Using the Comments Feature in Office 365

Being able to share documents is an important part of giving prompt and effective feedback for students. It allows the
teacher to have a clear understanding of the students progress, and allows the student to be able to access help beyond
passing a paper document back and forth with the teacher. Although it is still effective when teachers give feedback on
paper; with Office 365, the teacher can give feedback, while the student still retains their draft, and therefore is still able
to work on it. No longer does the teacher have to rush to finish making corrections or comments before the student can
start on the good copy. Copies can be accessed at any point, thereby making feedback easier and more fluid.
1. The first task a student must do is share a document with their teacher. This document may be housed in a
main folder that the student already previously shared with the teacher. If the main folder was already shared
with the teacher, then the document will also automatically share.
2. In order to use the Comments feature, the student will have to ensure that the
teacher has editing rights.
3. The teacher will find the document that was shared with them in OneDrive in Office
365 in the Shared with me area (far left of screen).

4. Teachers will open the folder of the students folder OR find the document they
wish to revise and provide feedback.

5. The document title needs to be double-clicked and it can be opened. At this point, the teacher can review the
document and insert comments or feedback on how to improve writing. In the example below, because the
teacher had editing rights, the teacher was able to colour code a few areas.

The areas that are highlighted green indicate where the student has effectively demonstrated skill according to
the Writing Assessment Rubric. In addition to this, the teacher has also inserted comments as reminders to the
student of what needs to be further completed prior to completing the final draft.
Teachers could devise their own colour code system, if they choose to do so. It all depends on what works for
teachers and their class. Teachers could potentially use this system for using the highlighting feature:
Green = Teachers Comments; Yellow = Self Comments; Blue = Peer Comments

How Do You Insert a Comment

Office 365, allows all users to be able insert comments provided the owner of the document allows for editing rights
with the people of whom they wish to collaborate. Inserting comments can be very effective not only for teacher
feedback, but peer revising and editing.
1. First, go into the Shared with Me in your OneDrive (left side of OneDrive), and open the students document
that you wish to view.
Be sure to open the Edit Document area
and choose Edit in Word online.

Click on the Insert tab and then

Comment.

2. Then select the area, you wish to comment. To do this, left click and drag to
select. Then click on the Comment button in the toolbar. Then on the right
hand side of your screen a Comments area will appear. Add your comment.

The area that is selected will be grey

and a comment bubble will appear in
the right margin.
3. In addition to inserting comments, individuals can reply to comments,
thereby allowing for a conversation about writing.

Note, the comments are in the margin

are connected to the selected area
and comments bubble.

Applications of the Insert Comments Function in Office 365

There are a variety of ways this function can be used in the classroom. Teachers could use this function in peer revising
and editing; collaborative assignments; student self-assessment and teacher feedback.
Students could use this same framework when self-assessing their work. Prior to the final submission of the assignment,
students could copy the assignment, then paste it into a new document. This document could be titled,
_____s Self-Assessment of _________. Students could then go explore their rubric and find proofs from their
writing of where they fulfilled the expectations of different strands of the rubric. This self-assessment would be shared
with the teacher as well as stored in the students portfolio or in an Assessment Folder. Any further reflection on the
piece could also be added in the comments area.
By finding proofs in ones writing, the student is critically examining their work and how they are meeting
expectations. It also gives them an opportunity to reflect more deeply on what they must do to achieve curricular
outcomes. This reflection allows for Metacognition or thinking about ones own learning process.
In providing teacher feedback in this manner, the student would have further access to their teacher, as the feedback
loop becomes more accessible to all.

Examples of What Has Worked in Classrooms

This comment was inserted as part of a

grade 5 students self-assessment. You can
see that there are 3 areas that were focused
upon: Ideas, Sentence Fluency and
Organization. In addition to this reflection,
students can find proofs in their writing that
demonstrate fulfilling the assessment
expectations.