Social Persuasion

Social persuasion or verbal persuasion is being told that you can succeed. This often takes the form of positive feedback from instructors, peers, role models or even one's own positive self-talk. When a person is told that they have the skills needed to succeed, they are more likely to actually achieve success. In this way, self-efficacy becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy (Eden Zuk, 1995). While not as powerful as mastery for strengthening self-efficacy (Bandura, 2008), a positive message by someone we know and trust can do more to help us succeed than focusing on our weaknesses.

Teaching Practices for social persuasion

Good social persuasion often takes the form of good constructive feedback. This kind of feedback boosts self-efficacy help students to recognize ways in which they can show they know what they are doing (without being overwhelmed) and persuade them to try to go further. The following contains an outline of teaching practices you can use with links to more information on separate pages.

Constructive feedback - what makes feedback constructive?
Social persuasion from the instructor - how instructors can tap into social persuasion
Social persuasion from the teaching assistant - how TAs can be encouraged to give constructive feedback
Social persuasion from the students - how to get students to give each other constructive feedback
Social persuasion from role models - how to bring in role models and have then give constructive feedback
Positive self-talk (Link has been removed because content is not present or cannot be resolved.) - how to get students to give themselves positive reinforcements

Social Persuasion - Constructive feedback

Constructive feedback is provided useful suggestions and comments that a student can use to make progress and improve their understanding of the material. In general, it provides support, encouragement, and direction on what to improve upon and how to do it. The feedback and be positive (say what the student did well), negative (say what they did wrong), or neutral (just an objective statement). Good constructive feedback is generally a combination of all three, but is NOT a list of mistakes or error or a personal assault.

Setting up for Constructive feedback

Low achieving and "at risk" students can learn to become more self-managing learners (Nicol, 2007, p. 205). One way to do this is through clear and explicit dialogue and assignment instructions. Before giving feedback consider the following:

Planning - have clear instructions on an assignment, provide a rubric, or an example of good work. Students who know what they are to produce are more receptive to feedback
Engage students in planning - if student help develop the rubric, or is able to select what is assessed more heavily for example, they know what they are to do and why they are to do it.
Mix of assessments - provide a mix of ways in which a student is assessed (homework problems, written reports, exams, verbal reports, etc).
Provide feedback often -include detailed suggestions for several "low-stakes" assignments, and provide “early-and-often” feedback, at least in the early stages of courses when students are mastering the basics.
Larger assignments in phases -rather than doing the whole project at once, set it up in phases so that student can correct their work (and improve their learning) along the way. This also lets the students try things and make mistakes. Learning from previous mistakes is one of the most effective ways to learn.

“Students need to understand why they have got the grade or mark they have and why they have not got a higher (or lower) grade. Criteria need to be explicit and understood by students, and demonstrably used in forming grades. Often criteria are not accompanied by standards and it is difficult for a student to tell what standard is expected or would be considered inadequate. Much of the literature on the use of self- and peer-assessment is about the reliability of such marking, and assumes that self- and peer-assessment is primarily a labour-saving device. But the real value may lie in students internalising the standards expected so that they can supervise themselves and improve the quality of their own assignments prior to submitting them.” (Gibbs, 20)

Characteristics of Constructive feedback

The two main characteristics of constructive feedback are:

1. The content of the feedback: Constructive feedback is task or issue-focused (rather than a value judgement about the individual) and based on what is observable (rather than assuming anything about the person's attitude or motivation). It also includes some specific direction on how to make improvements (where needed).

2. How the feedback is delivered: To be constructive, feedback should not be delivered in a way that provokes hurt feelings, shame, defensiveness, resistance or a sense of failure. Honest does not mean tactless.

Another way to look at it is the 7 principles of good feedback practice (Nicol 2007):

1. Clarifies what constitutes good performance, making reference to learning outcomes, criteria, and expected standards;

2. Helps students develop self-assessment (reflection) in learning;

3. Gives high quality information to students about their learning;

4. Encourages instructor and peer discussion about learning;

5. Encourages positive motivational beliefs and self-esteem;

6. Provides opportunities to improve work quality and close the gap between current and desired work quality;

7. Provides information to teachers that can be used to help improve feedback, assignments and assessment.

Features of constructive feedback (from: https://www.thejhs.org/article.asp?issn=2468-6360;year=2017;volume=5;issue=1;spage=45;epage=48;aulast=Omer)

Gibbs, G. Simpson, C. (2004). Conditions under which Assessment Supports Students’ Learning in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education,1.

Hattie, J. A. C. Yates, G. C. R. (2014). Using Feedback to Promote Learning in Applying Science in Learning. Retrieved from http://teachpsych.org/ebooks/asle2014/index.php

Nicol, D.J. Macfarlane-Dick, D. (2007). Formative Assessment and Self‐regulated Learning: a Model and Seven Principles of Good Feedback in Studies in Higher Education, 31(2).

Example wordings for constructive feedback

Consider that giving and receiving feedback is a an act of courage and vulnerability:

we seek to learn from differences and to discover similarities
we lean in to new learning and may explore discomfort

Thoughtful feedback/reaction/suggestion

(1) Exploratory Statement: seeks to learn more about a peer's response.

Helpful:

"How did you come to this conclusion_____?"

" It's interesting you say ___, my thinking was ____."

Not Helpful:

"I'm surprised you thought____."

"That's not true ___."

"You're wrong___."

It is more helpful to explore than use definitive statements that may end any learning conversation. If surprised or think you have information contrary to a peer, explore and compare.

(2) Open-Ended Statement:Allows peers to respond with more details. To adjust not helpful statements use phrases like "How", "Tell me" ,"I wonder" ..

ex: "Tell me more about____", "

Resources:

Comparison of feedback from educators, TAs, and students https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03043797.2017.1340931

5 tips for providing meaningful feedback https://www.edutopia.org/blog/tips-providing-students-meaningful-feedback-marianne-stenger

Using student feedback to promote reflection and learning https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14703290903525911?needAccess=truejournalCode=riie20

Feed back that improves student performance https://www.unbtls.ca/teachingtips/feedbackthatimprovesperformance.html

Social Persuasion - Instructor

Instructors are a primary source of social persuasion. Being told from the course instructor that they did something well and should keep trying can help encourage students to continue to engage in the class. On the other hand, only hearing negative comments about what they did wrong can cause students to disengage. Sometimes is might be hard to say what is good in a poor report and you don't want to praise poor work. Good constructive feedback will walk that fine line between telling the student what they did wrong but not dashing their dreams.

See the page on constructive feedback: Social Persuasion - Constructive feedback

Finding Time for feedback

"But There's No Time!"

Although the universal teacher lament that there's no time for such feedback is understandable, remember that "no time to give and use feedback" actually means "no time to cause learning." As we have seen, research shows that less teaching plus more feedback is the key to achieving greater learning. And there are numerous ways—through technology, peers, and other teachers—that students can get the feedback they need

from: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept12/vol70/num01/Seven-Keys-to-Effective-Feedback.aspx

Ways to give feedback

Feedback does not just have to be red marks on a paper, consider other ways to give feedback.

Red (or any other color) marks on a paper - ok this is the one we do most often, but it does work well for some assignments and exams. Remember to use the rules for constructive feedback and avoid just having a list of errors.
Office hours - have the student come in during office hours or schedule a time. The one-on-one or one-on-group format is a great way to have a discussion about the student's work and talk about how to improve it. Utilizing trial and error and watching a student solve problems is also helpful outside of class.
Record a video- record a video or audio recording of yourself reading a student's writing or following a calculation. It may be a bit painful for the student to watch/hear, but they can see your reactions to their writing/calculations and where you cannot follow it.

Social Persuasion - teaching assistants

Teaching assistants are a great way to provide constructive feedback for students. However, most TAs are not naturally inclined to provide feedback in this way. They tend to find what was wrong in the assignment and take off points. You are lucky if they say why the points were taken off. There is so much more that can be said in providing feedback on an assignment or in a class! TAs need to be told that they are expected to provide meaningful feedbackand shown how.

Tips for your TA:

1. Speak with your TA and create criteria for grading in your course

For example:

How should partial credit be awarded?

How do you take off points?

How will the final grades be determined?

Is there a grading rubric? - Rubrics can be a helpful way to give consistent feedback across the teaching team**

2. Immediate Feedback

This can be either by validating students’ contributions that are on the right track or redirecting comments that are off track or inaccurate. No matter the realm of feedback, strive to be kind, fair, and specific.

3. Formal Feedback on Assessments

Aim for quality over quantity:Avoid noting every shortcoming and instead focus on one or two things that, if improved, will effect the most change.

Feedback should be future-oriented:Give students concrete ways that they can improve.

Be constructive:Provide feedback that clearly tells students what wrong was with the assignment (take-off points) and how to improve.

Be flexible: The goal of the TA is not to finish the grading but to help students. Treat specific issues specifically.

4. Writing Feedback

When providing written feedback, here are a few best practices that focus feedback on the teaching and learning process.

Start by addressing the student (use names whenever possible)
Provide positive feedback, being as specific as you can, to let students know what they should keep doing for future assessments
Suggest areas for improvement, with at least one concrete strategy to try -- make sure that the strategy is manageable.
Direct positive comments to the writer (“you did this well”) and areas for improvement to the assessment (“the assignment did not make a compelling argument”)
(End by signing your own name and providing a grade if necessary. )

Train Your TAs - See Vicarious Learning under Peer Mentors

Social Persuasion - Students (Peers)

If instructors have a hard time providing good constructive feedback, then students find it even harder. Nevertheless, feedback from peers can be especially powerful for students. Students need training and examples on how to provide good feedback.

Benefits of peer feedback

Peer feedback can be a powerful tool for improving learning. Some of the benefits are:

Promotes higher quality learning - having to think about what is right or wrong about someone else's work helps to learn the material
Contributes to skill development - providing feedback will be a skill needed in the workplace
Furthers personal development - providing constructive feedback and working with another students helps build personal skills
Increases student's self- efficacy and motivation - hearing that your work was good from a peer can boost confidence and knowing that a peer will be reviewing it may increase motivation to do a good job.

Obstacles to peer feedback

Motivation - why do students need to provide feedback to other students? Help set the stage for this as it helps the student understand their own work by evaluating someone else, is what will be done in practice the in the real world, and is beneficial for their peers. Feedback can be graded as well as the student's own work.
Reluctance - it is hard for students to criticize the work of other students. Telling someone else that their work is wrong is not easy. Be sure to make clear that it is constructive feedback, used to improve work. Making the feedback anonymous can help, but so can a discussion with the entire class on what they would like from the peer feedback. Most students would like the peers to not hold back and let them know all the mistakes so they can be fixed. The opportunity for revision or extra credit for a first report can be beneficial.
Accuracy - it is hard to give feedback if you don't know what the correct answer is. Students evaluating writing have a hard time being specific about what is lacking. It is hard to point out mistakes in a calculation if you don't know how to do it in the first place. Clearly detailed grade rubrics and ratings can help students know the correct answer.

Planning for peer feedback

As with anything in teaching the key to getting students to provide good feedback is planning. Consider the following when planning for peer feedback.

Identify which assignments would be best suited for peer feedback. Ideally these would be ones in which revisions could be made. Make sure the assignment is not too large or complex, if so consider breaking it up into smaller pieces.
Let students know why they are doing a peer feedback and what they will gain from it.
Develop rubrics, ratings, feedback questions, checklist related to the assignment. See File Effective_peer_feedback_final.pdf could not be included in the ePub document. Please see separate zip file for access. for some examples related to a writing assignment. Consider using these as a starting point to develop your own assessment guidelines.
Use in-class exercises with rubrics, ratings, etc... so that students have experience applying them effectively
Model the use of rubrics, ratings, etc... in your own feedback to students.
Clearly identify what is expected of the student in the feedback. If the feedback itself is to be graded provide the grading criteria.

Resources:

Peer review in Canvas: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-create-a-peer-review-assignment/ta-p/641

Peer Reviews Canvas Tutorial Video Series

Peer review on google docs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwMQ2zDLrfk

Examples of peer review that work well with writing. File Peer Review (2).pdf could not be included in the ePub document. Please see separate zip file for access. File Peer review - Focused Feedback.pdf could not be included in the ePub document. Please see separate zip file for access. File Peer review - Divide & Conquer.pdf could not be included in the ePub document. Please see separate zip file for access.

Additional websites covering peer assessment:

Site from McGill University that has some nice examples - https://www.mcgill.ca/tls/instructors/assessment/peer

https://teaching.cornell.edu/teaching-resources/assessment-evaluation/peer-assessment

https://www.celt.iastate.edu/teaching/assessment-and-evaluation/peer-assessment/

https://teaching.unsw.edu.au/peer-assessment

Social Persuasion - Self

Students can persuade themselves as a method to increase their self-efficacy. This can take the form of a self-assessment or using positive self-talk.

Self-assessment

Self-assessment is setup just like the peer assessment, but designed so that the student evaluates their own work. While not as beneficial as a peer assessment, it can be a useful exercise. The section on peer assessments may be adapted to assist students in assessing their own work.

Specific Suggestions

Using a Rubric- have students review their own work using the homework or assignment rubric and provide a tentative grade for themselves based on the rubric
May decide to take the first 10 minutes of class before they submit their work or can be done at home and submitted with the assignment on due date
Creates a habit of student providing positive feedback for themselves as well as understanding their areas of limitations
Assists the instructor or TA in grading because students will provide rationale in advance for each rubric area
Semester or Assignment Journals
Students may be asked to keep a running conversation with themselves in a written format about: what is difficult in their learning, how they excelling and how they are navigating problem-solving
Journals may be kept personal with pre-determined or random dates for instructor to review
Electronic journals on a shared drive create ease for instructor's access or physical notebooks can be collected 2-3 times during a semester
Instructors may decide to have reviews be detail-oriented or more broad overviews

Self-Talk

Positive self-talk can help you motivate yourself. Learning how to engage in positive self-talk can help a student when he or she is struggling with an exam or assignment. While you can't provide positive self-talk to a student, you can share information about it in class and help encourage students to develop this skill.

Please click this link and see a specific introduction of Self-Talk:

Self-Talk Link

Affirmations

Students may be encouraged to utilize positive self-talk and education provided about the benefits of "flipping the mental script" in student narrative (see modules)

Access

Affirmations or positive phrases can be placed around the classroom walls, cut up on pieces of papers and/or uploaded onto canvas for easy student access

Instructors may incorporate subtle use of affirmations throughout slides

Timing

Specific periods of the semester may find affirmations more helpful (around midterms or finals)

Higher stress can build up before a large exam or assignment is due

Locating examples

Engineering specific or student specific affirmations are accessible online

For example: https://www.freeaffirmations.org/become-an-engineer-positive-affirmations

Social Persuasion - role models

Role models, guest lectures, and other adults can be a powerful source of social persuasion. For example. if a student hears from someone that they desire to emulate (a successful engineer like a senior partner at a firm) that you are doing great, then that is a strong positive reinforcement. In many classes we bring in guest lectures or have practicing engineers work with our groups. Having the role model interact and provide feedback to the students can be very beneficial.

While you have less control with feedback from a role model than a TA or other students, still encourage guests to be constructive in their feedback. Fortunately, role models usually are already quite good at giving constructive feedback as they have learned how to do it in the workplace. So your only challenge is finding ways for your students to interact with the role models.

Duration: observing, naming and validating change over time can be encouraging.

Role models or visitors may be encouraged to visit students or classrooms at least twice or more
long-term projects with local engineers are a good opportunity
Visits may be held with video or phone calls intermittently

Methods

In person visits or student visits into the community
Recorded videos of encouragement may be emailed

General

Role models may be directed to canvas pages for TAs, Teachers, and constructive feedback as well.

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