Completing the cycle: an investigation of structured

reflection as a tool to encourage student

engagement with feedback

Jackie PatesLancaster Environment Centre

Robert Blake and Ali CooperCentre for the Enhancement of Learning &

TeachingLancaster University

Background

• The quantity, quality and timing of feedback are currently “big issues” in university education.

• Students want more, clearer and faster feedback.• Staff are juggling high workloads and increasing class

sizes.• However, students don’t always use the feedback

they are given to the greatest effect.

Possible solution: work with students to develop their self-evaluation skills.

Project aims

• To investigate how students use feedback.

• To explore different methods of helping students to maximise the benefits of the feedback they are given.

Supporting and developing learner self-regulation

• Clarify what good performance is• Facilitate self-assessment• Deliver high quality feedback information• Encourage teacher and peer dialogue• Encourage positive motivation and self-

esteem• Provide opportunities to close the gap• Use feedback to improve teaching

After Nicol & Macfarlane-Dick, 2006

ENV201: Project Skills• Core 2nd year module (72 students)• Two components: data analysis and report

writing• Writing skills structure:

– Friday: Introduce topic, brainstorm with students, analyse examples

– Fri-Weds: Students carry out task– Thurs: Feedback session– Throughout: Extensive dialogue via VLE discussion

boards

Feedback methods• Class discussion• Student directed annotation of work• Group feedback through the VLE• Student questions on post-it notes with

responses in class and on the VLE• VLE discussion forum• Occasional limited individual feedback

Students positive about teaching method, but don’t always fully utilise feedback.

How do we do? Supporting and developing learner self-regulation

Clarify what good performance is Facilitate self-assessmentDeliver high quality feedback informationEncourage teacher and peer dialogueEncourage positive motivation and self-

esteemProvide opportunities to close the gapUse feedback to improve teaching

After Nicol & Macfarlane-Dick, 2006

Methodology• In class, incorporate formal self-evaluation tasks

“How does this feedback apply to me?”• Focus groups:

Week 1: Focus groups “How have you used feedback in the past?”

Week 8: Reflective writing “Evaluate different types of feedback and your responses to it”

– Week 21: One to one discussions “How did you respond to these pieces of feedback?”

– Week 28: Focus groups “Reflect on value of feedback”• Whole class questionnaires

Week 01 questionnairesAsked about experiences of:

Comments in margin (written, individual) 100%Paragraph at end (written, individual) 99%Marking grid (written, individual) 64%One-to-one (verbal, individual) 25%Group (verbal / written) 63%

General comments that:Not enough feedbackMore one-to-one neededLack of clarityLittle positive identified

% that received this type of feedback

Week 01 questionnaires

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

0 1 2 3

Percent

Margin

Paragraph

Grid

121

Group

The feedback was helpful for indicating what I had done well:

Not at all helpful Extremely helpful

Week 01 questionnairesThe feedback was helpful for indicating where I had gone wrong:

Not at all helpful Extremely helpful

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

0 1 2 3

Pecent

Margin

Paragraph

Grid

121

Group

Week 01 questionnairesI used the feedback to guide my next piece of assessed work:

Not at all A lot

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

0 1 2 3

Percent

Margin

Paragraph

Grid

121

Group

Week 01 focus groupsNot fully analysed, but some interesting

comments ….• Students feel very pulled down by constantly

negative feedback.• If a piece of work is “Good” they would like to

know which aspects are good.• Students like marking schemes with comment

boxes; it forces us to explain how we arrived at a mark.

Week 01 focus groups• Students don’t understand comments like:

“expand” “what?” “?” “be more specific” “and…” “why?”

• School experience is of extensive (up to 15!) drafts with “feedback”. However, students recognise that they aren’t learning from it and the final work doesn’t always feel like their own.

• Students in ES find it difficult to see the relationships between pieces of work.

• Students like receiving specific advice:“Next time do this differently”

Week 08 reflective writing

Students were asked to answer the following questions about a range of feedback types:“How useful was it to you? Were there any particularly good points or bad points?”

Then asked to reflect on:Has anything changed since last year?Are you using the feedback you have received in different ways?Are your ways of working different to last year?

Week 08 reflective writing

• Group written feedback:– “if I’ve done something wrong, I don’t feel put down”– “they are a quick guideline to check through”– “makes it clear which aspects are more important”– “give ideas I might not have thought of”– “make the overall picture easier to understand”

• Group verbal feedback:– “gives me and other people the opportunity to ask questions and everyone benefits from the answer”– “feels like nagging sometimes”– “verbal comments could be challenged by the group”– “allowed lectures to share tips … which I may not have got just from written comments”

Week 08 reflective writing

Some examples of good practice emerged…“Time management is much better”“Use mark schemes more”“Becoming more analytical of my own work”“Creating check lists to relate to my current work from previous feedback”

Conclusions (1)• By creating a space for iteration of work,

students become more engaged with feedback and start to value it more – even beyond the initial module.

• “Poor” practice by students (e.g. poor grammar and spelling) is often a function of poor time management.

• Feedback to the group can be effective – especially if opportunities for dialogue are built in.

Conclusions (2)• Students have recognised value of group

feedback to:– Identify issues with own work– Place their work in the context of class– Learn from others’ mistakes

• Verbal feedback to group allows students to clarify meaning.

• Online discussion space creates opportunities for “conversations” between students and with staff, not always possible in class.

This project was funded by the GEES subject centre.