Abstract
Positive feedback is crucial for student persistence, retention, and success. Without feedback that expresses what students are doing well, faculty run the risk of widening the transactional distance of online university courses. This chapter will review and demonstrate giving positive feedback as part of the PAUSE framework and why that is important. Additionally, this chapter will continue to draw connections between positive feedback, andragogy, and the online learning capacity building continuum through validation theory and the theory of mattering and marginality.
I have elaborated a bit more in the summary on an assignment about why the work was strong—I individualize it to each student in a short sentence or two… —Faculty Participant
Considering the concepts shared in previous chapters can remind us of what students need from their instructors and the opportunities that are available to them. First, students need eclectic instructors who use necessary resources to support students without a one-size-fits-all approach. Eclectic instructors use the vast resources in their areas of influence to remind students of their strengths and to support their forward progression with academic skills—most specifically, in our case, writing. Likewise, instructors understand that their students are adults and bring with them a variety of beneficial experiences. By learning the backgrounds of their students, online instructors can use that to their advantage and help students make connections they may have yet to think of or create connections to support students’ learning. Instructors also recognize that students with skills gaps may struggle with their heutagogy; therefore, supporting students’ efforts to fill those gaps is crucial. Through a pedagogy of care, instructors can seek to support students as they gain, strengthen, and master skills. All of these contribute to building a rapport with students to build a bridge over the virtual distance of online education (Minnick, 2023).
Second, students need validation that they belong and that they do bring something to the table that will help them persist. Rendón (1994) found it possible to bring students into the academic community socially and professionally through feedback and interaction. By including the Validation theory within a pedagogy of care, faculty can continue personal learning environments that invite students into the conversation that reinforces their belonging, persistence, and guides them into understanding the expectations in their courses. This validation can be given through feedback. Including this perspective allows faculty to honor the backgrounds and skills that students bring to the classroom while supporting the skills needed to cover any gaps or continue building upon the exhibited strengths. By helping students identify their strengths through praise, faculty validate the reinforcement of skills before providing support with areas of opportunity.
In addition to Rendón’s (1994) validation theory, instructors can consider the theory of mattering and marginality (Schlossberg, 1989). Entering a college or university, especially in a remote environment such as online higher education, can be a massive transition for adults who are also parents and working full-time. First-time online students can feel overwhelmed and a bit out of place. This leads to a feeling of marginalization, which can negatively impact a student’s ability to engage and persist through their courses (Rayle & Kyo-Yi, 2007). If students feel they matter to an online university (i.e., to their instructors) through positive experiences and feeling noticed, they are more likely to persist. By considering the five characteristics of mattering (Schlossberg, 1989), faculty can structure their feedback in a way that provides validation while demonstrating that students do matter and are important.
Table 1.
Aspects of mattering theory
Attention | Being Noticed and Building Relationships |
Importance | Feeling cared about |
Ego-extension | Feeling that others (in addition to the student) are either proud of success or saddened by failures |
Dependence | Feeling needed and validated |
Appreciation | Feeling recognized for doing well |
Key Terms in this Chapter
Feedback: Summary information provided to students to help them understand their areas of strengths and opportunity with the skills and subskills needed to complete assignments or to be successful in the online university.
Validation Theory: The idea that students need to feel validated as a way to build a rapport with instructors.
Heutagogy: A student’s capacity to take control of their work based on the skills they have without relying on an instructor.
Theory of Mattering and Marginality: The idea that students need to know they matter or they feel disconnected.
PAUSE: A framework for giving feedback that reminds faculty to provide praise and then applicable, understandable, specific, and encouraging feedback.
Continuum for Capacity Building Framework: The framework used to position the broader study in the context of online higher education. This framework shows that through the combination of andragogy and pedagogy, while keeping in mind the building heutagogy of online students, faculty can narrow the transactional distance of online higher education.
Transactional Distance: This is the psychological and communicative distance between students and instructors in online education.
Praise: Positive reinforcement through feedback; informing students what they have done well on a piece of writing.