Professional Development
Academic Practice and Enhancement
Professional Development
Academic Practice and Enhancement
January 2008
Feedback to students on their work and progress
Final Report
Dr Rachel Johnson
Quality Enhancement Officer SSH
This report contains the purpose, method, activity and results of a project undertaken by the QE Officer for SHH concerning external and internal policy, University practices and students’ perceptions of feedback to students. It contains discussion of the results of each activity, finishing with two sections that synthesise the lessons learned and specify recommended actions. Four Appendices give contextual, practical and additional explanatory material.
Feedback to students on their work and progress
Final Report
Introduction
From September 2007 to January 2008 the Quality Enhancement Officer for Social Sciences & Humanities (SSH) was engaged in an investigative project concerning feedback to students on their work and progress. This work had two stimuli. First, data concerning teaching and learning at Loughborough University generated through the National Student Survey indicated that students perceived assessment and feedback more negatively than other area of provision. Second, the University wished to respond to this data and identify the feedback practices that students perceive to be effective and of value to their learning and achievement. The project’s objectives were to:
· reveal why students rate feedback as a weaker area of university provision
· identify examples of effective practice within SSH and outside the university
· enable dissemination of examples of effective practice
· generate ideas amongst staff about how to improve practice
· stimulate an understanding that feedback encompasses more than written comments on assessed work
· assist staff in completing the new field on the module specification
· go some way to managing student understanding and expectation concerning the mode and frequency that they are given feedback on their work and progress
1. Work undertaken:
· A review of the external policy context for feedback [Section 2 of this document]
· A review of current Loughborough University policy on feedback [Section 3]
· A literature review of research on effective practice in feedback and research on issues that impinge negatively on communication between students and lecturers [Summary, Section 4; full report Appendix One]
· Discussion of the findings of the policy context and the literature review with SSH Teaching and Learning Co-ordinators [Section 5]
· Development of a guidance note for staff on completion of the module specification’s new field relating to feedback [Section 6]
· One meeting with two Student Representatives of each of the University’s Schools and Departments in the Students Union. A short survey was conducted followed by discussion. [Section 7]
· Meetings with departmental staff groupings: PIRES staff meeting, English and Drama Teaching and Learning Committee, SSES Teaching and Learning Committee and Staff Student Liaison Committee, PIRES Teaching Away Day (to come) and two workshops with LUSAD.
· Professional Development workshops on providing effective feedback have been designed, and first delivered in December 2007 to be repeated twice more in the academic year to June 2008.
Section 8: Lessons Learned
Section 9: Actions
Appendix One: Literature Review
Appendix Two: Questionnaire for Students’ Union Representatives
Appendix Three: Useful www links to external resources and guidance on feedback
Appendix Four: QAA Code of Practice: extract concerning student feedback
2. The external policy context for student feedback
QAA Guidelines and Codes of Practice [see Appendix 4]
The QAA (2006) recommends that feedback to students should ‘promote learning and facilitate improvement’ and suggests that “students benefit from feedback … at a time when they will be able to use … advice about how to improve their performance in time to affect their final mark” (p. 20 – 2). Feedback can be written or take place through dialogue, might be generic across a whole cohort, can come from different sources such as peers and personal tutors and can be generated during an activity or through self reflection and self assessment practices. The QAA states that all feedback should be given as soon as possible after a task is completed and that students should be told in advance how and when feedback will be given. The QAA’s summation of Institutional Audits (January 2006) identifies that students value feedback on examinations as well as coursework, whilst feedback on coursework should be given before the examination for that module is taken.
What is seen as effective practice by the QAA?
QAA Subject Reviews have consistently identified assessment feedback as the teaching and learning practice that is the least effective, inconsistent and ill-timed. However within the social science and humanities disciplines across the UK, good practice includes the following activities:
- Art and Design (2000): Has a strong tradition of providing students with oral feedback through tutorials. Students value this greatly. Students in some institutions maintain their own records of tutorial discussions.
- Drama and Dance (96 – 98): Written feedback on students’ work is supplemented by formal or informal oral feedback to individuals or small groups.
- English (1994): The application of academic and personal support for students and offering them regular and comprehensive feedback
- Geography: (1994) Full feedback of all marks and discussion of examiners’ comments on assessed scripts. Detailed and constructive written feedback, well annotated with supportive comments which provided helpful guidance.
- Languages: Standard pro formas that encourage a consistent level of feedback. Sensitive and useful feedback that has helpful and informative comments.
- Philosophy (2001): Feedback on summative assessment is not common but is reported as good practice where it occurred. Formative feedback provided on draft coursework.
- Politics (2001): Full feedback on oral presentations, examinations, dissertations and essays. Providing critical analysis that enables students at all ability levels to improve.
- Psychology (2000): The use of structured, criterion-referenced forms that give advice for improvement.
- Sport (2001): The best feedback gave detailed and constructive comment, and was clearly set in the context of learning outcomes and assessment criteria – this guided the students on how to improve their performance.
- Business and Management (1994): The increased use of standard feedback sheets sometimes supplemented by tutorials to give oral feedback.
3. Loughborough University policy for student feedback
The Coursework Code of Practice on Feedback to Students [correct at 27th October 2007)
The Coursework Code of Practice gives the university’s minimum requirements:
“Departments shall ensure that adequate, timely and appropriate feedback is provided to students on all coursework assignments. It is recognised that much valuable feedback is provided orally, but departments are encouraged to give feedback in a form that is retrievable e.g. in written or electronic form, and must keep records of feedback to students having taken place. The communication of marks/grades should be individual (except where a common mark/grade is given for group work); the communication of individual marks/grades by ID number is permitted. Programme Handbooks shall state the form of feedback that students can expect and this information shall also be given to students when assignments are set. The feedback should enable students to understand the reasons for the mark/grade given and should include constructive comments on the strengths and weaknesses of their work.”
Learning and Teaching Committee approved policy changes
[This list of policy changes is correct to 15/02/07]
· Module Specification: Approved the addition of a new free-text ‘method of feedback’ field to module specifications. New field to be rolled out 2008/09. Recognised that feedback is not restricted in definition to written comments on coursework assignments but should be interpreted more broadly and seen as a means of helping students to enhance their learning and raise their standards of performance. “It is also the hope that staff completing the module specification will be encouraged to think about the type of feedback they are giving and whether it is the most effective” (L&TC paper 2006)
· Departmental Culture: Encouraged work at departmental level so that tutors are complying with the University’s minimum requirements and so that students appreciate that feedback takes a variety of different forms. The aim is to develop a feedback culture which supported students engagement and participation in the development of their own learning.
· Course Handbooks: With reference to the Coursework Code of Practice recommended that the following text is added and that it is included or adapted within Departmental Course Handbooks:
“The feedback should enable students to understand the reasons for the mark/grade given and should include constructive comments on the strengths and weaknesses of their work.”
· Exam Feedback: Agreed that modules with 50 - 100% examination assessment should provide some form of generic feedback to students on the examination and that ideally this feedback should be made available in parallel with the module marks, particularly for Semester One modules.
· External Examiners: Agreed that question 16 on the External Examiners’ report form be amended to read,
“Was the standard of marking and feedback in assessed coursework satisfactory?”
· APR and PPR: Agreed that documentation for programme review be amended to ensure that the information requested on student feedback was to a specific standard and to include a requirement that departments outline their strategies for ensuring that individual staff comply with the University’s minimum requirements on feedback to students
· Module Feedback: Agreed that departments be required to include a question about the quality of feedback in the ‘individual tutor’ section of the OMR Module Feedback forms.
· Students’ Union: Encouraged the Students’ Union to work with course representatives and student committees to ensure that students collect feedback given on assessed work and to help students make better use of feedback to enhance their learning
4. Issues arising from the literature
To achieve effective feedback we need to become more efficient. This means helping students get the most out of the communication that occurs. Research suggests that the following issues are detrimental to efficient communication and goes some way to explain what is meant by timely, adequate and appropriate feedback. Full literature review can be found in Appendix One
Timely:
· Feedback is more effective when given immediately or soon after the activity concerned.
· Feedback is most useful when given frequently within the context of the learning activity – i.e. before extensive formal assessment. This is formative assessment and formative feedback. Some formative assessment might contribute to overall marks but need not. Formative assessment can be a small ‘in-class’ activity as well as an individual or group assignment.
· Feedback can be obtained by the student through self assessment.
Adequate:
· Feedback should enable students to understand their strengths and weaknesses and give guidance on how to improve in the future.
· Feedback is most effective and valuable when it is received prior to the assessment connected with a piece of learning. Technically this is termed formative feedback. However it could also be understood simply as ‘teaching’ in that formative activities that result in the student learning how well they are doing are developmental activities. Students often do not know how well they have understood a lecture until they have processed the information in some way. Not all formative activities are tutor dependent; self and peer assessment are powerful means of increasing a students’ understanding of assessment criteria and the evaluation process against these criteria. Not all activities have to be complex or time consuming; a student might write the ‘five main points’ taken from a lecture on an index card and give this to the tutor. The tutor might then report on these the next session. In this instance the tutor is also receiving valuable feedback on their own teaching and hence the activity is of value to both parties.
· Feedback is effective when students can see the advice set out in practice, i.e. when they can access examples of what you would like them to achieve.
· Students will gain greater understanding of past achievements and future direction when this is the subject of discussion with their peers, in groups, in class or with a tutor.
· Discussing some examples of how and why previous assignments have been marked is highly recommended.
· Students’ work is marked against assessment criteria and tutors should relate their feedback to these criteria so that students can diagnose why they achieved a particular grade.
· When feedback’s focus is on an activity that has come to an end, it is of value as a developmental process only when it can be transferred to the future. Feedback on past events therefore has to be generic in scope rather than a close analysis specific to a piece of work.
· A balance should be struck between brevity and extent; students need to be able to pick out what is essential for future progress from the more routine issues.
Appropriate:
· Research literature suggests that students and academics need to check they have shared understandings of academic conventions and terminology. Whilst academics might have implicit and shared collegial understanding of ‘criticality’ and ‘analysis’ in the context of their own discipline, students might not. Disciplinary differences need to be taken into account, e.g. ‘critical’ could mean something different in English to the meaning(s) it can have in Sociology. Comments such as ‘too descriptive’ might not have self-evident meaning to a student. Student thinks, “Hmm but what would less descriptive look like?”.
· Dialogue with students about conventions, terminology and expectations might help students make more of the communication.
· Students also reflect on their learning. They will interpret your feedback against their own assessments of how they are doing. Your feedback might concur, augment or conflict with their views. Active engagement and dialogue around feedback will help students really listen to, understand and take on board what you are trying to say to them.
· Receiving feedback on performance, particularly from an authority, will be an emotive process for students, affecting their self-esteem and sense of identity in the academic context. Motivation and self-esteem are more likely to be enhanced when a course has many low-stakes tasks with feedback geared to providing information about progress against own previous performance. A balance needs to be struck between the extent of formative tasks and feedback within a module and high stakes assessment that give defining statements (grades) about how students have done compared to their peers.