Seeing Feedback Practices in a Multidimensional World: The Role of Directionality, Configurations, and Modalities in Constructing Practice

• In Event: Got Feedback? New Perspective, Practices, and Possibilities for Revitalizing Inquiry Into Assessment for Learning

Abstract

Recent upheavals due to the global pandemic have shifted feedback practices in K-12 classrooms. Teachers and students working online or in blended or traditional classroom settings have new ways of implementing and addressing feedback. This presentation examines classroom-based formative feedback practices rooted in research on what works (Hattie & Timperley, 2007; Hattie & Clarke, 2019; Wiggins, 2012) from the pre-pandemic era and extends new perspectives and possibilities for the field.

The Formative Feedback Framework (authors, in press) provides symposium participants with three main lenses and corresponding focal points for making feedback practices visible to researchers and practitioners. Using a multidimensional formative feedback (MDFF) framework we show that contexts for learning, educational standards/skills, and rich tasks and activities serve as the foundations of continuous improvement of ambitious instruction and assessment (See, e.g. Darling-Hammond, 1997; National Research Council, 2012; Noguera, Darling-Hammond, & Friedlaender, 2015; Palladino & Shepard, 2022).

A synthesis of critical components of formative feedback is represented in the MDFF Framework (Figure 1) by decomposing practice into three main lenses to view empirical work.

Using video case examples, we show how Directionality, Configurations, or Modalities of feedback constitute forms of practice with boundary objects such as progress guides. In the session, we will unpack each lens with its respective focal points.

● Directionalities represent the dimension of feedback that refers to the primary “driver” of direct action and agency, even when the “conversation” is dialogic, that teachers use to check for understanding during a lesson and across a unit. Formative feedback relies on the use of multiple agents—teacher, peer, and self—to engage students while gathering information about their current level of understanding and engaging in “next steps” to support the improvement of practice.

● Configurations represent the dimension of feedback that refers to the primary unit of organization and arrangement teachers use when checking for understanding during a lesson and across a unit. Formative feedback relies on the use of multiple configurations—whole class, small groups, one-on-one or individual—to engage students while gathering information about their current level of understanding and engaging in “next steps” to support the improvement of practice. The term configurations also refers to the cross-cutting patterns of groupings of students in a learning environment. In most lessons one can distinguish three basic types of learning configurations: a whole class (typically from 16-40+ students), a small group (3-5 students), and one-on-one.

● Modalities represent the dimension of feedback that refers to the primary mode of communication teachers use to check for understanding during a lesson and across a unit. Formative feedback relies on the use of multiple modalities—spoken, written, non-verbal or bodily-kinesthetic—to engage students while gathering information about their current level of understanding and engaging in “next steps” to support the improvement of practice.

Taking account of these dimensions helps to maximize the effectiveness of information exchange directed at a project, performance task, and/or long-term assignment. It also helps unpack research on any dimensions of feedback expected to change the trajectory of outcomes in the K-12 classroom.

Authors

• Brent Duckor, San José State University
  Presenting Author

• Carrie Holmberg, San José State University
  Presenting Author