Dr Clare CarruthersStudents attitudes towards feedback:

Departmental experiences and reflections

Implementation Strategy for the Ulster Principles of A&F for learning

Appointment of Departmental Champions Departmental Champion Workshops On-going Championing of the embedding of the

Principles: Presentation to final years by Student

Engagement Officer of UUSU In advance of the deadline for completion of the

NSS Across two campuses

Focus:The “Focus on Feedback” UUSU

designed leaflet No awareness of the “Focus on Feedback” guide; Issues surrounding understanding of terminology and

assessment criteria; A disengagement with feedback; Recognition that feedback is only a mark and comments

received some time after submission i.e. summative; No recognition of the various opportunities for engaging

with feedback, in particular formative feedback; Students only recognised that they received feedback

twice, maybe three times per semester; Lecturers recognise that they provide feedback perhaps as

frequently as weekly.

No recognition of the following opportunities:

• Tutorials to support preparation of upcoming seminars/presentations;

• Verbal feedback provided immediately following presentations/seminars;

• Weekly/fortnightly meetings supporting, reviewing and giving feedback for research papers/business plans;

• Advice on the content/drafts of essays, projects, reports etc.;

• No awareness that students could receive feedback on examinations;

• Model answers.

Students were very familiar with the various different types of assessment, but

were far less familiar with these key aspects feedback

The biggest issue was surrounding the terminology,if they don’t recognise they are receiving feedback,

their experience of it and the translationof that to the NSS is obvious

Future Implementation “Focus on Feedback” guide available within Course

Support Areas for every course in Blackboard Learn; Incorporation of the content of the guide within Study

Skills module in year one; Engagement/debate with students on the various

feedback mechanisms – what mechanisms do they like and why? Which are most useful to them? What mechanisms of feedback do they find most useful for different types of assessment? – students as change agents

Innovation in feedback mechanisms – audio, podcasting, video, smartphone feedback etc.

Departmental project – Audio Feedback: Students as change agents

Audio feedback provided to final year and second year students via Wimba Voice Authoring within the VLE

Feedback was for individual essays Students advised that audio feedback was

available and where Invited to comment on what they thought of this

feedback mechanism

Most of these students had never had this opportunity to do this before

Their comments were overwhelmingly positive:

“you can hear what areas of your essay you did well in and what areas you can improve upon for

future essay submissions, in relation to the

content, structure and referencing”

 ”I was surprised that I was comfortable with the new audio style feedback, it

definitely was convenient for me, and that I was able to gauge the lecturers feelings of my work as it was a private

conversation rather than in class”

“I was able to read through the essay along with the points

you made. It did feel more personal than getting the

written comments.”

 

“I found the audio feedback very useful as it was very accessible, high quality, easy to use, easy to understand, clear and concise. I feel that it is a very useful tool as I am able to go and listen to the feedback when I want so that I can keep up to date on where I am going wrong”

“I believe this form of feedback is not only

extremely informative but an easier way for students to

understand where they picked up marks and lost

marks in their essay”

“I found this form of feedback very interesting and found it

encouraged me to take on board the comments made, as sometimes when directly

reading comments I tend to just skim over them quickly rather than actually taking in what

feedback has been given”

What they liked about it:

Convenience; Effectiveness; Constructive for future

work; Personalised; Flexibility in Accessing; Ability to re-access; Ability to listen and read

through work simultaneously.

What they had reservations about:

Deterioration in student-teacher relationship;

No immediate opportunity to ask questions/seek clarity on points made;

Would also like to see written annotations on the actual hard copy of coursework.

Key Issues:

Recognising that our understanding is not always the same as students’ understanding;

Finding ways to reduce that gap and change attitudes and understanding;

Engaging students with feedback; Students as change agents.

Experiences Elsewhere

Experiences of other institutions?

Is this an issue elsewhere?

How is this being addressed elsewhere?