2. Dr Clare Carruthers
Students attitudes towards feedback:
Departmental experiences and reflections

3. Implementation Strategy for the Ulster
Principles of A&F for learning
 Appointment of Departmental Champions
 Departmental Champion Workshops
 On-going Championing of the embedding of the
Principles:
 Presentation to final years by Student
Engagement Officer of UUSU
 In advance of the deadline for completion of the
NSS
 Across two campuses

4. Focus:
The “Focus on Feedback” UUSU
designed leaflet
 No awareness of the “Focus on Feedback” guide;
 Issues surrounding understanding of terminology and
assessment criteria;
 A disengagement with feedback;
 Recognition that feedback is only a mark and comments
received some time after submission i.e. summative;
 No recognition of the various opportunities for engaging
with feedback, in particular formative feedback;
 Students only recognised that they received feedback twice,
maybe three times per semester;
 Lecturers recognise that they provide feedback perhaps as
frequently as weekly.

5. No recognition of the following opportunities:
• Tutorials to support preparation of upcoming
seminars/presentations;
• Verbal feedback provided immediately following
presentations/seminars;
• Weekly/fortnightly meetings supporting, reviewing
and giving feedback for research papers/business
plans;
• Advice on the content/drafts of
essays, projects, reports etc.;
• No awareness that students could receive feedback
on examinations;
• Model answers.

6. Students were very familiar with the
various different types of assessment, but
were far less familiar with these key aspects feedback
The biggest issue was surrounding the terminology,
if they don’t recognise they are receiving feedback,
their experience of it and the translation
of that to the NSS is obvious

7. Future Implementation
 “Focus on Feedback” guide available within Course
Support Areas for every course in Blackboard Learn;
 Incorporation of the content of the guide within Study
Skills module in year one;
 Engagement/debate with students on the various
feedback mechanisms – what mechanisms do they like
and why? Which are most useful to them? What
mechanisms of feedback do they find most useful for
different types of assessment? – students as change
agents
 Innovation in feedback mechanisms – audio, podcasting,
video, smartphone feedback etc.

8. Departmental project – Audio Feedback:
Students as change agents
 Audio feedback provided to final year and
second year students via Wimba Voice Authoring
within the VLE
 Feedback was for individual essays
 Students advised that audio feedback was
available and where
 Invited to comment on what they thought of this
feedback mechanism

9.  Most of these students had never had this opportunity to do
this before
 Their comments were overwhelmingly positive:
“I was able to read
through the essay along “you can hear
with the points you made. what areas of
It did feel more personal your essay you
than getting the written did well in and
comments.” what areas you
”I was surprised that I was can improve
comfortable with the new audio upon for future
style feedback, it definitely was essay
convenient for me, and that I was submissions, in
able to gauge the lecturers relation to the
feelings of my work as it was a content,
private conversation rather than in structure and
class” referencing”

10. “I found this form of
feedback very interesting
and found it encouraged me
“I believe this form of to take on board the
feedback is not only comments made, as
extremely informative sometimes when directly
but an easier way for reading comments I tend to
students to understand just skim over them quickly
where they picked up rather than actually taking
marks and lost marks in in what feedback has been
their essay” given”
“I found the audio feedback very useful as it was
very accessible, high quality, easy to use, easy
to understand, clear and concise. I feel that it is
a very useful tool as I am able to go and listen
to the feedback when I want so that I can keep
up to date on where I am going wrong”

11.  What they liked  What they had
about it: reservations about:
 Convenience;  Deterioration in student-
 Effectiveness; teacher relationship;
 Constructive for future  No immediate
work; opportunity to ask
questions/seek clarity
 Personalised;
on points made;
 Flexibility in Accessing;
 Would also like to see
 Ability to re-access; written annotations on
 Ability to listen and read the actual hard copy of
through work coursework.
simultaneously.

12.  Key Issues:
 Recognising that our understanding is not always
the same as students’ understanding;
 Finding ways to reduce that gap and change
attitudes and understanding;
 Engaging students with feedback;
 Students as change agents.

13. Experiences Elsewhere
 Experiences of other institutions?
 Is this an issue elsewhere?
 How is this being addressed elsewhere?