Improving Students’ understanding of Feedback Deborah Murdoch Eaton, Professor of Medical Education (Medical Education Unit) Alastair Brown, medical student

alternative title: Feedback – Misunderstood or just not recognized?

National Student Survey All final year students at HE institutions Rate 1-5 agreement with 22 statements about HE experience The teaching on my course Assessment and Feedback Organisation and management Learning Resources Personal Development Overall satisfaction

NSS – inevitably used for ranking University of Leeds “Overall satisfaction” 82% agreement (score 4 or 5) Ranked 2007 76 / 145

National Student Survey: “assessment and feedback” questions The criteria used in marking have been clear in advance Feedback assignments and marking have been fair Feedback on my work has been prompt I have received detailed comments on my work Feedback on my work has helped me clarify things I did not understand

Assessment and Feedback category Nationally the “lowest” rated category 62% agreement rating 4/5 nationally 55% Univ Leeds overall 48% Medicine / Dentistry ( from 41% 2006) Compared with other medical schools? Range 19 – 56% agreement

“Feedback” : Leeds School of Medicine What do students (and staff), understand by “feedback”? Can we do it better / do we need to do it better?

Feedback Group with students – (2006/7) Nominated representatives across all student years Focus group technique to explore understanding amongst student body Working group to consider where to go to from here Feedback study 2007/8 with focus groups from each year

What are your students’ experiences or views on the feedback they get? What sort of responses have you had / do you think you might have from surveying a cohort of your students? What would they raise? Discuss Come back with a few examples

Feedback group 2006/7 – key findings Lots of positives about recent changes (P3) Misunderstandings Difference between feedback on the course cf feedback on their work back to students Why feedback not instantaneous When / how / why they get feedback How to get more or judge if they need more

Focus groups 2007 "The last group I met was Year 5 students who had a different perspective on feedback, what they thought they had received, how they responded to it and its’ value. This group of students started the session by saying that the only feedback they received was from their grade, but on discussion it became clear that they had received a great deal of feedback throughout their training. This included written feedback from SSCs, self-scoring tests, information from lecturers about questions in tests, daily feedback from the consultants on their teams, their appraisals, peer feedback when they work or study together and from their own reflection on the feedback they have received, making changes and developing."

Early in course - insecurity “I don’t find negative feedback helpful, it undermines my confidence and leaves me feeling like I can’t do anything” “getting feedback from friends might not be helpful as they might just be being nice not wanting to hurt your feelings” “positive feedback can make you complacent”

What is done with feedback “I don’t do anything with feedback when I get it” “SSCs are the only part of the course where we get feedback, and it is not an important part of the course” “I just file good comments or good grades”

Types of feedback – lack of specificity “ ‘More Effort Required’ is a comment that is often put on work when giving bad marks, but you may have put in a lot of effort so this comment isn’t helpful” “ a tick by a paragraph wasn’t helpful as it doesn’t make you do anything differently”

Feedback groups – key findings Lots of positives about recent changes (P3) Misunderstandings Difference between feedback on the course cf feedback on their work back to students Why feedback not instantaneous When / how / why they get feedback How to get more or judge if they need more Recognising when they get it (particularly if not individual / one-to-one or face-to-face)

What is feedback “group work and (peer) presentations / discussion is not feedback – its just chat to fill in time” “discussions during tutorials or …. to the whole lecture theatre are not proper feedback – are they?” “……….can’t give you feedback as they don’t know you and anyway the answer is either right or wrong”

So – moving forward from this….

Key Issues – for staff / teachers That the students actually do get feedback timely feedback Quality of feedback SMART Understandable to students

What can we do to improve students’ understanding of the feedback they do get? Discuss Ideas or examples of good practice / innovations you have tried

Year 3 project (student selected component) – summer 2007 Literature review on good practice in feedback Identify and develop ways of improving students understanding of feedback in the medical course Staff students

What’s in the literature (HE not just medicine) Principles of Good Feedback Gibbs & Simpson 2004. Does your assessment support your students’ learning. J Teaching Learning in Higher Education Phil Race – website + literature www.Phil-Race.com Engaging Students with Assessment Feedback: what works FDTL5 project – literature review, HEA website NSS Institutional Case Studies HEA website

Key aspects of “good and effective” feedback from literature Students and staff must have a clear and mutual understanding of the desired learning outcomes of a learning activity Feedback is provided in a timely fashion, and in sufficient detail. It should focus on the performance of the student in achieving the desired outcomes

Key aspects of “good and effective” feedback from literature (2) Feedback is recognised as being given Feedback is attended to and understood Feedback is acted upon

Feedback project 2007/8 Evaluate students’ understanding of purpose of feedback, and its’ role in their learning Evaluate whether an electronic resource is helpful in improving this (increase staff awareness of good feedback practice)

Key points Staff liaison to ensure Review of resource and contents for their ICU Publicise and direct students to it at appropriate times eg after assessment results Staff able to access the resources

2007/8 Feedback Study Beginning of academic year Focus groups Each year Understanding of feedback Views on how best to launch the resource Questionnaire to whole school Staff liaison Launch of electronic resource End of academic year

Development of “Feedback” resource Key elements Information about what is purpose of feedback When and how they get feedback What to do with it How to judge if you need more and how to get it

What’s on the site? http://www.leeds.ac.uk/medicine/mbchb/feedback/ principles of good feedback how to get the most out of feedback. Individual ICU / SSC mapping where to get feedback, in relation to specific learning outcomes for that ICU. Links to the full learning outcomes for each ICU. Links to explain how to go about obtaining using different types of feedback.

Outcome??? Improved student understanding of role of feedback in their learning Use and recognition of wider range of resources for feedback Improved staff awareness of role of feedback / mechanisms / highlighting for students Improved NSS scores