FEEDBACK in higher education is a very broad topic that can be approached from a range of different perspectives.
In previous issues of Teaching Tuesdays@CSU we looked at Feedback in the Online Classroom (Issue 5), Feedback Technologies (Issue 6), Feedback for Teaching (Issue 15) and Dialogic Feedback (Issue 18). This week we focus on feedback from the student perspective.
How can we provide feedback that is useful to students?
How do we encourage students to engage with feedback?
The Developing Engagement with Feedback Toolkit is a practical resource for academic staff to use that provides strategies to promote student engagement with Feedback. Co-author Dr Naomi Winstone is also co-author of a book due to be released next month:
Winstone, N. & Carless, D. (2019). Designing effective feedback processes in higher education: A learning-focused approach. London: Routledge.
This week's topic:
Developing Engagement with Feedback Toolkit
PD Opportunities this week
1. Improving Learning Outcomes from Group Assignments in Tertiary Education through Peer Feedback. Free Webinar. July 1 11:00 AEST (13:00 NZST). Register at bit.ly/2wLlbfU
2. Making Technology Enhancement Effective: What Works? Transforming Assessment webinars resume for 2019 with this post-conference panel session from Assessment in Higher Education Conference. Free Webinar. July 17 17:00 AEST (0700 GMT). Register at http://transformingassessment.com/
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1. Developing Engagement with Feedback
Developing Engagement with Feedback Toolkit
By Dr Naomi Winstone and Dr Robert Nash
Source: https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/developing-engagement-feedback-toolkit-deft
Reading time: 3 minutes
The Developing Engagement with Feedback Toolkit was produced as part of a Higher Education Academy Teaching Development Grant by Dr Naomi Winstone and Dr Robert Nash. The results of this project were grounded in current student engagement literature (p. 7) and student disengagement with feedback.
The Toolkit is a useful resource for academic staff to better understand the barriers to student engagement and develop procedures that produce more useful feedback and strategies to help students gain the most benefit from feedback.
The 66-page resource is a highly recommended download that you can use in a variety of ways.
Barriers to engagement
These barriers were identified from the literature and from studies within the project and included:
- a lack of awareness of what the feedback means and what its purpose is;
- a lack of cognisance of appropriate strategies for putting feedback into use, and opportunities available to support them to do so;
- a perceived lack of agency to implement those strategies; and
- a lack of the necessary volition to engage with and use feedback.
Five lessons learned:
Of particular interest to academic staff are the results derived from working with students in the study.
QUOTE:
- What seems patently obvious and unambiguous to the academic who gives feedback can often be highly unobvious and confusing to the student who receives the feedback.
- Talking to students about the specific instances of feedback they have received is important, but insufficient; we must also more actively and critically discuss the concept of feedback in general, and the experience of receiving feedback.
- We as teachers are frequently in the same boat as students, being reluctant to engage with feedback from journal peer-reviews, for example, or from teaching evaluations. Reflecting on these experiences can help us to identify the problems and some solutions, and to discuss the pertinent issues openly with our students with some humility.
- The barriers to using feedback are as much emotional as they are practical; dealing with feedback effectively may require us to nurture students’ emotional intelligence.
- There is no magic bullet – the students who need most to engage with their feedback may still be those who use these kinds of support least. Promoting engagement with feedback may therefore require us to embed resources and opportunities within the compulsory curriculum, rather than making engagement optional.
Partnership in the feedback process
The toolkit comprises of three main resources:
Feedback guide. A resource for students.
It contains general advice about feedback, addresses common objections and questions, incorporates quotes from students about their feelings, responses and strategies for feedback. It also includes a glossary of terms commonly used in feedback and a flowchart for students to chart their own course in using feedback. The guide can be downloaded as a standalone resource from this link.
Feedback workshop. A resource to work through with your students.
The three broad dimensions explored are:
- Knowing - the different functions and sources of feedback and the distinction between feedback on and feedback for knowing.
- Being - how feedback has the potential to shape the learner’s identity.
- Acting - the skills necessary to read, understand and implement feedback.
For example, Resource A2: Taking action! Is designed to help students think about how they can use common feedback statements, such as:
- You need to be more evaluative in your writing
- Aim for a more coherent argument
- Your writing could be more concise
- You could achieve a better balance between description and evaluation
- You can make stronger use of research evidence to support your argument
- Your structure could be clearer
- Check that your sentence structure is correct
- Make sure that you are fully meeting the learning objectives for each assignment
- Revise your understanding of punctuation and grammar
- Make sure that you consider counterarguments to the positions you present
- You need to ensure that a clearer answer to the question comes across to the reader
- Try to use a wider range of sources to provide support for your argument
Feedback portfolio. A resource to help students engage with feedback on an ongoing basis.
It is provided to both aid students to self-regulate and to promote dialogue between students and academic staff. It provides practical advice and templates for students to reflect on feedback, synthesise commonalities, set targets for improvement and track their progress over time. The portfolio can stand alone or be incorporated into a larger learning/professional portfolio.
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Follow Teaching Tuesdays on Twitter.
Our Twitter feed includes links to further hints, tips and resources in the broader field of teaching in higher education.
https://twitter.com/TeachingTuesday
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1. Teaching support resources at CSU
You have access to a range of quality CSU resources to help you incorporate educational resources and techniques into your teaching. Check out the following:
- Teaching at CSU - the Division of Learning and Teaching website with links to resources for Teaching Staff, Online Learning, Assessment, Curriculum, Indigenous Curriculum, Workplace Learning, Technologies, Feedback and Analytics, and Learning Spaces.
- Professional Development and Teaching Resources - topics are listed alphabetically to make it easier to find what you need.
- Resources for Learning and Teaching Academic and Professional Staff - searchable CSU database.
- Learning Technologies - the starting point for a range of learning design options
- CSU Learning Exchange: Technologies in Context - a searchable database to promote online learning and teaching strategies.
- The CSU Wiki - a faculty-based source of learning and teaching information and strategies.
- The CSU Learning Spaces Portal - how to use your learning environments to promote learning.
- DOMS Learning and Teaching Shared Resources - CSU login needed to access more than 750 resources uploaded for CSU staff to use.
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2. CSU Professional Learning
The monthly bulletin lists available Professional Learning opportunities from CSU Division of Learning and Teaching (DLT).
Teaching-related topics are listed on the
DLT Professional Learning Calendar
DLT Calendar
with Dr Zeynep Taçgın
Online Drop-in session
Wed 26 June 2:30 pm to 3:00 pm
Forty-Five Minute Zone - Up to Speed with Grade Centre
Learn how the check your Grade Centre setup in preparation for the coming session.
Adobe Connect online
Wed 26 June 1:00 pm
Thur 27 June 1:00 pm
3. Bonus CSU resource - LinkedIn Learning
This online subscription library provides high-quality instructional videos to teach the latest business, creative and software skills, as well as an extensive range of teaching tips.
NOTE: Lynda.com is now LinkedIn Learning and all Charles Sturt University accounts will be transferred to LinkedIn Learning accounts on July 8. Follow the prompts when you login to make your transfer to the new platform. You are not required to have a LinkedIn personal account in order to access our LinkedIn subscription. Contact the Lynda.com administrator for your area if you require more information.
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4. Magna Publications Subscriptions
All staff with a CSU email address have free access to our annual
CSU subscription to the four different high quality resources for enhancing practice.
Video seminars: Mentor Commons (20 minutes) and Magna Commons (40-90 minutes) also include the presentation handouts, full transcripts and supplementary resources that are available for download if you don't have time to listen to the seminar.
Text-based resources: The Teaching Professor (for teaching staff) and Academic Leader (for those in academic and administration leadership roles).
How to subscribe
There is a single CSU subscription code to access all four of these resources.
Staff with a CSU login can obtain the code and subscription instructions from this What's New link.
Alternatively, contact
Ellen McIntyre elmcintyre@csu.edu.au or
Matthew Larnach mlarnach@csu.edu.au
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Learning Academy, Division of Learning & Teaching, Charles Sturt University
Lecturer, Academic Development in the Learning Academy at Charles Sturt University
Email: elmcintyre@csu.edu.au
Website: https://www.csu.edu.au/division/learning-and-teaching/about-us/learning-academy
Phone: +61 2 6933 4726
Twitter: @TeachingTuesday
Kogi Naidoo
Email: knaidoo@csu.edu.au
Website: http://www.csu.edu.au/division/learning-and-teaching/about-us/learning-academy
Phone: +61 2 6933 4804