t is no secret that providing helpful feedback is the key to improving your learners overall results when it comes to eLearning. 

Seventy-two percent of workers surveyed by Zenger Folkman felt their performance would improve with constructive feedback and according to research collated by Officevibe, 65 percent of employees prefer more feedback than less.

When feedback is well written, it can elevate an learning assessment from a mandatory chore into a positive learning experience. 

So with this in mind, here are our three top tips for improving the feedback you give your learners.

#1 Keep it positive

Nobody likes getting the answer wrong when you were so sure you had it right ! Avoid discouraging your learners by being gentle with your feedback for incorrect responses.  Changing the title from ‘Incorrect.’ to ‘Not quite…’, ‘Close!’ or ‘Actually…’ can make a huge difference. Adopting a casual, conversational tone can soften the blow and make it easier to direct the learner towards the correct answer. And don’t forget to encourage your learners when they do get it right!

#2 Include the correct answers

If your learner didn’t submit the correct answer, it’s probably because they don’t know it! Instead of moving on and leaving your learner confused or unsure, turn it into a learning moment by describing the correct answer in your feedback. It’s also a great idea to reiterate the correct answer even when your learner did get it right, because there’s always a chance that they took a guess and got lucky. As a result, your feedback for both correct and incorrect answers may end up looking very similar, and that’s okay!

#3 Explain the correct answer

When writing questions, keep the potential answers simple. There’s no need to clutter up the page or give away the answer by explaining it first. That’s why it’s a good idea to provide an explanation of the correct answer in your feedback. Why was the correct answer correct? What principle or process should have guided the learner?

You might also like to address the incorrect answers and why they missed the mark. This clears up misunderstandings for learners who may have felt they had a good reason for choosing an incorrect answer. This is  especially helpful when you have  included answers that are almost-but-not-quite correct to catch out learners who aren’t paying attention.

Making feedback fun 

Writing and receiving feedback shouldn’t be a painful chore. It’s the perfect opportunity to encourage your learner and reinforce your key learning outcomes. Remember -  keep it simple, straightforward and positive, and your learners will love you for it.

At HowToo, we have developed our tool with feedback in mind. Our question blocks, including multiple choice, drag and drop, rearrange and true or false blocks, all allow you to designate correct and incorrect answers. From there, you can provide written feedback on your learners’ submission. Explore how easy it can be to add feedback into digital learning with HowToo.

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