There is no denying that feedback is a crucial aspect of learning, whether in school, at work, or in our personal lives. With private tutoring, in particular, feedback is a powerful instrument for tutors to ensure that their students are learning effectively. The importance of feedback in learning goes beyond letting students know what they did right or wrong. It also assesses the student’s strengths and weaknesses (what they can and can’t do), whether they are performing according to their skills, and what they can do to improve.

Constructive feedback builds self-confidence, keeps students accountable, and encourages motivation and engagement, which is why it is one of the pillars of every Stemly tutoring lesson. Our tutors understand the importance of feedback in learning, and our students know that they can rely on our feedback process to make the most out of their tutoring programs.

Why Feedback Is Important in Learning

Feedback is designed to engage, inform, and improve a student’s performance and knowledge by closing the gap between their current skills/understandings and their goal. Giving effective feedback allows students to make changes and identify areas in their studies that need more of their time and focus. It also helps tutors to get a better understanding of their students with each tutoring session.

Here are more reasons why feedback is a must for tutors and students.

Teaches students to self-reflect and self-evaluate

Students want to know how they’re doing in their studies, but the ability to self-assess and reflect on their performance critically is not always easy. Feedback teaches self-autonomy to students. It helps them evaluate their progress and make the necessary adjustments to improve their performance.

Fosters a positive student-tutor relationship

When a tutor provides feedback to students, he or she is not only informing students what they’re good at and what they need to do better. Giving feedback is one way for tutors to tell students that they are willing to help them excel in their schoolwork and achieve their goals. This builds a stronger sense of trust between the tutor and student, opens lines of communication, and encourages students to be more proactive in asking questions.

Clarifies and reinforces expectations

Signing up for a tutoring program begins with setting a goal, and with that comes expectations from both the student and the tutor as they work together towards achieving it. Effective feedback allows students to understand the targets they need to meet as well as identify what good performance entails.

Allows students to be involved in the learning process

As tutors, one of our goals is to empower our students and encourage them to take a more active role in their education. Through feedback, students can take the necessary steps to improve their study skills, learning strategies, and focus. It also allows them to express what they don’t understand and what the tutor needs to change in how the lessons are taught.

How to Give Effective Feedback

We know the importance of feedback in learning, but key factors need to be considered for it to become effective. For one, feedback needs to be delivered consistently and within context. When feedback is delayed or decontextualized, students will likely find it more difficult to apply them. Below, we list some of the things we take into consideration when giving feedback to our students.

Feedback must be given in a supportive way.

What you say and how you deliver feedback to a student can affect how they feel about their skills and studies and impact their confidence. Hence, it’s important to structure feedback to motivate and encourage the student to focus on a greater goal. Constructive feedback is meant to support and help students, not put a damper on their performance or belittle their efforts.

Feedback must be specific.

Because every student we tutor at Stemly has unique learning skills and goals, our tutors make it a point to be as specific as possible when giving feedback. Instead of relying on broad comments, such as “Well done!” or “Work harder!”, our tutors use a more focused approach that specifies exactly where our students excelled in and what needs more attention. In doing so, we let our students know where they are at in the learning process and where they need to be.

Feedback must align with the student’s goals.

Every tutoring session should be a step towards achieving a student’s learning goal—whether it’s preparing for their AP Physics class or improving their Calculus grades. And the same is true when providing feedback. When providing constructive feedback, tutors must also highlight the student’s accomplishments and how that brings them closer to their goals.

Feedback must be consistent and timely.

When a student receives feedback can be a significant factor in determining whether or not it will be effective. Feedback given immediately after a tutoring session allows students to respond more positively and remember what was being learned more effectively. On the other hand, students may not be able to relate or connect the feedback with the lessons when it is delayed or delivered inconsistently.

How Stemly’s Tutors Make Use of Feedback to Help Students

In typical classrooms, a teacher may not always have the time or resources to individually assess and deliver feedback to every student. Hence, students may be left in the dark as to where they stand in their classes. In some instances, the lack of meaningful feedback can also lead students to simply “coast along” even when they are more than capable of doing better and excelling in their classes. It can also discourage or demotivate some students when their efforts are not recognized or acknowledged.

Providing constructive feedback is an integral part of Stemly’s virtual math and science tutoring programs. At the end of every session, Stemly tutors write Lesson Notes that are emailed to parents and students. These Lesson Notes indicate what material was covered, what areas the student did well in, and what needs to be improved and focused on for the next session. Whenever necessary, these notes may also include helpful resources and extra homework problems from our tutors. Below is an example of an after-lesson feedback written by one of our tutors.

Congratulations on the great test score, Ann-Kathrin! Today we revisited some trickier molarity questions involving multiple salts. Sometimes it is easier to do the math and make sense of it afterwards than to go crazy over it. But you got it! Then with osmotic pressure we discussed why ions cause water to flow in one direction towards them, and how it changes the freezing/boiling point. Good work setting up the equations and solving for your answers. 'i' is a bit of a tough concept but there are a few tricks to remember about the number of ions it forms (or doesn't in some cases). You are doing really well and I would encourage you to re-read your notes to see if you really understand what each part of each solution is doing. Keep it up!!

Aside from giving Lesson Notes after every tutoring session, our tutors also provide a monthly progress report emailed to parents and students at the end of each month. The progress report includes details about the student’s current grade in school, goals, improvements, and areas that need more work. Here is a sample of a progress report from Stemly:

Student: Cassidy 

Subject: AP Calculus AB
Current Grade: B
Goals Set: to raise grade to A
Strengths/Improvements: Cassidy does a great job with applying techniques from previous problems to following problems. For example, when doing rate of change problems, after the initial set up of the problem, Cassidy is able to carry the problem until the end.
Areas to Continue Working On: I would recommend to keep working on reviewing base derivative techniques/theorems (power, chain,, etc.) to be able to avoid mistakes during application problems. Overall she is doing a great job improving!

Virtual Math and Science Tutoring with Stemly

Stemly Tutoring offers comprehensive virtual one-on-one STEM tutoring for all students. Our friendly, highly trained, and professional math and science tutoring experts understand the importance of feedback in learning. We ensure that each of our students is provided with constructive and meaningful feedback after every session and work closely with students and their families toward achieving their learning goals.

Our math and science tutors are experienced in teaching a wide variety of students and have extensive knowledge of local curriculums.

Stemly’s math and science tutoring services include Pre-Algebra tutoring, Algebra 1 tutoring, Algebra 2 tutoring, Geometry tutoring, Trigonometry tutoring, Pre-Calculus tutoring, Calculus 1 tutoring, Calculus 2 tutoring, Multivariable Calculus tutoring, Statistics tutoring, General Physics tutoring, Mechanics tutoring, Electricity & Magnetism tutoring, General Chemistry tutoring, Organic Chemistry tutoring, General Biology tutoring, and Biochemistry tutoring. We also offer AP math and science tutoring, including AP Calculus AB tutoring, AP Calculus BC tutoring, AP Physics 1 tutoring, AP Physics 2 tutoring, AP Physics C tutoring, AP Chemistry, and AP Biology tutoring.

Reach out to Stemly Tutoring today to learn more about how we can help!