How Much Feedback Course Students Should Get?

As you design your eLearning course, one of the big questions is how much feedback course students should get. This will depend on the value of your course and your level of automation, along with a few other factors. 

Understanding the Automation Scale 

One of the biggest factors in deciding how much feedback course students get will be your level of automation. For this, you want to think of the automation scale. The scale runs from 1 to 10, where 1 isn’t automated and 10 is fully automated. Students will expect more feedback from a course with less automation than one that is fully automated. 

Group Vs. One-on-one Feedback

Next, you have to think about what type of feedback you want to deliver—one-on-one or group feedback. One-on-one feedback will be better for courses with less automation and a higher value. Meanwhile, group feedback is ideal if you have a lower-value course. Another crucial factor in deciding between one-on-one and group feedback is how much time you want to have to put into it. Obviously, it is impractical to deliver one-on-one feedback for a course with hundreds or thousands of students. 

Messenger Coaching Vs. Live Coaching 

In terms of types of feedback, group vs. one-on-one defines types based on scale. But you can also look at messenger coaching vs. live coaching, which defines types based on how you deliver the feedback. They are fairly self-explanatory. 

Group messenger feedback would likely look like a WhatsApp group, Discord channel, Slack channel, or something similar. It lets you address a large group at once, and you could potentially delegate it to someone else. It also adds the bonuses of a community feeling and letting students answer each other’s questions. 

One-on-one messenger feedback could be one-on-one conversations via any of those channels. It could also include directly texting or emailing your students. It can even include sending voice notes. 

Live coaching is typically done over video, although you could also offer an in-person component for your course. For groups, you can set it up so students can message you and you respond with videos. Or you can create a live coaching call and have them ask questions live. Some platforms, like Kajabi, offer this feature within their platforms. Live one-on-one coaching would be a direct video conversation with your students. 

How Often to Deliver Feedback? 

With all those types of feedback in mind, the question is how often to deliver the feedback. Common options are daily, weekly, and monthly. It will depend on a lot of factors, such as the type of feedback, whether it is group or one-on-one, the value of your course, and the time you want to put into it. 

If you have a lower-value course with a lot of automation, you can easily get away with feedback once a month. But at that point, the feedback may not even be necessary. If you have a course that is less automated, your students will expect regular feedback, at least weekly if not daily. 

But remember that you can also combine types of feedback and delegate some of it. For example, maybe you want daily group feedback for a course. You could delegate someone to provide that feedback while you continue creating more courses. 

Conclusion

When deciding how much feedback course students should get, think about the course itself, its value, the level of automation, and your schedule. Every course will be different, so you may have several courses with different levels of feedback.