Overview

Student and staff dissatisfaction with feedback remains a pressing issue in higher education. Students often complain that feedback on their work is not timely, that it is not clear enough, and that it does not help them with future assessments. For staff, dissatisfaction arises from a perception of an increased workload created by current feedback practices and frustration that students do not always use the feedback provided (Henderson, Ryan and Phillips, 2019). This presents a challenge in being able to create the feedback rich environment that we know supports student learning and success.

Features of a feedback rich environment

For a feedback rich environment to be created four elements are needed:

• Careful planning of feedback opportunities in the curriculum including formative assessment and feedback opportunities.
  
  
• The development of student feedback literacy.
  
  
• High-quality feedback from tutors.
  
  
• The use of peer and self feedback.

High quality feedback, whether given by a tutor, a peer or by making judgements about their own work, should be:

• Focused – it should be clear, detailed and specific, designed to close the gap between the current and the desired standard of work.
  
  
• Constructive – it should have a forward-facing focus and encourage dialogue.
  
  
• Adaptive – it should be about the specific student's work. It should motivate and build self-esteem by responding to the specific needs of the student.
  
  
• Timely – it should be frequent and as close as practically possible to when the student demonstrated their learning.

Developing feedback literacy

Central to a feedback rich environment is the development of student feedback literacy. This is the ability to “make sense of information and use it to enhance work or learning strategies” (Carless and Boud, 2018). Winstone and Carless (2020) outline four dimensions to feedback literacy:

1. Students need to understand the feedback process.
   
   
2. Students need to learn to make judgements about their work.
   
   
3. Students need to harness the emotional impact of feedback.
   
   
4. Students need to learn to take action on feedback.
   
   

Consider how these dimensions are designed into the curriculum and where students are able to develop these feedback literacy skills.

Frequency of feedback

Feedback on students’ learning should not be an infrequent event that occurs after the submission of summative assessments but an ongoing, frequent event where students receive and elicit feedback from a range of different people. Students tend to value tutor feedback more highly than self or peer feedback. However, it is unrealistic for tutors and disadvantageous for students if tutors are the sole source of feedback on student learning and their work. In order to create a feedback rich environment we must help students develop the ability to give valuable and accurate self and peer feedback. The development of the ability to make judgments about one's own performance and the ability to give constructive feedback to peers is a real world skill that will support students’ employability.

Digital Technologies

Technology should be leveraged to facilitate feedback. The Digital Learning Team provides a range of technologies to support summative and formative feedback.

Affective considerations

Attention also needs to be paid to the affective aspects of assessment and feedback. Assessment is a source of anxiety and stress for students. They often do not respond to feedback because it can be a psychological threat to their self-identity and wellbeing. Feedback is more likely to be effective if it is compassionate. That does not mean always being kind and only highlighting the positives. It does mean being aware of and mitigating the emotional impact of the words used in giving feedback and focusing on how students can develop and enhance their work as well as highlighting their strengths.