checklist to verify accuracy and completion. It’s also important to note that an inquiry approach to feedback can favour more experienced learners, who may have more developed study skills and self-awareness than their less experienced peers. Likewise, those students who exhibit intrinsic motivation tend to be highly responsive to adjusting learning behaviours to improve.
Students who have been educated in systems that reward “right” answers and use directive teaching methods, including many GenZ and international students, may become frustrated and confused when encountering a series of questions in response to their work. Such students may not understand the purpose of the feedback or how to respond. It’s therefore important to consider the appropriateness of the feedback approach not only to the learning task, but also to the levels of experience and achievement of your learners.
Prompts for feedback
Consider adapting the following prompts to provide feedback in different contexts. You might keep your course learning outcomes handy so your feedback can specifically tie the assessment to outcomes.
Clarifying what the learner is doing well
- “I connected with . . .”
- “I appreciated that . . .”
- “Your observation that [specific item] made me realize . . .”
- “It was clear to me that [specific concept or effort] . . .”
- “I can see how hard you worked to [accomplish specific item] . . .”
- “I followed your ideas in that you [did what?] . . .”
- “This [section/part] is clear to me because [why?] . . .”
- “Your treatment of [topic] was comprehensive because I understood [what?] . . .”
Identifying gaps in knowledge & understanding
- “I’m curious about your decision to . . .”
- “Your observation about X makes me ask . . .”
- “When you say/do [specific action], I wonder . . .”
- “Your point about [topic] raises questions for me considering [related topic not addressed] . . .”
- “While you have included [something done well], I see that [component] is missing. Did you realize this oversight before submitting? How would you revise if you could resubmit this assignment next week?”
- “Tell me more about [gap/missing piece]. How would you explain this to me if I knew nothing about the topic?”
Cultivating metacognition & independent learning
- “What was the toughest thing for you about this assignment? How do you think that shows up in your approach to [topic/area] . . .?”
- “I’d like you to reflect on what you’ll do differently in [specific area] on our next assignment.”
- “It sounds like you’d like to do things differently in [specific area]. What might be your first step in changing?”
- “What’s something you’re wondering as we get ready for our next assignment? How might you answer this question or solve this problem as you prepare?”
- “What’s something you can do to support your learning as we approach [assignment, milestone in the semester] . . .?”
You might even enlist Copilot to give you feedback on your feedback with the goal of presenting students with non-directive and invitational responses to their assessments.
References
Adcroft, A. (2013). Enquiry-Based Feedback. Innovative Business School Teaching: Engaging the Millennial Generation, edited by E. Doyle et al., 139-150.
Adcroft, A., & Willis, R. (2012). Do those who benefit the most need it the least? A four-year experiment in enquiry-based feedback. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 38(7), 803–815. https://doi-org.conestoga.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/02602938.2012.714740.
