How to Train Students to Reflect on Feedback

Too often, offering students feedback is an exercise in compliance. The professor offers feedback, and expects the students to incorporate all of it. (It’s like the professor is giving items on a checklist. The subtext: “do these things and I’ll give you an A.”) But I want my students to think about feedback differently. I want them to be able to cut between different sets of feedback, connecting them to each other and linking them back to their own understanding. With that in mind… Here’s the feedback cycle I’ve designed for my Comp II students at Berkeley. 1️⃣ Self-Assessment Students use their own self-designed rubric to evaluate their own performance. 2️⃣ Peer Assessment Students get feedback and assessment from other students. 3️⃣ Instructor Assessment I’ll offer feedback on the assignment. 4️⃣ AI Assessment Students get feedback from a custom chatbot. I will be incorporating some of Anna Mills’s prompts for the PAIRR framework. 5️⃣ Assessment Assessment (or Reflection) Students apply the different assessments to their own self-assessment. They defend their ultimate edits within the context of their Self-Empowering Writing Process (SEWP).

One of the ways I'm incorporating #AI in the feedback loop for students in my writing class is to use it as a guide for talking points when they go to the language lab for support. I told students I would be using Brisk Teaching for round 1 (maintaining transparency about when I'm using AI and hopefully leading by example), where it creates feedback points based on my rubric and inserts them in a table at the top of their essay. Using Google Docs, I converted the bullet points to checkboxes (though it would be nice if Brisk did this part automatically), so students can go through point by point and show me that they're at the very least looking at the feedback before the next round of writing. Next, I asked students to highlight one point from each category and use the comment feature to speak to it. This could be any variation of responses: 🔦 Spotlighting an issue that they know they need to work on and how they're dealing with it in this paper 🙅♀️ Disagreeing with the AI and explaining why they don't want to make the change it's suggesting ❓ Asking for clarification on how to respond to a point ➕ Etc. Next, when they go to the lab to get help, these highlights and the changes they made will form the foundation for the talking points when they work with the professor. One of the biggest problems when students go to a lab for support is always training them to be prepared instead of going in and saying "please check my paper" rather than empowered with a specific learning goal in mind. So the goal here is to have them go in with 5 already acted upon (or at least considered) points to discuss in order to make a more productive lab time. The screenshot is a sample that I sent to my students to understand the concept. I'm sure there will be some fine-tuning, but already many of them are interacting more with their early drafts and even coming to me to make sure that they're building good responses to talk to the professor in the lab about. I'll need more exploration, but to me this is a good way to take advantage of the strengths of AI, continue to challenge students to think critically about what it generates, and wrap it all in a human-centered approach focused on student learning rather than just using a shiny toy for the sake of it. #AIinESL #ArtificialIntelligence #TESOL #TESL #TESOL #ELT #LanguageLearning #Composition #StudentSuccess

🔴 Fear of failure stifles learning. When learners are afraid to make mistakes, they stop trying. They avoid taking risks, which means they miss out on key learning moments. To help learners build confidence and achieve long-term growth, create a safe space where trial and error are welcomed. Here’s how: 1️⃣ Encourage a growth mindset. Remind learners that mistakes are part of the process, not the end. ✅ Reinforce that errors are learning opportunities, not failures. ✅ Celebrate effort and improvement, not just the outcome. 2️⃣ Design low-risk practice opportunities. Give learners a chance to try, fail, and learn before they apply skills in high-stakes situations. ✅ Use simulations, mock scenarios, and role-playing. ✅ Allow learners to explore solutions without fear of repercussions. Example: In customer service training, let learners practice handling tough conversations in a simulation before engaging with real clients. 3️⃣ Provide supportive feedback. Don’t just point out mistakes—guide learners to understand what went wrong and how to improve. ✅ Make feedback specific and constructive. ✅ Focus on solutions, not just the problem. 4️⃣ Promote reflection and self-assessment. After each attempt, have learners reflect on their actions. ✅ What worked well? ✅ What could they do differently next time? ✅ What will they try next? 5️⃣ Foster a safe, non-judgmental environment. Create an atmosphere where learners feel comfortable asking questions and taking risks. ✅ Set expectations that mistakes are normal and expected. ✅ Be transparent about the learning journey and the importance of growth. Learning thrives in environments where mistakes are seen as steps toward success. 🤔 How do you create a safe space for trial and error in your training? ----------------------- 👋 Hi! I'm Elizabeth! ♻️ Share this post if you found it helpful. 👆 Follow me for more tips! 🤝 Reach out if you need a high-quality learning solution designed to engage learners and drive real change. #InstructionalDesign #GrowthMindset #LearningThroughFailure #LearningAndDevelopment #ConfidenceBuilding