Feedback from Lecturers
Forms of feedback
- written comments on essays, reports or other types of assignment
- comments and advice during seminars and tutorials. Tutors may also provide feedback to your tutorial or seminar group during the session, or via email or Blackboard
- advice given on a one-to-one basis during discussions with your tutors, personal tutor (academic adviser) and/or other academic staff
When is feedback given?
Feedback can be given to students at a number of points during a course-unit. For example, the tutor may give general advice regarding an essay, they may comment at the end of a tutorial about the quality and content of the discussion, provide detailed comments on an assessed essay and/or provide comments on a presentation.
Can you think of examples during your first few weeks of classes when you tutor has given feedback to you or the tutorial/seminar group?
It is important right from the beginning of your degree course to identify the forms of feedback you might receive. You need to look out for feedback (in all different forms) from your tutors/lecturers in your taught classes and to have an idea of what form feedback takes for summative assessment. We encourage you to make sure that you have always read your course-unit handbook carefully, as here teaching staff put lots of useful information about feedback and assessment (including assessment criteria and feedback sheets).
Feedback from various types of assessment
- Diagnostic assessment is used to assess skills in order to decide which unit students should take. It answers the question, "What can I do?" and feedback serves primarily to exemplify the relative weaknesses in performance leading to the decision.
- Summative assessment is used to reach decisions on progression and awards. It answers the question, "How did I do?" so that feedback typically cannot readily enhance performance in the same topic and hence serves primarily to enhance technique in subsequent assessments.
- Formative assessment is used to help form effective learning by students and so enhance their performance. It answers the question, "How am I doing?" and feedback is integral to helping students to modify their learning and enhance their performance in subsequent assessments.
Coursework often serves a formative purpose through providing material for feedback, whilst also contributing to summative assessment through the marks awarded for your performance.
Content adapted with permission from Dr. Alyssa Phillips, Director of Combined Studies, University of Manchester.