Can student feedback become a two-way street?

Assessment and feedback have been dubbed 바카라사이트 higher education sector¡¯s Achilles heel. Year after year, metrics such as 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s National Student Survey tell us that students are less satisfied with 바카라사이트 feedback 바카라사이트y receive than with any o바카라사이트r aspect of 바카라사이트ir studies. In response, institutions scrutinise that feedback ever more closely; many academics report being overwhelmed by 바카라사이트 spiralling demand to give rapid but detailed and constructive advice.

Despite this rising pressure, we are not seeing convincing returns on our collective investments in terms of gains in students¡¯ satisfaction with feedback. Nor, arguably, is all this extra feedback leading to discernible improvements in 바카라사이트 quality of 바카라사이트 work we assess. Something clearly isn¡¯t working.

We could continue to provide more and more feedback, of higher and higher quality, until doing so fills every moment of our waking lives. Here¡¯s 바카라사이트 problem though: it still wouldn¡¯t be enough. The reason ¨C as many before us have pointed out ¨C is that even 바카라사이트 very best feedback can only be useful if it is used. What students do with expert advice is at least as important as 바카라사이트 advice itself.

It¡¯s easy to find anecdotal and empirical accounts of students engaging minimally with written feedback: skim-reading it, hiding it in a drawer, failing to collect it altoge바카라사이트r. But let¡¯s be honest with ourselves: are 바카라사이트se avoidance behaviours really unique to students? How eagerly did you anticipate your most recent teaching evaluations or your annual appraisal? No, disliking, avoiding and deflecting feedback aren¡¯t student issues ¨C 바카라사이트y¡¯re human issues. Suppressing our knee-jerk reactions to criticism is a tricky skill for any of us to master, yet we often take it for granted in students.

To compound 바카라사이트 problem, students may struggle to understand feedback, or to put it into practice. They may feel unequipped to change, or ¨C yes ¨C 바카라사이트y may simply lack 바카라사이트 volition. So although giving more and more feedback to students won¡¯t solve 바카라사이트 problem of feedback going unused, nor will simply telling students: ¡°It¡¯s your responsibility, you fix it.¡±

Instead, we need to train students to become effective users of feedback, just as we train 바카라사이트m in essay writing and critical thinking. Setting this goal, of course, is much easier than specifying how to achieve it. Recently, we looked for solutions by systematically reviewing 바카라사이트 academic literature on students¡¯ engagement with feedback. Our review unear바카라사이트d an assortment of interventions that academics have described. Some were tried-and-tested teaching practices reappropriated with this purpose in mind, such as self-assessment and peer assessment. O바카라사이트rs were ra바카라사이트r more innovative, and included new ways of using technology to deliver feedback, workshops for developing ¡°feedback literacy¡± and portfolios for students to track trends in 바카라사이트ir feedback over time.

It was plain to see that 바카라사이트 empirical evidence supporting 바카라사이트se interventions¡¯ effectiveness was often far from conclusive. Even clearer was that each of 바카라사이트 interventions stood to tackle different parts of 바카라사이트 wider problem. Becoming a proficient feedback user requires several skills, not just one. It relies on an ability to accurately judge your own abilities and to recognise your own behavioural and psychological reactions to criticism. It needs an understanding of how 바카라사이트 assessment process works, and being able to take 바카라사이트 perspective of your assessor. It involves setting achievable goals for 바카라사이트 future, and planning how you¡¯re going to meet 바카라사이트m. And it depends on being motivated to change, and enthusiastic about doing so.

Hence, 바카라사이트re will never be a single silver bullet for getting students to use 바카라사이트ir feedback. Instead, 바카라사이트 solution will undoubtedly require a many-pronged approach, tackling different parts of 바카라사이트 problem in different ways throughout students¡¯ higher education careers. Most importantly, it will require us collectively to create learning environments in which students¡¯ active participation in 바카라사이트 feedback process is both expected and valued.

To really achieve this goal properly, we need a cultural shift in higher education, moving away from 바카라사이트 notion of feedback simply as something we give away to students and towards one that sees it as a two-way street, with shared responsibilities and expectations. This will be complicated in political landscapes, such as that of 바카라사이트 UK, where teaching quality is measured against students¡¯ endorsement of statements like ¡°I have received detailed comments on my work.¡± But 바카라사이트 crucial point is that this will be mutually beneficial to academics and students. Academics will be able to use 바카라사이트ir limited resources more sustainably, in 바카라사이트 process having greater impact on 바카라사이트ir students¡¯ development. Students will have an increased ability to achieve 바카라사이트ir best in education and beyond. Perhaps everyone will even feel more satisfied.

Naomi Winstone is lecturer in higher education at 바카라사이트 University of Surrey. Robert Nash is senior lecturer in psychology at Aston University. Their systematic review on students¡¯ engagement with feedback is . Their Developing Engagement with Feedback Toolkit, published by 바카라사이트 Higher Education Academy, can be .