An excerpt from 21st Century Learner Experiences AQIP project communication

Plan to provide some form of early learner feedback to students in the first two weeks of the semester.  Providing early learner feedback to students helps to increase student success across campus.  Research has established that if students don’t know where they stand, they’re more likely to give up, drop, or just stop coming to class. 

Examples of NMC Instructors Providing Early Learner Feedback:

  • Faculty responses to this prompt included quizzes to start every class, peer-to-peer coaching prior to the quiz, immediate scoring of the quiz and discussion of the results.
  • Many faculty provide graded feedback within the first week.
  • Students do a brief writing on the first day and get feedback from me on the next class day (though this isn’t always a grade; it may be a paragraph or so of written commentary).
  • I have daily quizzes in lab class as well as lecture class, so feedback begins on day 2 and continues with at least 1 grade per day.
  • Students are given a progress report within the first two weeks of class with a discussion on how the progress report works and how students keep track of the grade.
  • My students receive a sample progress report the first week of class.   They will then receive a progress report every two weeks at a minimum, and more often as warranted, based on great accomplishments or below-average work.
  • I communicate face to face with students who are doing poorly or think they are doing poorly.
  • Graded homework is provided by the second session.

Your efforts can mean the difference between a student being successful and a student failing or dropping out of school.  We are called to “demonstrate respect, care, and empathy for students” as part of our professional responsibilities.  The techniques listed above, which many of our colleagues are already doing, help meet our long-standing commitment to our students.  The college has a well-deserved reputation for having caring instructors.  The examples listed above, and no doubt many others we’ve yet to hear about, are evidence of how we’ve earned that reputation.  

Last modified: Wednesday, 11 May 2022, 9:43 AM