Voice and image feedback for student practical work

Context

A primary or secondary school teacher assessing practical work — models, notebook pages, posters, handmade projects — who wants to give specific written feedback to each student. Instead of trying to describe the work from memory at the computer, you share the photo of the work and a transcript of your voice notes with the model, which helps you structure a concrete, personalised comment.

Originally written for Chilean classrooms.

Paste before

Before opening the model, prepare:

• A photo of the student's work with no name or identifiable data visible (cover it with a piece of paper or crop the image before photographing)
• The transcript of your voice notes with the impressions you recorded while reviewing the work (you can use your phone's automatic transcription; there is no need to clean or edit it before pasting; if you have no voice note, write your observations in that space)
• The grade level and subject
• The assessment criteria that apply to this piece of work

Privacy rule: Before uploading the photo, check that no name, ID number, address, or other identifiable data appears in the image. Do not paste information from the class register, the grade system, or any individual student support record. Apply your applicable data protection regulations (e.g., FERPA in the US, GDPR in Europe, or your local equivalent).

Act as a {{grade level, e.g. "Year 6"}} teacher with experience in formative feedback on practical work.

I am going to share the image of a student's work and the transcript of my voice notes with the impressions I had when reviewing it.

**Type of work:** {{type of work, e.g.: "solar system model", "science notebook page", "informational poster"}}

**Subject:** {{subject}}

**Grade level:** {{grade level}}

**Assessment criteria to cover in the feedback:**
{{list of criteria, e.g.: "clarity of the information presented, visual organisation, correct use of the unit's concepts, care and presentation of the material"}}

**Image of the work:**
[Attach the photo here — with no student name visible]

**My voice notes (transcript):**
{{paste the transcript of your voice note here, or write "No voice note" if you don't have one; it can be unedited}}

Based on the image and my notes, help me draft a written feedback comment to give to the student:

1. Identify at least one concrete strength that is directly visible in the work — something specific to what appears in the image, not a generic compliment.
2. Point out the single most important thing to improve, with a concrete action suggestion the student can apply in a next version or similar piece of work.
3. If my voice notes mention something that the image does not show clearly, use them to complement — but indicate when you are drawing on my notes and when on what you can see in the image.
4. Write the comment in second person singular, in language clear enough for a student at {{grade level}}.
5. Length: {{brief (3-4 sentences) / moderate (one paragraph) / detailed (one paragraph per criterion)}}.

Do not list everything that is wrong. Prioritise the single most important aspect and close with a note of encouragement specific to this piece of work, not a generic one.

Expected output

Real example (abridged):

Your water cycle poster shows that you understood the process as something continuous: the blue arrows are pointing in the right direction and you can follow the journey of water from the sea to the clouds and back without getting lost (I can see this directly in the image). The labels "evaporation", "condensation", "precipitation" and "runoff" are in the right place and written clearly. What is missing is the infiltration stage — when some of the rainwater filters into the soil instead of flowing into rivers. For a next version, add a short arrow pointing downward into the soil near the base of the mountain with the label "infiltration": that would complete the cycle. Your teacher noted that the drawings of the sea and the care in every detail really stand out — that level of dedication is exactly what is worth polishing until it is complete.

Watch out for

• Privacy in the image: Even if the student's name is not written on the paper, it may appear in the background of the photo or in the angle of the shot. Check the framing before uploading. Do not upload photos that show the student's face or personal environment.
• The model may describe details that are not there: If the photo is blurry or poorly lit, the model may confidently invent details about the work ("the arrows indicate X", "the text says Y"). Always cross-check what it describes against the real work in front of you before giving the comment to the student.
• Generic feedback disguised as specific: If the comment the model generates could apply to any work of the same type, ask it to anchor it to something concrete it sees in the image: "Mention something specific from this image, not something you would say about any poster on this topic."

Suggested follow-up

If the model cannot process images (some text-only models do not accept attachments), describe the work in words in the image field: "The poster shows three stages of the water cycle with coloured arrows; the condensation stage has a drawing of clouds and the precipitation stage shows rain, but the infiltration into the soil is missing." With that description, the prompt works just as well.

Example output without an attached image (text-only fallback mode, based on voice notes alone):

Model note: no image attached — the comment is based entirely on the voice notes.

Feedback comment:

According to your teacher's notes, the arrows connecting the stages of the cycle are very well placed and easy to follow from one to the next — that shows you understood the central idea that the cycle is a continuous process, not a list of separate steps. The most important thing to work on in a next version is including the infiltration stage: the water's journey does not end when it rains, because some of that water filters into the soil and continues the cycle underground. To add it, you could draw a small arrow from the raindrops pointing downward, with the word "infiltration" and a short note like "water moves into the soil". That would complete the cycle you have already built so carefully. Your teacher highlighted that the cloud drawings are clear and creative — that level of detail shows, and it is exactly the kind of effort that makes a poster useful for whoever reads it!

If you want to give feedback on several pieces of work of the same type, keep the same base prompt and change only the image and voice notes for each one — do not mix several pieces of work in a single message.