improving students’ understanding of feedback deborah murdoch eaton, professor of medical...
Post on 21-Dec-2015
218 views
TRANSCRIPT
Improving Students’ Improving Students’ understanding of Feedbackunderstanding of Feedback
Deborah Murdoch Eaton, Professor of Medical Education (Medical Education Unit)
Alastair Brown, medical student
alternative title:alternative title:
Feedback – Misunderstood or Feedback – Misunderstood or just not recognized?just not recognized?
National Student Survey All final year students at HE institutions Rate 1-5 agreement with 22 statements about HE
experience The teaching on my course Assessment and Feedback Organisation and management Learning Resources Personal Development Overall satisfaction
NSS – inevitably used for ranking University of Leeds
“Overall satisfaction” 82% agreement (score 4 or 5)
Ranked 2007 76 / 145
National Student Survey:“assessment and feedback” questions The criteria used in marking have been clear
in advance Feedback assignments and marking have been
fair Feedback on my work has been prompt I have received detailed comments on my
work Feedback on my work has helped me clarify
things I did not understand
Assessment and Feedback category Nationally the “lowest” rated category
62% agreement rating 4/5 nationally 55% Univ Leeds overall 48% Medicine / Dentistry ( from 41% 2006)
Compared with other medical schools? Range 19 – 56% agreement
“Feedback” : Leeds School of Medicine What do students (and staff), understand by
“feedback”?
Can we do it better / do we need to do it better?
Feedback Group with students – (2006/7) Nominated representatives across all student
years Focus group technique to explore
understanding amongst student body Working group to consider where to go to
from here
Feedback study 2007/8 with focus groups from each year
What are your students’ experiences or views on the feedback they get? What sort of responses have you had / do you
think you might have from surveying a cohort of your students?
What would they raise?
Discuss
Come back with a few examples
Feedback group 2006/7 – key findings Lots of positives about recent changes (P3) Misunderstandings
Difference between feedback on the course cf feedback on their work back to students
Why feedback not instantaneous When / how / why they get feedback How to get more or judge if they need more
Focus groups 2007
"The last group I met was Year 5 students who had a different perspective on feedback, what they thought they had received, how they responded to it and its’ value. This group of students started the session by saying that the only feedback they received was from their grade, but on discussion it became clear that they had received a great deal of feedback throughout their training. This included written feedback from SSCs, self-scoring tests, information from lecturers about questions in tests, daily feedback from the consultants on their teams, their appraisals, peer feedback when they work or study together and from their own reflection on the feedback they have received, making changes and developing."
Early in course - insecurity“I don’t find negative feedback helpful, it
undermines my confidence and leaves me feeling like I can’t do anything”
“getting feedback from friends might not be helpful as they might just be being nice not wanting to hurt your feelings”
“positive feedback can make you complacent”
What is done with feedback“I don’t do anything with feedback when I get it”
“SSCs are the only part of the course where we get feedback, and it is not an important part of the course”
“I just file good comments or good grades”
Types of feedback – lack of specificity
“ ‘More Effort Required’ is a comment that is often put on work when giving bad marks, but you may have put in a lot of effort so this comment isn’t helpful”
“ a tick by a paragraph wasn’t helpful as it doesn’t make you do anything differently”
Feedback groups – key findings Lots of positives about recent changes (P3) Misunderstandings
Difference between feedback on the course cf feedback on their work back to students
Why feedback not instantaneous When / how / why they get feedback How to get more or judge if they need more
Recognising when they get it (particularly if not individual / one-to-one or face-to-face)
What is feedback“group work and (peer) presentations /
discussion is not feedback – its just chat to fill in time”
“discussions during tutorials or …. to the whole lecture theatre are not proper feedback – are they?”
“……….can’t give you feedback as they don’t know you and anyway the answer is either right or wrong”
So – moving forward from this….
Key Issues – for staff / teachers That the students actually do get feedback timely feedback Quality of feedback
SMART Understandable to students
What can we do to improve students’ understanding of the feedback they do get?
Discuss
Ideas or examples of good practice / innovations you have tried
Year 3 project (student selected component) – summer 2007 Literature review on good practice in
feedback
Identify and develop ways of improving students understanding of feedback in the medical course Staff students
What’s in the literature (HE not just medicine)
Principles of Good Feedback Gibbs & Simpson 2004. Does your assessment support your
students’ learning. J Teaching Learning in Higher Education
Phil Race – website + literature www.Phil-Race.com
Engaging Students with Assessment Feedback: what works
FDTL5 project – literature review, HEA website
NSS Institutional Case Studies HEA website
Key aspects of “good and effective” feedback from literature Students and staff must have a clear and
mutual understanding of the desired learning outcomes of a learning activity
Feedback is provided in a timely fashion, and in sufficient detail. It should focus on the performance of the student in achieving the desired outcomes
Key aspects of “good and effective” feedback from literature (2) Feedback is recognised as being given
Feedback is attended to and understood
Feedback is acted upon
Feedback project 2007/8 Evaluate students’ understanding of purpose
of feedback, and its’ role in their learning
Evaluate whether an electronic resource is helpful in improving this
(increase staff awareness of good feedback practice)
Key points Staff liaison to ensure
Review of resource and contents for their ICU Publicise and direct students to it at appropriate
times eg after assessment results Staff able to access the resources
2007/8 Feedback Study Beginning of academic year Focus groups
Each year Understanding of feedback Views on how best to launch the resource
Questionnaire to whole school Understanding of feedback
Staff liaison
Launch of electronic resource
End of academic year Focus groups Questionnaire to whole school
Development of “Feedback” resource Key elements
Information about what is purpose of feedback When and how they get feedback What to do with it How to judge if you need more and how to get it
What’s on the site?http://www.leeds.ac.uk/medicine/mbchb/feedback/
principles of good feedback how to get the most out of feedback.
Individual ICU / SSC mapping where to get feedback, in relation to specific learning
outcomes for that ICU. Links to the full learning outcomes for each ICU.
Links to explain how to go about obtaining using different types of feedback.
Outcome??? Improved student understanding of role of
feedback in their learning Use and recognition of wider range of
resources for feedback Improved staff awareness of role of
feedback / mechanisms / highlighting for students
Improved NSS scores