Supporting the development of student feedback literacy

1. Supporting the development
of student feedback literacy
David Carless
University of Hong Kong
@CarlessDavid
October 13, 2021
TEL, University of Sussex
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2. Overview
1. Key feedback challenges
2. Feedback literacy
3. Productive feedback designs
4. Digital possibilities
5. Summary & Implications
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3. CHALLENGES THAT FEEDBACK
LITERACY MIGHT ADDRESS
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4. Key feedback challenges
1. Unidirectional feedback as telling
2. Timing of feedback
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5. Feedback does double duty
Competing audiences & functions of teacher
comments:
- Justifying grade
- Offering advice
- Specific & generic comments
- Accountability & QA dimensions
(Winstone & Carless, 2021)
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6. Paradigm shift
From teachers delivering comments
To what learners do: self-generated
feedback; using inputs
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7. Delivery  uptake
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Teachers produce comments
Focus on delivery
Students generate insights
Focus on uptake
(Carless, 2015; Winstone & Carless, 2019)

8. Constructive feedback processes
Enable students to compare work-in-
progress with that of others (Nicol, 2020)
Within the curriculum & timed for uptake
(e.g. Harland et al. 2017; Pitt & Carless,
2021)
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9. THE ROLE OF FEEDBACK
LITERACY
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10. Defining student feedback literacy
Understandings, capacities & dispositions
needed to use feedback for improvement
(Carless & Boud, 2018).
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11. Student feedback literacy
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Making
Judgments
Appreciating
Feedback
Managing
Affect
Taking Action
(Carless & Boud, 2018)

12. Defining teacher feedback literacy
Knowledge & expertise to design feedback
processes for student uptake
(Carless & Winstone, 2020)
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13. (Carless & Winstone, 2020)

14. Shared responsibilities
All parties need to understand the common
enterprise of feedback processes; & extend
feedback literacy further (Boud & Dawson,
2021)
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15. FEEDBACK DESIGNS
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16. Feedback designs
Shift from the provision of comments to the
design of learning environments
(Boud & Molloy, 2013)
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17. Design for uptake
Assessment task 1
Assessment task 2
Assessment task 3
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18. Teacher role
Design learning environments for students
to generate feedback
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19. The University of Hong Kong

20. Audio peer feedback
Feeling personally committed
Understanding own learning processes
Comparing own work with that of peers
(Filius et al., 2019)
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21. Learning by comparison
Peer feedback outcome: learners compare
own work with that of others & then revise
(Nicol, 2020; van Popta et al., 2017)
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22. Peer video feedback
Peer-to-peer video feedback delivered via
Facebook
Hung (2016)
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23. Audio/video feedback modes
Enable rapport &
nuance
You can talk faster, & more personally, than
you can write
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24. Teacher video feedback
Video feedback enables social presence
Allied with student response or follow-up
(Mahoney et al. 2019)
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25. Screencasting
Digital recording of users’ screen combined
with voice narration e.g.
Screencasting & re-drafting on Google Docs
(Wood, 2020)
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26. Digital feedback principles
• Students evaluating quality
• Students generating feedback
• Students responding to inputs
• Using inputs in ongoing/future work
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27. Thoughts so far …?
Sharing, questions, comments
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28. Summary, implications &
future directions
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29. Designing for uptake
• Opportunities for sharing work-in-progress
• Careful sequencing of work & tasks
• Students generating and using feedback
• Enabling positive student experiences of
feedback processes
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30. Disciplines & feedback
• Enhancing disciplinary feedback modes
• Signature feedback practices: fundamental to
the discipline (Carless et al. 2020)
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31. Discipline-specific feedback literacies
Embedding the development of discipline-
specific feedback literacies within the
curriculum
(Winstone, Balloo & Carless, 2020)
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32. Shared feedback literacy
Learning designs or program designs to
enable the mutual development of teacher &
student feedback literacy
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33. Feedback requests
Learners seeking information about their
own work for the purposes of improvement
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I want feedback
on…

34. Reflective feedback request
1. The strengths are …
2. The aspects for development are …
3. I would like feedback on …
(Winstone & Carless, 2019)
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35. References
Boud, D. & Dawson, P. (2021). What feedback literate teachers do: An empirically-derived competency framework.
Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education
Boud, D. & Molloy, E. (2013). Rethinking models of feedback for learning: The challenge of design. Assessment &
Evaluation in Higher Education, 38(6), 698-712.
Carless, D. (2015). Excellence in University Assessment. London: Routledge.
Carless, D. & Boud, D. (2018). The development of student feedback literacy: Enabling uptake of feedback.
Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 43(8), 1315-1325. doi:10.1080/02602938.2018.1463354.
Carless, D., To, J., Kwan, C. & Kwok, J., (2020). Disciplinary perspectives on feedback practices: Towards signature
feedback practices. Teaching in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2020.1863355.
Carless, D. & N. Winstone (2020). Teacher feedback literacy and its interplay with student feedback literacy, Teaching
in Higher Education. doi:10.1080/13562517.2020.1782372
Chong, S. W. (2021). Reconsidering student feedback literacy from an ecological perspective. Assessment &
Evaluation in Higher Education, 46(1), 92-104.
Dawson, P., D. Carless, and P. P. W. Lee. (2021) Authentic feedback: Supporting learners to engage in disciplinary
feedback practices. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 46(2), 286-296.
Filius, R., R. de Kleijn, S. Uijl, F. Prins, H. van Rijen & D. Grobbee (2019). Audio peer feedback to promote deep
learning in online education. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jcal.12363
Gravett, K. (2020). Feedback literacies as sociomaterial practice. Critical Studies in Education. doi:
10.1080/17508487.2020.1747099
Harland, T., Wald, N., & Randhawa, H. (2017). Student peer review: Enhancing formative feedback with a rebuttal.
Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 42(5), 801-811.
Hung, S.-T.A. (2016). Enhancing feedback provision through multimodal video technology. Computers & Education, 98,
90-101.
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36. References (continued)
Maas, C. (2017). Perceptions of Multimodal Learner-Driven Feedback in EAP. Writing and Pedagogy, 9(3), 487-516.
Mahoney, P., S. Macfarlane, and R. Ajjawi. (2019). A Qualitative Synthesis of Video Feedback in Higher
Education.Teaching in Higher Education 24 (2): 157-179. doi:10.1080/13562517.2018.1471457
Matthews, K., Tai, J., Enright, E., Carless, D., Rafferty, C. & Winstone, N. (2021). Transgressing the boundaries of
‘students as partners’ and ‘feedback’ discourse communities to advance democratic education. Teaching in Higher
Education https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2021.1903854
Nicol, D. (2020) The power of internal feedback: Exploiting natural comparison processes. Assessment & Evaluation in
Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2020.1823314
Pitt, E. & Carless, D. (2021). Signature feedback practices in the creative arts: Integrating feedback within the
curriculum. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2021.1980769.
Van Popta, E. et al. (2017). Exploring the value of peer feedback in online learning for the provider. Educational
Research Review, 20, 24-34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2016.10.003
Winstone, N., Balloo, K. & Carless, D. (2020). Discipline-specific feedback literacies: A framework for curriculum
design. Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-020-00632-0
Winstone, N. and Carless, D. (2019). Designing effective feedback processes in higher education: A learning-focused
approach. London: Routledge.
Winstone, N., & Carless, D. (2021). Who is feedback for? The influence of accountability and quality assurance
agendas on the enactment of feedback processes. Assessment in Education
https://doi.org/10.1080/0969594X.2021.1926221
Wood, J. (2020). A dialogic technology-mediated model of feedback uptake and literacy. Assessment & Evaluation in
Higher Education.
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37. THANK YOU
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38. The University of Hong Kong
DISCOUNT CODE:
FLR40

39. Implementing peer feedback
• Scaffolding & coaching
• Selling benefits of peer feedback
• Multiple reviews e.g. trios
• Leveraging comparisons
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40. Feedback requests
• Learners eliciting comments on areas of
interest
• Expressing preferences on modes of
feedback
• Stating preference for more critical or
more encouraging feedback
(cf. Maas, 2017)
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41. Partnership
Interface between ‘Students as partners’
concepts & relational trust in dialogic
feedback
(Matthews et al., 2021)
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42. Authentic feedback
Processes resembling the feedback
practices of the discipline, profession or
workplace
(Dawson, Carless & Lee, 2021)
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43. Learning theories deployed
Social constructivism (Carless & Boud,
2018; Winstone & Carless, 2019)
Sociocultural theory (Chong, 2020;
Esterhazy, 2018)
Sociomaterialism (Gravett, 2020)
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44. Critiques of feedback literacy
Assumes more agency than students (&
teachers) may possess (Gravett 2020)
Might be construed as a deficit model of
students (or teachers)
What is the definition & scope of ‘literacies’?
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45. The University of Hong Kong