Inclusive feedback

Sponsor/year: Faculty of Health, School of Exercise and Nutrition Science (SENS) 2015-17.

Project leads: Susie Macfarlane, Paige Mahoney.

Aims: Improve feedback practices in the Health Faculty and more widely, by designing, implementing, evaluating and disseminating a model of inclusive feedback and good practice principles and guides.

Underpinning theories/literature:

• Feedback in higher and professional education: understanding it and doing it well: authoritative, contemporary text on effective feedback.
• Effective teaching and support of students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds: practical advice for teaching staff (PDF 1.14MB): recommendations from research for staff teaching LSES students.
• Transition pedagogy: article defining a pedagogy for teaching diverse commencing students.
• Inclusive learning and teaching in higher education: a synthesis of research: key text defining inclusive learning and teaching.

The key areas in the inclusive feedback model are:

• Standards: develop standards and evaluate students' work against these.
• Alignment: ensure assessment evaluates students' progress in achieving standards/learning outcomes.
• Application: ensure feedback describes how students can improve subsequent work.
• Value and purpose: ensure feedback demonstrates a commitment to supporting student learning.

Agency and self-regulation: support students to set learning goals, undertake, monitor and evaluate their learning and reflect on the feedback.

The Health Faculty School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences (SENS) developed the Inclusive Feedback model over two ICCB projects:

• 2015: Student survey, formation of community of practice with SENS continuing and sessional academic staff, development of inclusive feedback model and good practice guide, pilot professional development workshop and video feedback.
• 2016: Literature review, desktop audit of international university policies and procedures International survey of academics, further development and dissemination of inclusive model and good practice guide in collaboration with Deakin’s Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE).

• Student feedback: Student survey found students valued receiving feedback of the kind that was piloted in their units (ICCB progress report).
• Improved staff confidence: Staff professional development workshop attendees (n=16) all strongly agreed the workshop had improved their confidence and practice in providing feedback (ICCB progress report).
• Award: Project participant Glenn Wadley won a VC’s Award for Teaching Excellence in 2016 partly for his work piloting video feedback for the project.
• Capacity building: Faculty of Health staff involved in the community of practice and professional development initiated by the project are more knowledgeable about inclusive feedback. Cultural change is starting to occur around feedback in the Faculty, and innovative feedback practices are developing (Interview, report).

• Principles and process of effective feedback (DOCX 22KB)
• Designing effective feedback model (DOCX 66KB)
• Designing effective feedback worksheet (DOCX 41KB)
• Giving effective feedback model and checklist (DOCX 169KB)