1. Business School Lessons learned from our FDTL5 project: Engaging Students with Assessment Feedback FDTL Final Conference November 2009 Dr Jill Millar & Dr Karen Handley jmillar@brookes.ac.uk & khandley@brookes.ac.uk jmillar@brookes.ac.ukkhandley@brookes.ac.uk

2. Our research project & aims for this workshop Research project Investigate and encourage the adoption of feedback practices which support student engagement Share understandings of the student experience in HE The 4 stages of our research 35 student and staff interviews; 760 questionnaires on student views on different types of feedback (2006-7) 7 case studies with 3 partner HE institutions (2006-7) 5 cascade partner initiatives in 5 HE institutions (2007-8) 12 transferability partner micro case studies in 5 HEIs (2008-9) Aims for this workshop Lessons learned about our 'cascade' partner approach Lessons learned - and questions still remaining - about how to research students' experiences of feedback [access & methodology] 2 Business School

3. Our cascade approach - structure 3 Business School

4. Our cascade approach – benefits and tensions 4 Business School Benefits Broadening and deepening of ideas Broadening and deepening of involvement Testing and re-testing of methods Tensions Heterogeneity of results: less robust? Communication? Control!

5. Lessons and questions about our methodology: (1) talking to students … Ethical considerations: Dependency Power relationships Our ethics committee regulations Attracting interest: Emails? Talking to large groups PC 'message of the day'; or links from VLE Adverts 'Willing to listen' lists Recruitment by 'friendly' students? Retaining interest: Incentives? (lunch; digital recorders; vouchers?) - what else? Logistics and timetables 5 Business School

9. Lessons and questions about our methodology: (1) talking to students … Ethical considerations: Dependency Power relationships Our ethics committee regulations Attracting interest: Emails? Talking to large groups PC 'message of the day'; or links from VLE Adverts 'Willing to listen' lists Recruitment by 'friendly' students? Retaining interest: Incentives? (lunch; digital recorders; vouchers?) - what else? Logistics and timetables 9 Business School

10. Lessons and questions about our methodology: (2) researching student engagement 10 Business School

11. Lessons and questions about our methodology: (2) researching student engagement 11 Business School

12. Lessons and questions about our methodology: (2) researching student engagement 12 Business School

13. Lessons and questions about our methodology: (2) researching student engagement The need to consider the temporal and relational (sociocultural) dimensions of engagement (Price et al., 2009; Handley et al., 2009) The need to (re)consider the appropriate unit-of-analysis and appropriate methods: Individual properties vs processes of sociocultural activity (Matusov, 2009, p320) Holism as an impossible methodological task (Matusov, 2009, p323) Impossibility of seeing context; but can we see the seeds of time (Mercer, 2009) Planes of analysis (Rogoff, 1995) [UoA is never self-contained and is always part of a bigger system which has to be considered] 13 Business School

14. Lessons and questions about our methodology: (2) researching student engagement The need to consider the temporal and relational (and sociocultural) dimensions of engagement (Price et al., 2009; Handley et al., 2009) The need to (re)consider the appropriate unit-of-analysis and appropriate methods Choices were still thinking about: 14 Business School Snapshots-in-time (interviews, observations, looking for the 'seeds of time') Longitudinal research (diaries, sequences of feedback 'events', observation) Individual-in-context (Discursive repertoires...) Sociocultural context (Activity theory; Critical discourse analysis...)

15. Lessons and questions about our FDTL project: Engaging students with assessment feedback Lessons learned: Benefits and tensions in using a cascade approach The need to reconsider our unit-of-analysis Questions... How can we attract student involvement in our research? What methods give us a window onto the relational and temporal dimensions of student engagement with feedback? 15 Business School

16. References Handley, K., Price, M. & Millar, J. (2009 in submission) Beyond 'doing time': investigating the concept of student engagement with feedback Matusov, E. (2009) In search of the appropriate unit of analysis for socio-cultural research, Culture and Psychology, 13, 3, 307-333 Mercer, N. (2008) The seeds of time: Why classroom dialogue needs a temporal analysis, Journal of the Learning Sciences, 17, 33-59 Price, M., Handley, K. & Millar, J. (2009 in submission) Feedback - focussing attention on engagement Rogoff, B. (1995) Observing sociocultural activity on three planes. In J V Wertsch et al., Sociocultural studies of mind. New York: Cambridge University Press 16 Business School