CRADLE 2019 publications round-up – Part 4: Feedback
12 December 2019
As 2019 draws to a close, we asked the CRADLE team to look over their impressive list of publications for the year and pick some highlights for a special four-part publication round-up. Today – if you’re seeking some inspiration or new perspectives around feedback this festive season, read on! And if you’re looking for more ideas, or want to add to your holiday reading list, why not catch up on our full 2019 publications round-up?
Part 1: Assessment / Evaluative judgement
Part 2: Professional and workplace contexts / Research practice
Part 3: Student experiences / Contract cheating
Feedback
M. Henderson, R. Ajjawi, D. Boud and E. Molloy (eds.) (2019) Palgrave Macmillan: Cham (Switzerland).
The latest CRADLE book, in conjunction with Monash University’s Digital Education Research (DER) group. Published in September and officially launched in November at Deakin’s annual Learning and Teaching Conference, it’s the outcome of last year’s CRADLE and DER joint international symposium in Prato, Italy. This edited collection challenges us to ask two fundamental questions: when does feedback make a difference, and how can we recognise that impact? Drawing together leading international feedback researchers from across diverse disciplines, the book considers how we might conceptualise, design for and evaluate the impact of feedback in higher education. The whole CRADLE team have contributed chapters to the book, and you can also find contributions from the broader CRADLE family of Honorary Professors, Honorary Fellows and visiting academics, including David Carless, Rachelle Esterhazy, Edd Pitt, Naomi Winstone, Anastasiya Lipnevich and Ernesto Panadero.
Conditions that enable effective feedback 
M. Henderson, M. Phillips, T. Ryan, D. Boud, P. Dawson, E. Molloy and P. Mahoney (2019) Higher Education Research and Development, 38(7), pp. 1401-1416.
It’s often said that “context matters” when it comes to feedback – but what does that really mean? This paper identifies the specific contextual conditions that enable feedback to work, based on findings from the Feedback for Learning project. It’s a useful paper because it goes beyond recommending particular feedback approaches, towards understanding the processes, capacities and cultures that enable effective feedback.
The usefulness of feedback
M. Henderson, T. Ryan, D. Boud, P. Dawson, M. Phillips, E. Molloy and P. Mahoney (2019) Active Learning in Higher Education.
Effective feedback processes depend on useful feedback information. But do students think feedback in higher education is useful? This large-scale survey study finds that it’s a mixed bag, with different sub-populations finding feedback more or less useful. Overall the message is positive, but there is a steady decrease from first year to final year in terms of how useful students find feedback.
