Embedding Formative Feedback through Differentiated Instruction using Microsoft OneNote Class Notebooks

Formative feedback serves as a powerful tool to help students align their self-directed academic development with tutor expectations. However, a reluctance to draw attention to perceived weaknesses in public can deter students from engaging with cohort-wide formative feedback practices. This case study explores the use of Microsoft OneNote Class Notebooks to address these issues via differentiated instruction. The study presents three scenarios in which Class Notebooks have been used with chemical engineering students at Teesside University, UK. The scenarios cover a range of student levels and activities, with a mixture of synchronous and asynchronous feedback practices. Class Notebooks allow tutors to provide personalised feedback efficiently and enable students to privately review their feedback beyond the life of the activity, thereby helping them calibrate their internal feedback loops. In a post-digital higher education (HE) landscape, Class Notebooks offer an inclusive, scalable method for providing dialogic differentiated instruction in a way that improves students’ understanding and confidence. This case study documents the development of this practice and presents operational considerations for implementation irrespective of cohort size and subject matter.