How do you provide feedback for online submissions?

Providing feedback is straightforward when you have a student's paper in hand -- (1) click pen and (2) begin writing (or scrawling, for us left-handers). For online classes it is not quite this simple to provide in-text feedback but it certainly can, and should, be done. I prefer to use the "comments" feature of Word. I open the student submission and immediately save it as a new file. As I read the paper I can highlight specific portions of text and add a comment bubble on the right hand margin of the page. The text becomes highlighted and a line is drawn from the text to the bubble.

In the bubbles I can provide positive reinforcement ("this is a well-supported assertion"), comment on format ("you need to provide a citation for these facts"), ask questions ("if you had to make the opposing point, how would you do it?"), provide constructive criticism ("this paragraph might have worked better under the prior section"), or provide food for thought ("if you are interested in learning more about eminent domain, I suggest your read the Kelo case").

These are the steps for inserting a comment (the screencast provides a quick demonstration of how to do it, as well):

1. Highlight text on which you wish to comment

2. Click "Insert" on the top tool bar

3. Select "Comment" and a bubble will appear to the right of the text

4. Type your comments in the bubble.

Be sure that students have Word set to "View Markup" so that they can view the comments you provide.

As demonstrated in the screencast, I also like to copy and paste the rubric on the final page of the student's submission. This creates a unified, triple-play of feedback: specific comments in the text of the paper, numerical assessment through the rubric, and general comments at the end. This is just one system. Please feel free to let us know the system that you use.

I know that the screencast is a bit small. If you want to view it in a larger format (Windows Media), click here.