Towards making feedback processes satisfying for teachers and useful for students

1. Towards making feedback
processes satisfying for teachers
and useful for students
@CarlessDavid
University of Hong Kong
Seminar at University of Surrey
The University of Hong Kong

2. Acknowledgement
Research Grants Council of Hong Kong
Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious
Fellowship Scheme Awardee 2022
Feedback literacy for lifelong learning: new
pathways for research and practice
The University of Hong Kong

3. Overview
1. Feedback needs somewhere to land
2. Curtailing (or abandoning) individual
summative written feedback …
3. Challenges & Implications
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4. FEEDBACK FROM STUDENTS’
PERSPECTIVES
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5. Differing perceptions
Questionnaire data from 460 staff & 1740
students
+ qualitative data from BEd Students
Key finding: staff thought their feedback was
much more useful than their students did
(Carless, 2006)
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6. Assessment dialogues
Discussing assessment processes to help
students understand rules of the game
(Carless, 2006)
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7. Feedback often seems like …
… a perversely belated revelation of things
that should have been made clear earlier
(Crook, Gross & Dymott, 2006)
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I want
guidance

8. Guidance
Integrated cycles of guidance & feedback
within learning processes (Hounsell et al.
2008)
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9. Model of guidance & feedback
Preparatory Guidance
-Clarifying task
-Engaging with criteria
-Analyzing exemplars
Student self-monitoring
-Seeking & using feedback
-Peer review
-Self-evaluation
Ongoing clarification
-Opportunities for practice
-Apply criteria
-Review work in progress

10. Dissonances & mythologies
Dissonance between teachers’ & students’
assumptions about what feedback is & what
it can do (Adcroft, 2011)
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11. Timing of critique
For students the Grade is the Feedback!
“I welcome critical feedback when I can use
it to improve my grade but critical feedback
at the end is no use” (student, Carless 2020)
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12. “Check the grade and log-out”
“The grade is your priority” … “you are not
going to get any more marks for looking at
the feedback” (student, Winstone et al.
2021)
38% of LMS feedback files not accessed
N=484 students
(Mensink & King, 2020)
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13. TOWARDS ABOLISHING END OF
SEMESTER COMMENTARY
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14. Main proposition
Reduce end-of-semester written
feedback significantly & replace it
with increased whole-class
guidance during the course
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15. Tripartite aspirations
Achieving positive NSS results
Making staff workload more productive
Providing actionable feedback for students
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16. NSS questions
Criteria used for marking clear in advance.
Marking and assessment has been fair.
Feedback on my work has been timely
I received helpful comments on my work.
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17. Deploy teacher workload wisely
Reduce teacher commentary when it cannot
be used (Boud & Molloy, 2013)
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18. Collective feedback
How students have performed; common
errors; suggestions for improvement
Key issues: timing for action; activating
students
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19. Proposed summative template
Sentence 1.
This assignment is {appraisal} because
{grade explanation}
Sentence 2.
In future work, you might consider …
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20. Challenges
Students have worked hard on assignments,
& want that effort to be reciprocated
Changing status quo
Other?
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21. Making space for guidance
Talking about feedback as a process
Developing understanding of criteria/standards
Analyzing exemplars of different quality
Well-designed audio/video peer feedback
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22. Discussing feedback as a process
What feedback means
What it can or can’t do
Key roles & responsibilities
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23. ALTERNATIVE MODES OF
GUIDANCE
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24. 1. Demystifying criteria
Co-constructing rubrics
Applying rubrics
Analyzing exemplars
(NSS: Criteria clear in advance)
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25. 2. Suggested exemplars sequence
Students draft attempt at task
Exemplars = feedback
Students revise draft
(Lipnevich et al. 2014; To, Panadero &
Carless, 2021; Carless, 2022)
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26. 3. Oral feedback
Timely, interactive, negotiate meaning
But time-consuming
… An occasional option
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27. Ongoing research
Longitudinal intervention with a feedback seeking
undergraduate
-Transcripts of oral feedback seeking interactions
from the student perspective
-Changes & development over time
(Carless & Young, in progress)
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28. Elicited feedback encounters
Build rapport & gain inspiration
Thinking together about work-in-progress
Yet anxiety-inducing
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29. FEEDBACK LITERACIES
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30. How feedback works
Making the most of feedback opportunities
of different kinds
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31. Potential Inputs
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Self
Teachers Peers
Materials

32. Teacher feedback literacy
Expertise in designing feedback processes
to enable student uptake of feedback
(Carless & Winstone, 2020)
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33. Connected feedback literacies
Working together towards connected
development of feedback literacies
Student Union ... Feedback campaign,
feedback awards
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34. The University of Hong Kong

35. Conclusion
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36. Final thoughts
Strive to appreciate students’ perspectives
on feedback
Avoid wasted effort of commentary that
cannot be readily taken up
Support students with whole-class guidance
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37. References
Adcroft, A. (2011). The mythology of feedback. Higher Education Research & Development, 30(4),
405-419. doi:10.1080/07294360.2010.526096
Boud, D. & E. Molloy (2013). Decision-making for feedback. In D. Boud & E. Molloy (Eds.), Feedback
in Higher and Professional Education. London: Routledge.
Buckley, A. (2020). Crisis? What crisis? Interpreting student feedback on assessment. Assessment &
Evaluation in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2020.1846015
Carless, D. (2020). A Longitudinal Inquiry into Students’ Experiences of Feedback: A Need for
Teacher-Student Partnerships. Higher Education Research and Development 39(3): 425-438.
Carless, D. (2022). From teacher transmission of information to student feedback literacy: Activating
the learner role in feedback processes. Active Learning in Higher Education, 23(2), 143-153.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1469787420945845
Carless, D., & Winstone, N. (2020). Teacher feedback literacy and its interplay with student feedback
literacy, Teaching in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2020.1782372
Crook, C., Gross, H. & Dymott, R. (2006). Assessment relationships in higher education: The tension
of process and practice. British Educational Research Journal, 32(1), 95-114.
Hounsell, D., McCune, V., Hounsell, J. & Litjens. J. (2008). The quality of guidance and feedback to
students. Higher Education Research and Development, 27(1), 55-67.
Lipnevich, A., L. McCallen, K. Miles, and J. Smith. 2014. “Mind the Gap! Students' Use of Exemplars
and Detailed Rubrics as Formative Assessment”. Instructional Science 42 (4): 539-559.
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38. References (continued)
Matthews, K., Tai, J., Enright, E., Carless, D., Rafferty, C. & Winstone, N. (2021). Transgressing the
boundaries of ‘students as partners’ and ‘feedback’ discourse communities to advance democratic
education. Teaching in Higher Education https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2021.1903854
Mensink, P. & King, K. (2020). Student access of online feedback is modified by the availability of
marks, gender and academic performance. British Journal of Technology, 51(1), 10-22
https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12752
To, J., Panadero, E. & Carless, D. (2021). A systematic review of the educational uses and effects of
exemplars. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education,
https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2021.2011134
Winstone, N., Ajjawi, R., Dirkx, K., & Boud, D. (2021). Measuring what matters: The positioning of
students in feedback Processes within national student satisfaction surveys. Studies in Higher
Education. doi:10.1080/03075079.2021.1916909.
Winstone, N., Bourne, J., Medland, E., Niculescu, I., & Rees, R. (2021). “Check the grade, log out”:
students’ engagement with feedback in learning management systems. Assessment & Evaluation
in Higher Education, 46(4), 631-643.
Winstone, N., & Carless, D. (2019). Designing effective feedback processes in higher education: A
learning-focused approach. London: Routledge.
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39. QUESTIONS
&
COMMENTS
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40. Feedback design
Assessment task 1
Assessment task 2
Assessment task 3
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41. Teacher role
Design learning environments for students
to generate feedback
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42. The University of Hong Kong