Reading and responding to feedback
Reflect
Imagine this....
You have just found out that you passed your first assessment task and you feel happy and relieved. But wait! You read your feedback and it says that some of your grammar is incorrect. It also says that you need to improve the quality of your argument and include more references.
What do you do?
The video below shows students responding to this scenario. Would you respond the same way?
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What is feedback?
Feedback is a powerful tool that you can use to your advantage. It provides you with an opportunity to evaluate how you are performing in your subjects and how you can improve.
How you respond to feedback is part your transition towards self-reliance and independent learning. The way you respond is an important skill for you to have the future. You will both give and receive feedback regularly during your studies at UOW.
Verbal feedback:
- Sometimes feedback is given verbally by the teacher during class, to a whole group of students.
- You might give feedback to a peer about a question they have asked in class, or a peer may give you feedback about how you are approaching a topic.
Assessment task feedback:
- For individual assessment tasks you will receive feedback after your teacher has evaluated your work.
- You will receive a mark for that task and written feedback. This might be in the form of written comments, or scaled on an assessment rubric.
Overall grade:
- You will get marks for individual assessment tasks, and you will receive a grade for your overall performance in your subject.
- The overall grade is a combination of the individual assessment task marks.
- Percentage marks are used to calculate the overall grades. See UOW Grade Descriptors for more information. e.g. High Distinction (85-100%), Distinction (75-84%), Credit (65-74%), Pass (50-64%), Fail (less than 50%)
What should you do with feedback?
No one really likes to hear criticism about their work but as you are now aware, feedback is an excellent way for you to check your understanding of a topic.
If you learn from feedback and take note of areas your teacher feels are important you will achieve better grades! Remember that your teachers want you to succeed and do the best you can.
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Tips for getting the most out of feedback:
You might be tempted to skip straight to your mark, but make sure you understand why you got that mark. Did you do everything that was within your ability and if not, why not?
Don't just put the assessment task in a drawer and forget about it! What did you do well and what do you need to improve? Can the feedback be taken and applied elsewhere?
Sometime the marker will focus on what needs to be improved, rather than give encouragement. Approach negative feedback as constructive criticism. You can learn from your mistakes!
Reflect on what you know about yourself. How do you prepare for assessment tasks? What are your weaknesses? You don't have to wait to be told what works or doesn't work by your teachers!
Take advantage of quiet moments in class to discuss the feedback with your teacher, or approach them in office hours. If you have questions, seek answers rather than worry! You could also discuss the feedback with a trained Peer Mentor in the Learning Co-op.
If you don't understand the feedback, or didn't get enough detailed feedback, talk to your teacher. They will be happy to go through your work with you to point you in the right direction and to show where you lost marks.
Your teachers are more likely to be responsive to requests for further feedback if they can see that you have thought about it carefully, and looked back at the assessment task instructions and criteria.
Keep a document with feedback you have received from your assessment tasks, with positive/negative feedback columns.
Are you getting more positive feedback as you progress in your subject? Or are you getting the same negative feedback again and again? Take a look at the resources available on the Learning Co-Op to see how to improve.
Keep copies of important Assessment Tasks in your online Portfolio. Write a couple of sentences about what you learnt from the task.
Use the positive feedback you receive to help you in future assessment tasks.