Promoting student engagement with feedback

1. Promoting student
engagement with feedback
David Carless
Sciences of Learning seminar
HKU February 12th
2015
The University of Hong Kong

2. Overview
1. Meanings of feedback
2. Feedback as part of a bigger picture
3. Feedback as dialogue
4. Technology-enhanced feedback
5. Towards sustainable feedback
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3. Aims of paper
To explore effective feedback practice in
undergraduate education;
Drawing on material in my forthcoming book
which …
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4. … analyzes
practices of
award-winning
teachers across
5 disciplines

5. The University of Hong Kong
Productive assessment
task design
Understanding quality in the
discipline
Student engagement
with feedback
Learning-oriented assessment framework

6. What does ‘feedback’ mean?
As entering into
dialogues around student work
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As comments …
Providing information about performance
AND/
OR

7. The University of Hong Kong
Old paradigm New paradigm
Feedback as
monologic
information
transfer
Feedback as
dialogic
interaction
Conventional
feedback
Sustainable
feedback

8. Key role of feedback
Enhancing student
self-evaluative
capacities
Feedback relies on
the resourcefulness
of the learner
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9. My definition of feedback
“A dialogic process in which learners make
sense of information from varied sources
and use it to enhance the quality of their
work or learning strategies”.
Carless (2015, p.192) building on Boud &
Molloy (2013)
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10. Dialogic feedback principles
• Negotiation & clarification
• Process rather than product
• Leading to action or reflection
• Peers as active source of feedback
• Inner dialogue, internal feedback
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11. Dialogic feedback in practice
1. Teacher-led dialogic feedback
2. Technology-facilitated dialogic feedback
3. Peer feedback and internal feedback
(Nicol, 2010)
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12. Dialogic feedback: barriers
Might sound implausible
e.g. large classes
Relationships and trust
Catering for varied
learners
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13. Technology-enhanced feedback
Audio feedback
Use of clickers, EVS
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14. Audio feedback: pros
• Viewed positively by students (Lunt &
Curran, 2010)
• Shows concern; permits nuanced
feedback or detail (Savin-Baden, 2010)
• May resemble a dialogue (Nicol, 2010)
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15. Audio feedback: cons
• ‘Moderate’ impact on student learning
(Gould & Day, 2013)
• Undesirable if replacing face-to-face
interaction (Lunt & Curran, 2010)
• Workload? (Hennessy & Forester, 2014)
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16. Adaptive release
Tutors release feedback but withhold grade
until students produce reflective account of
feedback (Parkin et al., 2012).
Promotes engagement but can be seen as
‘Enforced reflection’
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17. Facebook
More attractive to students than Moodle
(Deng & Tavares, 2013)
Encourages student sharing: History case
(Carless, 2015)
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18. Peer feedback
Potentially more
plentiful …
But peers often viewed
as lacking expertise
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19. To give is better than to receive
Providing feedback more cognitively engaging
(Lundstrom & Baker, 2009; Nicol et al., 2013)
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20. Sustainable feedback defined
“Active student participation in dialogic
activities in which students generate and
use feedback from peers, self or others as
part of an ongoing process of developing
capacities as autonomous self-regulating
learners” (Carless, 2013b)
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21. Sustainable feedback
‘High-value’ feedback with impact beyond
immediate task
Enhancing student role to generate &
interpret feedback
Guidance & feedback within learning
activities (Hounsell, 2007)
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22. Implications
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23. Closing feedback loops
It’s only feedback
if students take
some action
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24. Feedback literacy
Teachers need to
help students
understand
purposes of
feedback and how
they can use it
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25. Good feedback practice
Integration of feedback, task design &
student self-evaluation;
Timely dialogues around student work: in-
class, online or peer feedback;
Development of student self-regulation
within sustainable feedback
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26. Shifts in priorities
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Increase Decrease
In-class dialogic feedback within
module time
Unidirectional comments after
completion of module
Written feedback comments on
first assessment task of module
Written feedback comments on
final task of module
Feedback for first year students Feedback for final year students

27. THANK YOU
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