Knowing how powerful feedback can be in the learning process (Hattie, 2008), I have always been intrigued by feedback and students’ perceptions of it. However, as Joe Gould mentioned in his latest blog, feedback processes in higher education have received much criticism from students (Molloy, Boud and Henderson, 2020), so why is this the case? Is it because students and educators have different ideas about what feedback is or assume we all share the same understandings of the feedback processes? I know that I have received interesting comments from students about feedback, with some of them seeing it just as ‘the teacher telling me I’m good’.
Carless and Boud (2018) define feedback ‘as a process through which learners make sense of information from various sources and use it to enhance their work or learning strategies.’(p. 1315) This is a move away from students being told what is good and bad in their work to one where they are expected to interpret the information so as to construct their own understanding of how to improve, in a dialogic process, which may differ dramatically from what they have previously experienced in their education. So how can we support our students to develop a better understanding of feedback or promote feedback literacy?
Carless and Boud (2018) and Molloy, Boud and Henderson (2020), suggest the need for educators and students to work together to develop student feedback literacy providing a framework underpinned by:
- appreciating feedback
- making judgements
- managing affect
- taking action
But what does this look like in an everyday context? To help unpack this, Bristol’s Assessment and Feedback Strategy 2022-30 can provide a useful starting point.
Integrated
If we want our students to appreciate feedback, we need to help them to see the value of it. In other words, we need them to know that the feedback they get from one task can be used in a subsequent task, which highlights the need for us as educators to design tasks and assessments that are integrated or sequenced in a way that enable students to act on the feedback. We also need to emphasise that feedback does not only happen after formal assessments but is integrated in the whole learning process. It can also come from many sources, not just from educators, but from peers, as well as oneself. Being aware of this prepares students more for what they can expect as they move beyond their university studies and have to continue to regulate their own learning.
Designed for all
Another aspect of feedback literacy, is the ability to make judgements. To develop self-regulated learners (which will enable students to thrive in a world beyond university) or if peers are going to be a source of feedback (to address the large cohorts we have) then our students need to be trained to develop evaluative judgement so that they can identify effective work. Often, we are so embedded in our own fields and knowing what knowledge is legitimate that we assume our students have the same awareness of this knowledge. However, with the diverse cohorts we see, we cannot assume we all have the same understanding of what constitutes good work in a particular discipline. To be more inclusive the knowledge needs to be made explicit to students. This could involve us making our marking criteria transparent and understandable for students, and allowing time to unpack the different criteria so students know what they mean. Incorporating time for students to look at exemplars and compare or judge the work according to the criteria, can help students better understand the expectations and develop the necessary skills to be more self-regulated learners. Having this shared understanding of the legitimate knowledge and expectations is a far more inclusive process.
Authentic
Emotions play a huge role in the feedback process, with students sometimes feeling they are being unfairly criticized, we thus need to help them manage affect to avoid them putting up defensive barriers when they receive feedback they don’t want to hear. As educators, we can create authentic learning environments where students are encouraged to seek feedback and know that the feedback they receive is authentic to their discipline. Students need to feel comfortable to take risks and ask questions when they are unsure of the knowledge required, to help them push their learning. Building a sense of trust in our students will hopefully make them feel that the feedback they obtain is for their own development.
If feedback is appreciated and students can make their own judgements about their work as well as manage affect by seeing feedback as integral to their learning journey, students will hopefully be prompted to take action on the feedback and develop strategies that can close the feedback loop.
Please share what you are doing to develop feedback literacy in your own students.
References
Carless, D. and Boud, D., 2018. The development of student feedback literacy: enabling uptake of feedback. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 43(8), pp.1315-1325.
Hattie, J., 2008. Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. Routledge.
Molloy, E., Boud, D. and Henderson, M., 2020. Developing a learning-centred framework for feedback literacy. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 45(4), pp.527-540.
Fully on board with all that. Some thoughts about why feedback continues to be often inadequate (aside from staff not getting on board with being dialogic and using suitable tools, like Screencast to do so):
1. Low, no, or uncertain take-up of feedback by students. Anecdotally, only a small fraction of students actually look at their feedback on assessments — bit of chicken and egg possible here, of course. Staff thus default to minimal feedback or a ‘just in time’ approach, i.e., if approached, do feedback then.
2. Feedback loop not closed: staff rarely know if the student is using the feedback given, so not incentivised to produce a good produce that the customer may not be using well/at all!
3. Staff struggle enough with basic marking, so will compromise on rich feedback, as it just takes longer to do. (Can mitigate with dialogic techniques, but that requires awareness and coaching/training).
Hi Lloyd, thank you so much for your comments and apologies for not replying sooner. You bring up some relevant points and ones that I am sure are shared by many. While I can’t claim to have solutions to those issues, I’ll add my thoughts below in response to your points.
1. I think this is where we, as educators, need to change the culture around feedback and find ways to train our students in appreciating the feedback they receive for their own growth and development.
2. Encourage students to look at previous feedback and demonstrate how they have developed since the last feedback in a following assessment. This could be through them filling in a cover sheet and saying what feedback they got in a previous assessment and how they have changed in this one, perhaps. Of course, assessments will then need to be integrated.
3. I think this is where we need to train students in developing effective peer feedback skills themselves by unpacking marking criteria and matching them to exemplars, so that they can provide valuable feedback to peers and also promote more self-regulated learning. This is one way we can deal with large cohorts.
Do you think this would work in your context?