Developing Feedback Literacy Minus the Assessment

Olowe, E., Macaulay, C., Brown, K., Beekman, E. and Mair, C. (2023) Developing Feedback Literacy Minus the Assessment. Teaching Excellence Academy International Teaching and Learning Conference 2023, Hull, UK, 12 July 2023.

Abstract

Feedback is an essential component of learning development, however, its effectiveness in Higher Education has mixed success. Feedback often goes together with an assessment which can imply it’s the responsibility of the teacher to provide effective feedback to a student, as a passive participant. Instead, feedback is a process that requires engagement on the part of the student and teacher (Zhan, 2022). Carless and Winstone (2020) provide a partnership framework that outlines the shared responsibility of both staff and students in the feedback process. While a feedback-literate lecturer can design opportunities, deliver supportive and constructive feedback, and navigate the multiple dimensions of the purpose of feedback. A feedback-literate student can appreciate, evaluate, and act on feedback and work with emotions productively. During this discussion, we consider how we can engage students and lecturers in a feedback process in class that is not attached to any assessment. While student evaluations are embedded into higher education, there is debate surrounding the reliability, effectiveness, and bias of such evaluations (Hefferman, 2022) and NSS results (Office for Students, 2022) show that students respond poorly to questions relating to their learning community and their voice.  Four students and a member of staff worked together to address how staff and students within the School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Glasgow, engage with student evaluations. Two surveys were conducted, the first aimed at staff (63 responses, 90% response rate) and the second at students (53 responses, 17% response rate). When asked to describe the purpose of student evaluations, staff expressed that they provide students opportunities to have direct input to courses, influence their learning environment, and feel part of the school. Students expressed that their feedback could improve a course's content, quality and delivery and provide a learning opportunity for lecturers. Students indicated a preference for informal mid-term feedback since they could see their feedback acted upon in real time.   We propose the use of student evaluations as a feedback dialogue tool to encourage and enhance relationships between staff and students, develop self-regulated learning and help develop feedback literacy in both lecturers and students. We will exemplify a feedback system that uses short, direct, and frequent surveys (Rowland, 2021) that students complete at the time of learning, providing time to reflect on their learning and creating a line of communication with the lecturer, who can respond to the feedback to inform future learning.

• Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Mair, Dr Colette
• Authors: Olowe, E., Macaulay, C., Brown, K., Beekman, E., and Mair, C.
• Subjects: L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2361 Curriculum
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Mathematics and Statistics