Feedback – Key Highlights

In Moodle, instructors can provide feedback to students in several ways, depending on the activities and assignments being used.

Here is a short guide on how to do it:

1. Feedback on Assignments

Grading an assignment:

• Open the assignment in the course.
• Click the link View all submissions.
• Select the student submission you want to assess.
• Enter a grade in the designated field. Written feedback:
• In the Feedback comments section, write your comments for the student. This may include praise, suggestions for improvement, and general remarks. Uploading feedback files:
• If needed, you can upload files (e.g., a PDF with annotations) as part of the feedback.

2. Feedback on Quizzes – Reviewing quiz attempts

• Open the quiz activity.
• Click Results and then Responses to view individual attempts. Adding feedback:
• You can add feedback for each question in the quiz settings, which will be shown to students after they complete the quiz.

3. Feedback in Forums – Commenting on posts

• In discussion forums, you can reply to student posts, providing feedback directly in the thread. Highlight strong points and suggest areas for improvement.

4. Feedback in Workshops – Peer Assessment

• If you use the Workshop activity, students can assess each other's work. You can also provide general feedback at the end of the workshop.

5. Using the Gradebook – Viewing and commenting

• In the gradebook, you can add comments about each student's overall performance, which they can see when reviewing their grades.

6. Using Messages in Moodle

• Use the messaging feature in Moodle to send private messages to students with feedback on their work or specific tasks.

7. Feedback and Activity Completion Reports

• Use reports to monitor student progress and to provide collective feedback to the entire class based on their results.

Best Practices for Providing Feedback

• Be specific: Instead of general comments, provide concrete examples from the student’s work.

• Encourage development: Formulate feedback positively and focus on suggestions for progress and improvement.

• Timely feedback: Feedback should be provided shortly after task submission to support the learning process.

Examples of Well-Structured Feedback

Feedback can be structured in different ways, depending on the purpose and context of the task. In practice, the following approaches are common:

• The Sandwich Approach – feedback begins with praise (a positive observation), followed by constructive criticism or suggestions for improvement, and ends with encouragement or recognition of progress.

• Example: “You structured the introduction very well and clearly defined the problem. It would be helpful to elaborate further on the methodology section to make the analysis more complete. Overall, your progress in argumentation compared to the previous assignment is evident.”

• The Linear Approach – the instructor provides feedback following the order of elements in the work (e.g., introduction, body, conclusion), combining positive comments with suggestions for improvement.
  Example: “You set the context well in the introduction, but the body of the text could include more sources. The conclusion is concise and clear.”

• The Feedforward Approach – in addition to reviewing the current work, the instructor emphasises concrete steps for future improvement.
  Example: “Your analysis shows a clear understanding of the issue. In your next task, try to connect the theoretical framework more explicitly with practical examples.”

By using these methods, instructors can effectively communicate feedback through Moodle, thereby further supporting students’ learning processes and motivating them toward continued improvement.