Scottish Quality Enhancement Workshop on Improving Feedback to Students, University of Glasgow 4 June 2004 REINVENTING FEEDBACK FOR THE CONTEMPORARY SCOTTISH UNIVERSITY Dai Hounsell University of Edinburgh

THE CONTEMPORARY CONTEXT FOR FEEDBACK n well-grounded evidence on feedback’s impact on learning and its value for students n concerns about shrinking opportunities for feedback, in the wake of : vlarger classes vmore diverse students vdeclining unit resources v‘end-loaded’ assessment regimes n new ways of sustaining feedback that won’t put unrealistic burdens on staff

PRESENTATION AIMS is best given on conventional coursework needn’t be immediate nor prompt is given on ‘finished’ work is private and individual is in written form comprises comments and a grade is transparent and addressable is best provided by the lecturer doesn’t call for great skill or hard-won expertise 1. Questioning traditional assumptions that feedback …

PRESENTATION AIMS 2. Re-inventing practices to suggest new directions for feedback which:  are feasible and sustainable  reflect recent insights from research, and developments in practices

GUIDING PRINCIPLES  A working [re-]definition of feedback any information, process or activity which ‘affords’ or accelerates learning, whether by enabling students to achieve higher-quality learning outcomes than they might have otherwise attained, or by enabling them to attain these outcomes more rapidly  Key functions of feedback  To evaluate progress, performance or achievement  To encourage and support  To instil a grasp of high-quality work and how it might be achieved

ASSUMPTION ONE Feedback is [best] given on conventional coursework GROUNDS FOR QUESTIONING n post-exam feedback is rare, while feedback on non-traditional assignments can be discretionary or perfunctory I think it’s very important to get the feedback because on another course I’d done the presentation and received really no feedback so you’re swimming around wondering, well, you know, are you actually moving in the right direction? I think actually having written feedback as well, and the way it was set out, has been very useful. It’s just picked up on your weaknesses but also your strengths as well so giving you some direction on what you really now have to go and focus on. [ Social Sciences student]

ASSUMPTION ONE [continued] GROUNDS FOR QUESTIONING n declining volume of coursework, and reduced opportunities for interaction in tutorial and practicals n the potential of intrinsic as well as extrinsic feedback, i.e. Intrinsic opportunities within everyday teaching and learning to grasp tutors’ expectations, and practise meeting them Extrinsic opportunities to get feedback on assignments completed outwith class time

ASSUMPTION ONE [continued] S:The problem solving sessions we have at the end of this module, they’re something you don’t get in all the modules and it’s really helpful especially for one of the papers in the exam, the problem solving bit. S1:You’ve got your [unit handbook] that tells you all your references and learning objectives for each lecture. S2:And the lecture actually itself, and then afterwards it’s like discussions been done and then you’ve got the reference… S3:And even answers to the problems that we’ve done. And the discussions afterwards. If you miss anything during the lesson you have it. S4:It’s really demanding because you have to think and do a lot of work for it, but in the end, they give you the basis for to succeed. If you do work, of course. So it’s good. (from McCune, Hounsell and Nisbet, 2004)

SCOPE FOR REINVENTING PRACTICES a. ENLARGING THE SCOPE FOR FEEDBACK widening opportunities for students to gain constructive feedback on their progress and performance  try to ensure that exams are not feedback-free zones  build student-generated feedback into non-traditional assignments  blend extrinsic with intrinsic feedback

ASSUMPTION TWO Feedback needn’t be immediate or prompt GROUNDS FOR QUESTIONING n feedback, immediacy and timeousness n lack of engagement with ‘end-loaded’ feedback  assignments with “no past or future” (Roe, 1974)  unintended consequences of modularisation and semesterisation

SCOPE FOR REINVENTING PRACTICES b. RESCHEDULING FEEDBACK rescheduling assignments and assessments, to optimise rich, timely and constructive feedback  earlier deadlines, faster turn- round times for marks and comments  more but shorter assignments  staged or cumulative assignments [c.f. the ‘patchwork text’]

ASSUMPTION THREE Feedback is given on ‘finished’ work GROUNDS FOR QUESTIONING  feedback as a loop “When we desire a motion to follow a given pattern, the difference between this pattern and the actually performed motion is used as a new input to cause the part regulated to move in such a way as to bring its motion closer to that given by the pattern” (Wiener, 1961, p.6)  experience and practices in peer review and postgraduate research supervision

SCOPE FOR REINVENTING PRACTICES c. FEED-FORWARD enabling students to engage constructively with tutor’s comments and gain practice in revising  a draft-comment-revision strategy, so that feedback is put to direct and immediate use  more comment on work-in- progress, less on finished work  help students learn how to use feedback to improve their work

ASSUMPTION FOUR Feedback is private and individual GROUNDS FOR QUESTIONING  dearth of empirical evidence that feedback to individuals is superior to group or whole-class feedback  feedback as dialogue and interchange

SCOPE FOR REINVENTING PRACTICES d. WHOLE-CLASS FEEDBACK use time for feedback more effectively, through greater group or class feedback and less comment to individuals n combine rich ‘generic’ comments to the class with pro forma ratings to individuals n use whole-class feedback to focus on positives, e.g. alternative ways of answering a question well n use whole-class briefings for ‘feed-forward’

ASSUMPTION FIVE Feedback comments are written GROUNDS FOR QUESTIONING  providing legible and accessible written comments is time-consuming  the largely untapped feedback potential of new technologies

SCOPE FOR REINVENTING PRACTICES e. e-FEEDBACK using new technology to generate, communicate, retrieve and monitor feedback more efficiently  audio-feedback as a viable (and less time-consuming?) alternative to written comment  machine-readable pro-formas, to identify feedback priorities  use software to generate feedback comments

ASSUMPTION SIX Feedback = comments + (mark or grade) GROUNDS FOR QUESTIONING n Decline of one-to-one tutorial/feedback dialogue n Observation as a proxy for feedback comments, e.g. where work is not privately submitted but on display S1:You’ve got hands when you’re presenting, it’s so good. S2:I was noticing that when I was doing it. S1:No but you used your hands when you were talking about the Northern and the Southern Hemisphere, and it was great because you don’t actually have to give all the details. Like a diagram, you can point to bits. I think it helps if you follow a structure. Like [lecturer X] always … tells you what he’s going to say more or less and then elaborates on all the points, which I think is really good for notetaking…

SCOPE FOR REINVENTING PRACTICES f. COLLABORATIVE AND ON- DISPLAY ASSIGNMENTS devising assignments in which students pool knowledge, insights, and strategies, and/or openly display their work to their peers  joint literature reviews, collaborative analyses of data, group projects, &c.  oral or poster presentations, or ‘walkabout-talkabout’ displays of analyses, solutions, interpretations &c.  any of these, plus peer- generated feedback

ASSUMPTION SEVEN Feedback is transparent and readily addressable GROUNDS FOR QUESTIONING n students’ difficulties in making sense of tutors’ feedback n uncertainty about assessment expectations and criteria n variations in requirements - across lecturers, course units and subjects n student uncertainty about how to act on the feedback given

ASSUMPTION SEVEN [continued] Sandra (from James, 2000) “ You think, it would be nice to know why it was excellent, then perhaps I could do it again! As I haven’t got any idea why it was excellent, I’ll never be able to, but there you go. Gail (from Hounsell, 1987) “I felt pretty satisfied with it. I thought I’d get a brilliant mark for it. I was really put off when I saw the tutor’s comments. I just thought it was ‘ What limits a person’s ability to do two things at once?’ Not why, or how it was done. I just answered the question, which the tutor didn’t think was right.”

ASSUMPTION SEVEN [continued] Explain A bit confused Linkage? ? ?? ! (…) (from Ivanic et al., 2000) “I don’t think that they are marked for us. They are marked for them. So if they write anything in the margins, it’s not so we will know not to do it again. It’s so they will remember that we’ve done it wrong, when they add up the marks." (ETL Project)

SCOPE FOR REINVENTING PRACTICES g. CRITERION-FOCUSSED FEEDBACK making assignment and assessment criteria more transparent, better exemplified, and linked to marks and comments  guidance on assessment criteria linked to a bank of examples  use pro forma mark-and- comment sheets  gear whole-class feedback to toughest criteria

ASSUMPTION EIGHT Feedback is [best] provided by the teacher GROUNDS FOR QUESTIONING n fast-growing involvement of students – and pupils – in assessment and feedback n growing awareness of benefits of self-generated and peer feedback

SCOPE FOR REINVENTING PRACTICES h. STUDENT INVOLVEMENT IN FEEDBACK developing students’ capacity to: engage with strengths and weaknesses in their own work evaluate others’ work give constructive feedback  students pre-specify what feedback they would most like  students apply familiar criteria to evaluate their own work; or adapt them to an unfamiliar task  students identify high-quality by their peers  students pool ideas on how work can be improved

ASSUMPTION NINE Becoming expert at giving feedback isn’t hard GROUNDS FOR QUESTIONING  Evidence of large disparities in feedback across courses and tutors  New lecturers’ experiences of marking and commenting  Dearth of accessible discussion and examples of good feedback

SCOPE FOR REINVENTING PRACTICES i. ENHANCED FEEDBACK EXPERTISE encouraging colleagues to collate and share their insights and experiences on giving feedback well  inducting and mentoring new colleagues in providing effective feedback  blend second-marking with consultation on what feedback would be most effective  collaborate in the use of technology to generate feedback

CONCLUDING COMMENTS n The possibilities reviewed here entail re-thinking: when feedback is given, for maximum impact how feedback can be generated and communicated what functions feedback fulfils and what other complementary ways might be open to you, in accelerating students’ learning

CONCLUDING COMMENTS n The utility and feasibility of any one of these possibilities is likely to vary from course to course n Many of these possibilities are probably already being pursued in a department near you…