Making feedback more visible to students

[dfdimatt]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

For more information, please read through the  Canvas Release Notes (2021-11-20).

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I'm teaching a course using Canvas. This is the second semester I've used it. I like Canvas overall, but I've discovered that my students have a difficult time reading the feedback that I provide on their online assignment submissions because the feedback is split into three different locations, and when student view an assignment that I've graded, there is no visual indication of whether feedback is present, and no unified display of that feedback. I'd like the feedback to be visible by default, or else some kind of visually loud indicator present to show them there is feedback. Let me explain:

1. Say I grade an assignment that a student submitted. They go to the assignment, and can see straight-away a general comment on the lower right-hand side. That's visible by default. Fine and good.
2. But what about all the comments embedded in the document view? Those are not automatically displayed, and there is no marker to show that such comments have been embedded in the document. There should be at minimum a big icon saying feedback is embedded, for sure, so go look at it. Currently, "View Feedback" link is always present, regardless of whether feedback has been embedded or not.
3. Furthermore, the rubric grade is displayed in the upper-right corner, but the detailed rubric view is hidden until students think to click "Show Rubric"... yet even then, the written feedback that I have provided on each rubric criteria remains hidden from view! Students have to hunt for that feedback by clicking the easily-overlooked speech-bubble icon one-at-a-time for each criterion. But I don't necessarily write a comment for each criterion, and there is no visual sign or indication that a comment has been written or not.

How are students supposed to know and remember to check all of these various locations to receive the complete set of feedback provided by their instructors? It is utterly inefficient and defeatist because students don't seem to realize that all this feedback is sitting there waiting for them--and they don't know to look for it.

Now, from a student point of view, I don't want to have to click in so many different places to hunt (perhaps fruitlessly) for feedback that my instructor might or might not have left for me (since there is no indicator signalling the existence of written comments).

The fact that written feedback has been given within the submitted file and within the rubric should be foregrounded--it should be made highly visible to the students checking their grades. That feedback is part of the learning process. It is essential for students to read that feedback in order to improve their work. If they don't know it is there, what is the point?

Don't force users to guess and hunt for feedback. They won't do it. Make it obvious that the feedback has been given by putting some kind of big symbol or message next to the assignment doc (or by displaying the assignment by default so students can see that margin comments etc have been embedded in the file) and also by automatically displaying the rubric WITH the written feedback already visible. Don't make the students click in three hundred different places to get all their feedback for a single assignment. Please.

[elizabeth_berry]

I agree!  My students seldom get the feedback.  And I often have no way to know unless I have an actual conversation...OMG.

[worthiya1_yem]

I believe that making feedback more visible to students will greatly impact student learning.

Feedback is important because it gives students guidance on how to improve. Of course, students need to be able to find it in the first place. With all of the different links and buttons to press, an elementary school student can easily end up on the wrong page. With all of the feedback streamlined into one place instead of three, teachers will spend less time redirecting and students will have more time to learn.

Many students are visual learners. A symbol indicating that there is feedback available would be very helpful, as students at that age won’t be vigilant enough to check for feedback constantly in all three places. For many students, if they are not told directly, they assume that nothing is wrong or that there is nothing new. Especially in the digital age when people are constantly getting notifications for every app on their devices, students expect to be informed of anything important.

Again, I believe this would be a great improvement for Canvas.

[james10]

This is my biggest problem with Canvas. My students have no idea that I've given them formative feedback on their assignments. 

[cholling]

Not just elementary students. My higher ed students almost always have problems locating all the various tidbits of feedback. I agree that feedback streamlining is a needed improvement.

[krhughes]

In addition to "reviewing feedback" being a to do in Canvas for the student every time they get feedback, it should email the student as well with a link directly to the feedback (not the top assignment page, the actual submitted assignment with the feedback)

[meredith1_eyler]

Yes! I totally I agree. I try and leave detailed feedback for the students, especially where they can make corrections. The response is "why did I get this grade" They have a lot of trouble finding the comments, especially new users (AKA 9th graders who have not really been exposed to Canvas). Feedback is a part of the learning process and we as teachers are always highly encouraged to provide it and make it a priority, this feedback should be very visible to the student so there is no questions about "why I did get the grade I received?"

[jmerriam]

The new semester is upon us, and we're all still dealing with this issue...not only have I been forced to put a large-font statement in my syllabi (in the hopes that students even read them), I will need to make regular announcements during classes so my students can locate my feedback. I strongly encourage the Canvas development team to implement this as soon as possible.

[shorts]

One quick feature update that would alleviate a lot of confusion would be just to have the annotated feedback for submitted documents (The 'View Feedback' link) open by default when a student accesses the assignment page from the gradebook and such, to view their score and comments. 

We serve a large international audience and we have had to build our own resources to demonstrate how students need to click the light-grey link way over on the side next to their submitted document link. Needless to say, even with extra training resources, students are still confused as to where to find that annotated feedback because it is not intuitive and somewhat hard to find. 

I see no reason to not have that feedback open by default when a students accesses the assignment page.

This is a separate feature request but students and instructors also need ability to be notified when a comment is added in the annotated document. There is a notification for general comments on an assignment but not when a student replies to a comment an instructor put within the document. Without this notification, important conversations are lost.

in-line comments for feedback to students‌ annotation feedback individual response feedback feedback comment inline comment‌ annotated comment‌ speedgrader - private comments? #instructor comment

[mary_crawford]

If students submit multiple times, e.g., a first draft and a final draft, they should be able to see the comments on the first draft. Currently, the comments on the first submission are no longer available once they submit the next file. 

[Bobby2]

Yes, yes, yes  @dfdimatt . I love using the feedback tool in Speedgrader but the full potential of this opportunity is not being met if the students can't locate the feedback easily. K-6 would finding it particularly tricky, until the habit is established of course. 

I'm left wondering how much feedback I've missed out on receiving as a student in courses. I certainly know that a lot of the feedback I have given has gone unnoticed unless specifically pointed out.