Passionate about feedback!
We are all used to feedback - we do it every week in a variety of ways.
Whether it was in 2016 in a restaurant when we sent our food back to the chef because it was underdone or overcooked, or taking back a pair of waterproof walking boots because they leaked - so far, so normal.
Feedback for students is an altogether different arena. How we give feedback or feedforward is a delicate balance and the transaction between how we deliver it and how it is received by our students can often be misconstrued. The best way to know if your feedback is useful to your students is to ask them. In fact, asking them to feed back to you about how they understood the feedback you gave them, can often be surprising.
We asked Coventry University students to give us their views on our feedback and their videos are ready to view in our Assessment toolkit pages here.
When we think about how much effort we put into our assignment briefs, there is room for us to also think about how we give feedback and how we should do more to find out what our students get from it.
If you use formative assessment (unmarked) early on in your teaching sessions, you have more opportunities to find out whether your students 'get' what it is you want them to learn. By the time they get to summative assessment (marked), they should be confident they're able to fulfil the criteria on the assessment brief.
That's why the Coventry University Assessment Strategy states that formative assessment should be used from at least teaching week 4 in any semester. It will give you and your students a better idea of where they are in their learning and understanding and gives you a golden opportunity to fill their knowledge and skills gaps.
It's good practice in the HE sector to investigate what our peers do and this useful HEA document specifically looks at feedback. Have a browse and share your thoughts beow.