The many facets of feedback: CRADLE double seminar
6 November 2017
Feedback is such a popular topic for research, it’s not surprising that CRADLE had to run a double seminar with two international guest speakers – Dr Edd Pitt, from the Centre of the Study of Higher Education, University of Kent (UK), and Rachelle Esterhazy, PhD student from the Department of Education, University of Oslo (Norway). Edd and Rachelle both shared insights from their work on students’ experiences and interactions with feedback.
Edd first presented two studies he conducted as part of his PhD, focusing on the emotional “backwash” students experienced after receiving feedback on their work. While there were a range of student reactions – some positive and some maladaptive – Edd identified that, overall, pre-determined student experiences and the actual achievement outcome had strong links to students’ emotional reactions, and their subsequent feedback use.
Students drawing about emotions and assessment/feedback with @edd_pitt https://t.co/GN4k8d2zTL pic.twitter.com/0jGMTctpWf
— Phillip Dawson (@phillipdawson) October 31, 2017
He also established that baseline student feedback literacy was extremely variable – something to keep in mind when designing assessment and feedback.
Rachelle then introduced her research, which tackles the perpetual feedback dilemma: that students don’t do with feedback what we expect them to do.
Now @Rachelle_Es on the 'feedback dilemma':
1. students don't use it much
2. we don't know what students do when they use feedback— Phillip Dawson (@phillipdawson) October 31, 2017
She presented two case studies from her PhD (the first is published, while the second is a work-in-progress), which revealed the processes that students undertake with each other to understand and process feedback and make sense of the information.
So keen to read about students' meaning-making and learning from feedback @Rachelle_Es https://t.co/dCQTy7tW5N
— Kate Thomson (@DrKateThomson) October 31, 2017
.@Rachelle_Es paper on project ‘unpacking the feedback process’ and how students make meaning of comments #feedback https://t.co/pLvD251kLb
— Colin Warren (@colwar) October 31, 2017
Both presentations generated a lot of lively discussion about feedback. Key takeaway points included:
- Students aren’t all the same, so we must attend to the differences and variations in their reactions to feedback
- Feedback messages can be interpreted very differently
- There’s still a lot of work to be done in understanding how to do feedback, and do it well!
- We need to design learning opportunities that give students opportunities to make meaning of feedback
intersting conversation @CRADLEdeakin seminar: realisation that so many #feedback comments misinterpreted and lost #unproductive
— Rola Ajjawi (@r_ajjawi) October 31, 2017
You can view Edd’s and Rachelle’s slides from their presentations here:
- The Effects of Emotional Backwash in Feedback Situations: Experiences of UK Undergraduates, Dr Edd Pitt
- Sociocultural Perspectives on Feedback, Rachelle Esterhazy
