Feedback

Marking student work is one of the most significant events in the lives of both students and academics (Fleming 1999), and is therefore, one of the most important tasks that staff do (Cryer and Kaikumba 1987; Irons 2007). The feedback created as part of the process is central to pedagogy (Kahu 2008; Gould 2011; Jones et al. 2012), at the heart of the learning experience (Race 2001; Carless et al. 2011; Cryer and Kaikumba 1987; Gould 2011; Crook et al. 2012; Henderson and Phillips 2015; Cranny 2016) and one of the most powerful influences on student achievement ((Bloxham and Boyd 2007); Turner and West 2013; McCarthy 2015; Cranny 2016). Ramsden (2003) says it is ‘impossible to overstate the role of effective comments on students work’ which is upheld in both the research, and the reactions from students to their feedback observed every day. Feedback is important throughout our lives but never more important than during periods of formal education (Handley et al. 2007).

Comments regarding the importance of feedback are usually qualified by a reference to ‘effective’ (Hatzipanagos and Warburton 2009; Gould and Day 2013) or ‘high quality’ (Henderson and Phillips 2015) feedback, and may go on to mention timeliness, its role in developing student-staff relationships (Crook et al. 2012), encouraging learner

autonomy, deep learning, and a framework for high achievement (Gould and Day 2013). Feedback only enables progress if students perceive the value of engaging with it, therefore, good quality feedback is vital to the student experience (Henderson and Phillips 2015; Mayhew 2016). The primary motivation for research into provision of quality feedback is the consensus among staff and students that feedback of good quality is a vast potential source of learning (Sommers 2006).

HEI’s benefit if quality feedback improves student results, and so staff are encouraged to spend large quantities of time on assessment feedback. In the UK, feedback is one of the student satisfaction factors in the UK National Student Survey (NSS), the results of which directly influence the ranking of HEI’s in the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF), and it is a teaching quality indicator for the Quality

Assurance Agency (QAA).

The creation of assessment feedback is a ritual of academic life that is carried out with varying degrees of consideration by staff, yet can be a significant resource for teaching improvement. During the process of creating feedback on student work, staff may observe where learning has taken place and modify teaching based on student performance (Angelo and Cross 1993). These observations refocus staff attention to improve areas of miscommunication, or reduced understanding, and can direct effort to address unsuccessful elements of teaching, thus increasing the potential for learning. This kind of guidance is especially useful to new staff (Gibbs 2010).

Students can use grades to monitor their own progress (Marriott and Lim Keong 2012) and manage their effort accordingly. However, Smith (2007) discovered that students only perceive a response to work as feedback if it is written down, highlighting a significant discrepancy between the staff and student perceptions of what constitutes feedback. Evans (2013) states that there is no general agreement on a definition of feedback. For instance, it has been described as a ‘set of instructional activities and functions’(Clark 1994). Price et al. (2010) says ‘feedback’ may have many purposes, and will only be useful if all parties share an understanding of those purposes. Although the term feedback covers a broad range of activities in a HE setting, the majority are part of a formal process known as assessment feedback, which can be distinguished from other feedback on learning (Jones et al.2012; Henderson and Phillips2015)

The feedback artefact itself is usually intended to be multipurpose. Its function could merely be to deliver judgement and justify marks, or offer advice for improvement, for this or future works. In the process it portrays the marker’s level of expertise, diligence, impartiality and concern for the student, in both an academic and pastoral sense.

Students and even the staff who created it, may not be fully aware of which functions, or combinations thereof, are involved (Carless 2006).

Regardless of the other functions and purposes it may have, the literature agrees that for feedback to be effective in learning, it needs to provide qualitative information about student performance, as well as a grade (Hattie and Timperley 2007; Jones et al. 2012; Henderson and Phillips 2015). Although staff observations sometimes suggest

otherwise, Higgins et al. (2002) found that students are not necessarily driven solely by grades and they desire feedback that can enable further learning.

The contemporary term for the portions of feedback designed to guide the student towards further learning is ’feed forward’ (Race 2014). Feed forward offers support and guidance for improvement in the next piece of work. It takes the emphasis off judgement and grade justification, and focusses on learning.

Conveying the learning message - Transmission V Dialogue

Traditionally feedback was perceived as the transmission of knowledge which occurred at the end of a topic of learning, usually with the responsibility for the process with the teacher role (Cranny 2016). Research is challenging this perspective and moving ideas of feedback towards a dialogue (Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick 2006; Crook et al. 2010; Cranny 2016). Sommers (2006) suggests that learning from feedback can only take place when ‘students and instructors create a partnership’ by encouraging students to engage in a dialogue, which also generates motivation (Hatzipanagos and Warburton 2009), and skills to sustain continuous learning (Boud and Falchikov 2007). However, in modern HEI’s, workloads often restrict the iterations of communication to just a few exchanges per student per subject. Somehow staff are expected to manage that issue with varying degrees of support. Consequently the search for the most useful means of delivering feedback for learning goes on.