by Janet Cronshaw & Vladislav Grozev
Why are we interested in feedback?
Students’ opinions of assessment and feedback, as evidenced by student surveys such as TellUS and the NSS, tend to be rather low. There is a substantial body of literature on what makes good feedback (constructive, timely, transferable, balanced, etc.) It is, however, less clear whether students consistently receive effective feedback and/or how well-equipped students feel when preparing for, and using feedback on, their assessments (assignment literacy).
As a first step towards understanding this, we conducted a survey of Level 1 Biosciences students, focusing on three aspects of feedback:
- Do students find it useful?
- Do they receive consistent feedback from educators?
- How confident are they in using feedback from assessments?
The full report can be read at this link. We’d be really happy to talk to anyone about our results!
Students think feedback is useful (but not always consistent)
Students were overwhelmingly positive about the usefulness of feedback. Whilst this wasn’t particularly surprising, it was reassuring to know that the hard work and effort put into giving feedback is something that is desired. I’m sure we can all appreciate the frustration of knowing that our feedback hasn’t been looked at! There were some really positive responses that highlighted the excellent feedback that students receive for some of their work and which we can highlight as best practice.
There did, however, seem to be a less positive perception of feedback consistency. Whilst this may suggest that students genuinely don’t get consistent feedback from different educators, the high ratio of neutral responses suggest that students maybe just aren’t sure or perhaps haven’t received enough examples of feedback to be certain of consistency. It was also highlighted that consistency does not necessarily mean consistently good.
Disconnect of assignment literacy from usefulness
The responses to questions about assignment literacy were much more mixed, suggesting that our students are not confident in this aspect of assessment. In particular, they expressed low confidence in judging their own work and using marking criteria to self-assess how well they are doing.
This aspect of feedback is, we feel, an area that is difficult to address but vital that we do. It seems likely that not all learners arrive at university with the same skills in assignment literacy or are equally prepared to apply their feedback in a constructive way. If we want our teaching to be inclusive, we need to ensure that we are embedding opportunities that promote students’ development of assignment and feedback literacy.
So what are we doing about this?
There is a lot going on in Biosciences at the moment! As a start, this year, we have reviewed all of our marking criteria in the hope of clarifying what makes a successful assessment. Our criteria are aligned across different assessments and are scaffolded across the different levels of study with guidance on the progression between levels. We have also reviewed the marking guidelines given to staff to try to ensure consistent quality of feedback.
As part of the curriculum review, we will be looking to embed assignment and feedback literacy into our teaching. We have some good practice here already with workshops on using feedback. A new curriculum is an excellent opportunity to embed good practice in assessment preparedness.
Future
There are some directions in which we’d like to take our results.
We also only surveyed students on the feedback they received from an essay assignment. Students complete multiple other types of assessments (lab reports, presentations, posters, exams, etc.) - how does their feedback in these assessments compare? Are they able to apply their feedback more widely so that it is transferable, rather than specific to a single assessment?
We also only surveyed Level 1 students. Surveying these students again in future years will allow us to assess how assignment literacy develops as students progress through their learning. Expanding our survey in future years will allow us to assess the impact of any interventions.
Dr Janet Cronshaw is a University Teaching Associate in the School of Biosciences.
Vladislav Grozev is a Research Associate at the Management School
Vladislav Grozev is a Research Associate at the Management School