Designing feedback processes for large classes

1. Designing feedback processes
for large classes
Professor David Carless,
University of Hong Kong,
Nottingham Ningbo,
May 10, 2019
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2. Overview
1. Feedback concepts & challenges
2. Designs for large classes
3. Implications for practice
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3. DEFINING &
CONCEPTUALIZING
FEEDBACK PROCESSES
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4. Student growth
What are we hoping to achieve through
feedback processes?
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5. Key aim of feedback processes
To enhance student
ability to self-monitor
their work in
progress
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6. Sustainable feedback
Enhancing student role to seek, generate &
use feedback (Carless et al., 2011)
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7. Feedback as information
Information about performance or
understanding
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8. Limits of Feedback as telling
“Learners do not always
learn much purely from
being told, even when
they are told repeatedly in
the kindest possible way”
(Sadler, 2015, p. 16)
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9. Student frustrations
Information often comes at the end of teaching
sequences and it is too late for students to act
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10. Feedback as action
Learners using comments for improvement
to close feedback loops (Boud & Molloy,
2013)
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11. Social constructivism
Action on feedback is developed through
learner agency, interaction & co-
construction
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12. Information  action
(Winstone & Carless, 2019)
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13. The University of Hong Kong

14. EXAMPLE 1
PSYCHOLOGY OF HEALTH BEHAVIOR –
1300 STUDENTS
DEAKIN UNIVERSITY
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15. Assessment design
Online quizzes 10%
Three linked journal entries 45%
Final exam 45% (applying knowledge learnt
in journals)
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16. Aligned assessment design
Three journal entries where students
produce 2 minute video & reflect on their
health behavior changes (800 words)
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17. Use of exemplars
Video explanation of rubric
+
Online exemplar
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18. 3 forms of feedback
1. Grade aligned with rubric
2. Written explanation linked to LOs
3. 5 minute audio file (25 sessional staff)
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19. Audio feedback
Timely: 7 days before next entry is due
Enables rapport &
nuance
You can talk faster than you can write
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20. The University of Hong Kong

21. Analysis
Well-designed task sequence
Use of audio feedback
Mainly ‘Teacher-telling’
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22. Audio peer feedback
More active student role
Comparing own work with that of peers
(Filius et al., 2019)
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23. Composing peer feedback
Providing feedback more cognitively engaging
than receiving feedback (e.g. Nicol et al., 2014)
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24. EXAMPLE 2
SCIENCE – 300 STUDENTS
UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG
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25. Assessment design
Group project 40%
Mid-semester test 20%
Final exam 40%
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26. Feedback design
Staged group project
Peer tutoring
Help Desk
Moodle quizzes & forum
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27. Group Project
Outline (5%)  oral presentation (17.5%) 
final report (17.5%)
Staged design to promote feedback uptake
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28. Peer tutoring
6-10 Peer Tutors
Leading tutorials,
Supporting project
Approachability & credibility
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29. Help Desk
Consultation hours Wed 12.30-18.30
Staffed mainly by peer tutors
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30. Moodle quizzes & forum
Quizzes with instant automated feedback
Student-generated Moodle forum
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31. Analysis
Rich in peer support
Pragmatic approach
Test-dominated
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32. Implications
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33. Large class feedback strategies
Sequences of rich assessment tasks
Online quizzes
Use of exemplars
Peer tutoring
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34. Beyond teacher telling
• Large classes NOT necessarily a barrier
to effective feedback designs
• Activate the student role
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35. Key recommendations
Design for student uptake
Minimise teacher telling
Involve students actively
Develop feedback literacy
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36. QUESTIONS
&
COMMENTS
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37. References
Boud, D. & Molloy, E. (2013). Rethinking models of feedback for learning: The challenge of design.
Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 38(6), 698-712.
Broadbent, J., Panadero, E., & Boud, D. (2018). Implementing summative assessment with a
formative flavour: A case study in a large class. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher
Education, 43(2), 307-322.
Carless, D. & Boud, D. (2018). The development of student feedback literacy: Enabling uptake of
feedback. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education,
https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2018.1463354.
Carless, D., Salter, D., Yang, M., & Lam, J. (2011). Developing sustainable feedback practices.
Studies in Higher Education, 36(4), 395-407.
Filius, R. et al. (2019). Audio peer feedback to promote deep learning in online education. Journal of
Computer Assisted Learning. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jcal.12363
Nicol, D., Thomson, A., & Breslin, C. (2014). Rethinking feedback practices in higher education: A
peer review perspective. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 39(1), 102-122.
Sadler, D.R. (2015). Backwards assessment explanations: Implications for teaching and assessment
practice. In D. Lebler et al. (Eds.), Assessment in music education. (pp.9-19). Cham: Springer.
Winstone, N. & Carless, D. (2019, in press). Designing effective feedback processes in higher
education: A learning-focused approach. London: Routledge.
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38. THANK YOU
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39. Defining student feedback literacy
Understandings, capacities & dispositions
needed to use feedback for improvement
(Carless & Boud, 2018).
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40. Student feedback literacy
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Making
Judgments
Appreciating
Feedback
Managing
Affect
Taking Action
(Carless & Boud, 2018)

41. Students as partners
Feedback processes aligned with students’
needs and preferences
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42. Feedback designs
Feedback as aspect of curriculum design
not an episodic mechanism delivered by
teachers to learners (Boud & Molloy, 2013)
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43. Flipped feedback
Inverting the sequence of guidance
Students want more support during the
assessment process … & less at its end
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44. The University of Hong Kong