Using Student-driven Feedback Practice to Promote Engagement with Feedback

Abstract

<p><strong>Objective - Theoretical Background</strong></p><p>Student engagement with feedback is a determinant of academic improvement. Explained by Price, Handley and Miller (2011), feedback engagement involves three interrelated dimensions: cognitive (understanding of feedback content), emotional (students’ feelings about the feedback and its providers) and behavioural (feedback uptake). Students’ limited feedback engagement has been reported by the National Student Survey (HEFCE, 2017) as one of the major issues in higher education. To increase student engagement, Boud and Molloy (2013) recommend positioning students as the key feedback driver by using dialogic feedback and multi-stage task designs and developing students’ evaluative capacities. However, few studies have explored how to implement these suggestions in the taught postgraduate context. This qualitative case study aimed to investigate how a student-driven feedback practice could be developed to promote learner engagement. The research question was ‘How does a student-driven feedback practice increase master students’ engagement with feedback?’ </p><p><strong>Methods</strong></p><p>35 part-time master’s students (18 from Language Education and 17 from Early Childhood Education) from a research intensive university in Hong Kong participated in a two-step feedback procedure when they were undertaking interrelated assessment tasks (a mid-term oral presentation before the final written assignment). The first step involved constructing and receiving peer feedback on the presentation on an e-learning platform. The second step entailed student-teacher feedback interaction on Whatapps / Wechat (by students producing an audio-recording to self-assess their performance and to raise questions for the subsequent assignment, followed by teacher’s audio response to their self-assessment and questions).</p><p><strong>Data sources</strong></p><p>Data were collected through an open-ended survey and focus group interviews to ascertain student views on the feedback procedure. Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis method guided the coding process. A frequency count of the themes identified from the survey was done to give an account of student views. The survey data were triangulated with the thematic analysis of student responses in the interviews. </p><p><strong>Results</strong></p><p>The survey data showed that engaging in peer feedback helped students understand their problems (20.5%), encouraged reflection (11%) and reduced emotional barriers in the feedback process (10%). Their views were elaborated in the interviews. Peer comments were easy to understand because peers used plain language to explain problems. It was less embarrassing to accept criticism in the online feedback mode.</p><p>Performing self-assessment on social media applications was perceived to be convenient (39.5%), efficient (26.3%) and useful in reducing teacher-student distance (18.4%). In the interviews, although some students expressed preference for instant teacher feedback, the students assumed more control in the asynchronous feedback communication, having more time to organise their reflection and interpret teacher feedback.</p><p><strong>Significance</strong></p><p>Different from the traditional teacher-driven feedback practice, this study illustrates how a student-driven feedback practice could be developed to enhance feedback engagement. Arranging peer- and self-assessments prior to teacher feedback is an effective way to increase engagement because students could personalise their feedback needs and relieve their tensions in the feedback process.</p>