When feedback and marks are delivered at the same time, marks seem to overshadow the feedback given. Despite this, the speed of delivery, type and quality of feedback are often critiqued by students; whereas lecturers find that feedback is often not read and considered.
In a pilot with 1st year neuroscience students, we are trying to address some of the above-mentioned challenges by separating marks from feedback and introducing reflection on the feedback received. Students received training on different forms of feedback, how to understand and decode it. They were then asked to reflect on feedback for a summative in course essay. This was voluntary and formative. The results are encouraging, half of the students engaged with this exercise with a high level of reflective practice apparent.
To make this approach work it is also apparent that the nature of the feedback given to the students’ needs to change. Feedback is often backwards looking and does not provide students with ideas for improvement in the future. This will be addressed in the next phase of the pilot.