The document discusses feedback processes for large classes. It provides two examples of feedback designs for large classes, one for a Psychology of Health Behavior class with 1,300 students, and one for a Science class with 300 students. The Psychology example uses online quizzes, journal entries, and 5-minute audio feedback from sessional staff. The Science example incorporates a group project with staged feedback, peer tutoring, help desk support, and online quizzes. The document emphasizes designing feedback for student uptake, minimizing teacher telling, and actively involving students to develop feedback literacy.

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