Feedback

Feedback is an essential part of the assessment activity. For feedback to be effective it needs to make sense to the students so that they can use it to develop their learning and it needs to be timely. It should include feedforward elements to guide future progress and the students should know how they can act on the feedback. Feedback should be encouraging and motivational- we want students to use the feedback, not be put off by very negative comments.

Students should know when, where and how to access their feedback and the feedback should be in clear and simple language. Relating comments directly to the assessment criteria helps students understand why they achieved the mark they received. It can sometimes be useful to use questions within the feedback to help students to reflect on their work and identify their own areas for improvement. Encouraging students to discuss their feedback from assignments with their personal tutor is also beneficial.

Too much feedback can be overwhelming so if there are several areas for improvement, summarise the most important points for the student to focus on for the next assignment.

If we want students to act on the feedback then we need to provide future opportunities for students to demonstrate how they have engaged with, and learned, from feedback. Considering how assignments fit together within and across modules, will enable the development of such opportunities.

Advantages and disadvantages of different modes of feedback

We can provide feedback in a number of different ways and in different settings. The advantages and disadvantages of the different modes are considered in the table below.

Feedback type	Advantage	Disadvantage
Written feedback	Student has a record of the feedback	Can be time consuming to provide detailed feedback
Written feedback	Comments are linked to key points within the assignment	Comments indicating areas for improvement can be perceived negatively
Audio or video feedback	A more personal communication and tone of voice and/or facial expression can convey motivation to use the feedback	Can be time consuming and some staff find providing video feedback to be uncomfortable
	More detail can be provided including a nuanced discussion of strengths and areas for development	Feedback may be more general within limitations on commenting on very specific elements of the assignment
	May be a better use of feedback by the student as they can’t be selective as to which part they pay attention to	Some students struggle to access the audio/video feedback and the feedback shouldn’t be overly long or the students won’t engage with it
Whole class feedback	Feedback can be provided early in the marking process to the class identifying common strengths and areas for development	Students disengage as the feedback isn’t specific to them
Whole class feedback	Students can self-reflect on their own submission in relation to class comments	Students may worry that their submission is misaligned with the class
Feedback on smaller stake, or formative, assessments	Students gain valuable feedback that they can act on before finalising their summative submission	It can be time consuming to provide regular feedback
Feedback on large end of module summative assessments (e.g., examinations and dissertations)	Students are aware of their performance against the identified learning outcomes and standards	There are very limited opportunities for students to act on the feedback

Top tips for providing feedback
1. Start with a positive and encouraging comment. Think about the impact your words will have on a student’s self-esteem. We want students to use the feedback to improve future work, not to be so disheartened they feel like giving up.
2. Be as specific as possible. “Good effort” doesn’t explain to the student what they did right. Clarify what good performance is by relating to the grading criteria and marking scheme. “Not critical enough” doesn’t give any insight into what needs to be done to do better next time. Suggest specific ways to improve the assignment.
3. Share standards. Within your comments offer justification for the grade and relate your comments specifically to the grading criteria. Saying something is “very good” and then awarding 45% demonstrates inconsistency and is very unhelpful to the student. If there are vast differences within the same assignment, be clear about which parts are “very good” and which parts needs improvement.
4. Be constructive. Turn criticisms into positive suggestions. Consider writing an exemplar sentence to show students what is expected of them.
5. Use appropriate language. Use language that is understandable to students, given the level at which they are working.
6. Making feedback explicit. Feedback comes in many guises; it is not only written down. Communicating to students when you are providing feedback in class, or in conversation with students is important.
7. Using questions within your feedback. Asking questions of students within your feedback will help students to reflect on their work and identify their own areas for improvement
8. Feedforward. Your feedback should help the student to prepare for and improve future assignments. Identifying specific guidance and useful resources may help students to prepare for the next assignment. Unless a student has scored 100% there is always room for improvement. Suggesting follow-up work or advanced reading will help students to improve their future work from excellent to outstanding.
9. Mark the work not the individual. It’s the assignment that you are providing feedback on, not the person.
10. Help students to prioritise the feedback. If there are several areas for improvement, summarising the most important points within the feedback will help the student.
Feedback commitments
Recognising the importance of feedback, yet also the frustrations of students and staff regarding the use/usefulness of feedback, we asked students to write feedback commitments for staff and for staff members to write feedback commitments for students. Both groups endorsed the others’ commitments:
The Five Feedback Commitments for staff:
1. Provide detailed information within the text and write in plain English (students don’t want to have to look up what the feedback means)
2. Personalise the feedback – show that you’ve read it and engage and interact with the work (e.g. ask questions within the feedback)
3. Be clear about what the student should do to improve (including signposting to specific resources e.g. guidance on critical evaluation, writing for academic purposes, key journal articles or referencing information)
4. Use the full ranges of marks
5. Manage your time to enable, and encourage, feedback discussions within tutor groups or with individuals to discuss coursework and exam performance
Five Feedback Commitments for students:
1. Read the feedback. Feedback isn’t just the mark, it is for your development so take it in and apply it
2. If you don’t understand the feedback, find out who the marker was and be confident to arrange to go and see them to discuss the feedback
3. Before starting the next assignment revisit the feedback from the previous assignment and identify what you need to do to improve the current submission
4. Use appropriate support resources (e.g. guidance on critical evaluation, writing for academic purposes, key journal articles or referencing information) to help you improve on issues identified in feedback
5. Collate all of your feedback together for all modules to identify areas for development