by Jasmine L. Garner, public health
Entering my first year as an Introductory Biology Graduate Learning Assistant, feedback to my students was the one thing that I found myself unsure about. Even having taken the course before and being a recent graduate of the discipline, I found myself questioning the clarity of my directions. BIOL 1108L is very writing heavy and challenges students to write a scientific article by the conclusion of the class. For most students it is likely their first time writing in this style. As a Graduate Learning Assistant I wanted to offer my students direction on the new writing form without calling into question their own personal creativity in their choice of words and verbiage.
I found my time within the writing intensive instructor course (WIPP 7001) to be filled with validation and was surprised to find that feedback is often tedious across disciplines. Each week we were assigned readings that gave helpful suggestions for us to use within our courses. Our professor, Lindsey, also fostered an environment that allowed Teaching Assistants and Graduate Learning Assistants to feel comfortable in sharing their experiences from various disciplines. My favorite content by far was focused on Feedback Strategies, Practices, and Self-Assessment. Many helpful tips were shared among the class, but some that I found to be most helpful were the emphasis on including feedback on what students do well, to focus on content of papers rather than sentence structure and how a thought is conveyed, and the use of guided peer feedback.
The suggestions to intentionally include positive feedback was pivotal in my grading process. When students are learning a new concept, they are often easily discouraged by redirection, especially if they never hear the things they’re doing well. I’ve been able to implement positive feedback into my course by incorporating small comments about explanations of topics and even using small statements such as “good job” to offer students their kudos. It has greatly increased the morale of my classes!
When grading it can be easy to get tied up in the technicalities such as sentence structure and spelling. While those things are important, and some students may need extra help with those skills, as a Biology Graduate Learning Assistant my main priority is to ensure that my students meet the intended learning outcomes. If the content of writing is conveyed in a way that reveals that students are understanding learning outcomes, then expectations have been met. Furthermore, consistent or extreme cases of spelling and sentence structure errors can be referred to our writing center for support and consultation.
Peer reviewing is a great way to include active learning within a course and also offers feedback through the lens of students who likely have the same knowledge of a topic.
Active learning is such an important part of learning and is becoming a new norm here at the University of Georgia. Peer reviewing is a great way to include active learning within a course and also offers feedback through the lens of students who likely have the same knowledge of a topic. Within my course, the required scientific papers are collaborative within a group of four students. It’s been easy to encourage peer review in this setting as I allow students to read over each other’s work within their groups and give each other feedback on how well a topic was described.
Overall, I am extremely grateful for my experience in WIPP 7001 as it provided me with a support system of other Teaching Assistants and Graduate Learning Assistants who offer suggestions to improve my course and the learning outcomes of my students.