Feedback is multi-functional. It:

• Explains why a student received a particular mark for an assessment - in other words, it sets out the extent to which, and how, the student met the assessment criteria in the assessment of the learning outcomes of a particular module and of the programme as a whole. This is particularly important for a summative assessment, but can also help students on a formative assessment because it enhances their understanding of the assessment criteria. In other words, it improves their assessment literacy.
• Highlights what the student did well, what they could have done better, and importantly, how they can imrpove next time round - this is an important part of assessment for learning.
• Provides a focus to help the student reflect on their own performance and therefore to engage more deeply with the subject material they are working on, as well as to develop transferable skills (such as improved research, essay writing or problem-solving skills). It may therefore help students to achieve not only the module learning outcomes, but also the wider learning outcomes of the programme as a whole, including employability-related outcomes. The use of feedback is integral to the concept of assessment for learning in which students learn by doing.
• Generates useful information for tutors as it will identify strengths and weaknesses in the cohort as a whole. This may mean that you need to adjust the content or the delivery of the programme (or an individual module). It will also reveal specific issues with which individual students may be struggling so that targeted assistance may be offered, as they progress throughout the programme.
• Can form the basis of a comments bank for use in marking similar assessments in the future, thereby increasing marking efficiency.

Feedback is not the same as the mark awarded for an assessment. In addition, feedback can be given throughout the programme, not just on assessments.

Formative feedback is essential to, possibly even the most important part of, student learning,¹ so it is essential that plenty of opportunities for such feedback are designed into your degree programme, and that there is a coherent structure to these opportunities for feedback in order to maximise the benefit to students as they progress. You need to consider this when mapping assessments across the programme.

Whilst good feedback can help students to learn, it is equally true that poor feedback can have a detrimental effect on the learning process,² so it is vital that feedback is of a consistently high quality.

The National Student Survey shows that students (irrespective of where they study) almost always give lower ratings to the quality of feedback they receive than to every other aspect of their experience as covered by the survey. It is therefore not the case that students are only interested in the marks and not in their feedback. Rather, they value appropriate and useful feedback, but do not always feel that they are getting it.

The challenge is therefore to create feedback that the students will find useful, without overburdening staff. This toolkit provides guidance on best practice in creating feedback, and some suggestions as to how feedback can be integrated into the curriculum as a whole.

The University has a feedback policy that reflects the basic principles underpinning the pedagogy of feedback.

Good feedback should:

• Be timely to allow students the opportunity to reflect on it and use it to improve their future performance.
• Include feed-forward.
• Be part of a wider process, embedded within the core programme, of helping students to engage mor deeply with the assessment criteria for formal assessments and with their feedback.
• By virtue of its position in the learning cycle, make clear reference back to the module and programme learning outcomes and the relevant assessment criteria so that students understand where their work met those criteria and how it did not. This includes matching the feedback language to the mark so that the feedback on an assignment awarded 55%, for example, should not begin: 'This is an excellent piece of work'³.
• Be consistent across the programme - consider using a standard feedback form for all written feedback.

Not overwhelm the student:

• Build on positives where possible so that students feel empowered to succeed.
• Be honest.
• Make both praise and criticism focused so the student knows precisely what they did well and what they need to improve.
• Concentrate on a few key points - avoid over-correction of grammar, spelling, etc. (and ensure that you are taking account of any disability when marking).

Be efficient for staff:

• It is not always necessary to write extensive amounts of feedback for summative assessments, if students have been given plenty of previous opportunities to engage with the assessment criteria and have received feedback on formative pieces of work.³
• If shorter feedback is to be given on summative work, then the tutor should explain the rationale for this to students in advance.
• Also, if the skills or the subject matter tested in a summative assessment are relevant to the achievement of later learning outcomes within the module or programme, appropriate feed-forward should still be given.