WORKING WITH FEEDBACK
Throughout your education you have been receiving feedback on your work,
either through comments on your school work, or through reports and exam
results. This will continue in higher education and you must ensure that you
make the most of that feedback right from the start of your studies.
Responding to lecturer feedback on subsequent assignments by adapting your
work appropriately can have a major impact on your marks. This chapter is
aimed at increasing your awareness of feedback and improving your
understanding of lecturer feedback comments.
This chapter will cover:
I the purpose of feedback
I formative and summative assessment and feedback
I making sense of lecturers’ feedback
I contacting your lecturer
I consequences of ignoring or not understanding feedback.
USING THIS CHAPTER
If you want to dip into this section Page If you want to try the activities Page
Introduction 256
The purpose of feedback 256
Formative and summative assessment
and feedback 259
Making sense of lecturers’ feedback 264
Contacting your lecturer 269
Consequences of ignoring or not
understanding feedback 270
Summary 270
14.1 Reflection on feedback 256
14.2 Evaluating feedback on drafts
and final scripts 259
14.3 Rating the importance of
feedback 260
14.4 Feedback methods used in your
context 260
14.5 Preparing for writing in a
feedback notebook 264
14
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INTRODUCTION
Most of you recognise that the main reason lecturers give feedback on your assignments
is to improve your work and help you achieve a higher grade by showing you
your strengths and weaknesses. You may feel there are secondary reasons too,
such as feedback is a justification for the mark or it is intended to improve your confidence.
There may be some of you who feel feedback is unnecessary as the work
has already been done and marked. We hope that by the end of this chapter you will
learn to appreciate the importance of lecturer feedback and be armed with some
strategies for using it to your advantage.
THE PURPOSE OF FEEDBACK
We assume you are in higher education because you are interested in learning more
about your subject as well as the overall experience. Whilst studying you need to
show that you are indeed acquiring more knowledge and the way to prove that is
through the assignments that you write and the tests that you sit. Lecturers also aim
to increase your knowledge and your interest in the subject you are studying. They
would like to see you succeed in your chosen path and therefore, in addition to the
time they spend teaching you in class, they also try to give you more individual
attention through tutorials and written feedback on your assignments. You may
occasionally feel that they could be paying you more individual attention, but before
you become overly critical, do consider the number of students they have to deal
with on your programme. Lecturers are aware of their time constraints and they
therefore devise ways of providing feedback which may at times seem rather
generic (e.g. pro-forma feedback sheets with tick boxes). In most cases, nevertheless,
further written feedback is provided on specific coursework. The overall aim of
that feedback is to improve your future work. It is intended to help you build on your
strengths and diminish your weaknesses. So, although the feedback given is usually
on a completed, finished piece of work, the comments made by the lecturer should
be taken on board for future assignments. It may be worth considering your current
thoughts about feedback before continuing with the chapter. We clearly feel that
feedback is extremely important, which is also why we are providing you with feedback
on the activities in this book.
14 Working with feedback
256
1 Do you know where your assessed work is?
□ Yes, I know exactly where it is
□ Yes, I could perhaps find it if I needed to
□ Yes, I threw it away
□ No, I don’t know where it is
Activity 14.1 Reflection on feedback
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257
The purpose of feedback
2 How many times do you usually look at each piece of assessed work after it is
marked? Circle one of the answers below
Never Once 2–4 times Over 5 times
3 Why do/don’t you look at your assessed work again?
4 Have you ever had the opportunity to get comments on drafts of your work?
□ No □ Yes
5 If yes, how useful did you find the comments?
6 In which of the following ways would you prefer lecturers to comment on your
work? Tick ALL that apply:
□ Written comments on a separate piece of paper (assignment cover sheet)
□ Written comments throughout your work (e.g. on the relevant parts of the
essay pages)
□ Written comments at the bottom of the page of the submitted text
□ Written comments throughout your work and on the assignment cover sheet
□ Written comments with an opportunity to talk to lecturer
□ Recorded (oral) comments
□ Emailed written comments
□ Would prefer to agree with individual lecturers on a specific method of
receiving feedback
7 i) What type of comments do you expect to get on your written work? Tick ALL
that apply. ii) What type of comments would you prefer to get on your written
work? Tick ALL that apply.
Expect Prefer
□ □ Praise. For example: ‘Very good explanation!’
□ □ Comments on your content and ideas.
□ □ Comments on the organisation of your ideas in the text.
□ □ Comments on your use of language e.g spelling, punctuation and
grammar.
□ □ Corrections of grammar and/or spelling.
□ □ Naming of type of error with a correction. For example: ‘Spelling:
thrOUGH’
□ □ Use of underlining to note errors but no correction.
□ □ Questions about the error. For example: ‘Why?’ ‘Where did you find
this information?’
□ □ Request for further information. For example: ‘Further explanation
required/needed here.’
□ □ Ticks ()
□ □ Use of a code to show what error has been made. For example,
Gr ϭ grammar, Sp ϭ spelling, ? ϭ unclear sentence/idea
□ □ No comments. Only a mark.  
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14 Working with feedback
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It is always worth spending some time reflecting on how you do things and why.
Clearly, there are no correct answers to this exercise. Its main aim is to raise your
awareness in terms of how you view feedback and how much further you are willing
to embrace it. Compare your preferences and expectations to the actual feedback
you receive and be prepared to discuss this with your lecturers. Research carried
out at a university in Hertfordshire (Martala and Parry, 2008), for example, showed
that the majority of students did not particularly like ticks whereas they expected
written comments, especially on organisation, all over their work. They were, in fact,
mainly receiving ticks on their work and feedback on assignment cover sheets.
Moreover, whereas both students and lecturers had expressed an interest in negotiating
feedback methods with each other, only a small proportion were given this
opportunity. Feedback is intended as a two-way communication process but students
need to approach their lecturers for this to occur. It is up to you to take that
step towards improved communication methods with your lecturers.
TIP Communicate your feedback preferences to your lecturers.
Negative issues of feedback
We feel that current terminology may conceal the benefit of feedback because of
emphasis on the ‘back’. When the word ‘feedback’ is mentioned, it is clear that the
comments relate to a finished piece of work rather than a future one. Also, despite
lecturers’ efforts to give constructive criticism relating to your text, the work you
have created is extremely personal to you and any criticism of it may inevitably be
taken personally. You may feel disillusioned by negative remarks and problems with
your writing and you may push the feedback aside and ignore it. That would unfortunately
weaken your academic prospects.
‘Feedforward’ as a suggested solution
To help change your view of feedback, start thinking of the process as ‘feed
forward’. Many lecturers are already engaging with this concept which shifts the
focus onto future rather than past assignments. The aim of feedforward is to
suggest solutions which can be worked towards in future assignments thus making
a direct link with the improvement of forthcoming work. Even if your lecturers are
using the current feedback method, you may turn that into feedforward. An example
8 Would you like the opportunity to discuss with your lecturer the type of comments
you would find useful?
□ Yes
□ No
□ Not sure Source: Martala and Parry (2008)
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may help. The lecturer comments: ‘There are too many quotes on this page.’ In
feedforward terms you could interpret this as: ‘I need to use fewer quotes by paraphrasing
and summarising more.’ Naturally if you want to improve your marks, you
will need to make sure that you act on the feedforward. (Lecturer comments are
‘interpreted’ later in the chapter.)
FORMATIVE AND SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
AND FEEDBACK
You may be aware of the terms ‘formative’ and ‘summative’ assessment. These are
ways in which your lecturers assess and feed back on what you are learning or have
learned on your course. In broad terms ‘formative’ assessment is intended to help
you improve though it may not necessarily carry a mark or contribute to your final
grade. ‘Summative’ assessment is used for work that carries a mark which will contribute
to your final score. The examples of both types of assessment can be the
same. Therefore an essay, a multiple choice test, the writing up of an experiment,
can all be ways of assessing you and providing feedback. With formative assessment
however, the essay is more likely to be a draft and the test or experiment is
more like ‘mock exams’.
259
Formative and summative assessment and feedback
See
Chapter 10
²
Consider the writing of an essay as one example of both formative and summative
assessment. The column on the left lists possible benefits of feedback. The other
two columns are divided into ‘draft essay’ where formative feedback would be
given, and ‘essay’ where summative feedback would be expected. Look at each
proposed benefit and decide whether it would ‘D ϭ definitely’, ‘P ϭ probably’ or
‘N ϭ not likely’ be of benefit to you for each type of essay. Circle the one you feel
is appropriate.
Activity 14.2 Evaluating feedback on drafts and final scripts
Benefits of feedback
(Which of the following do you think can be achieved
if you act on the feedback?)
Draft essay
(Circle one
letter)
Essay
(Circle one
letter)
An improved writing style D P N D P N
A better knowledge of the referencing system D P N D P N
More careful editing skills D P N D P N
A better structure with well-organised paragraphs D P N D P N
Wider reading to support your points D P N D P N
Adherence to assignment guidelines D P N D P N
An increase in your mark on subsequent essays D P N D P N
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If you have not circled any Ns then you feel that a number of benefits can be gained
from both formative and summative feedback. However, if you have circled Ns you
may feel that it is too late to change your essay now despite the feedback. Do
remember, however, that any feedback you receive relies on you actually making
use of it. You may not be able to increase the mark of your current essay, but the
lessons you have learned through the feedback should help you in your future work.
You may find that just better planning or editing alleviates the problem or that you
need to do more reading and practise more with exercises such as those found in
this and other books.
Hopefully you have seen that both forms of assessment and feedback are equally
important. They are both valuable ways of gauging your progress and identifying
areas you may need to improve. It is unfortunately true that many students are more
likely to take part in summative activities (which carry marks) rather than formative
ones (which do not), thus missing out on valuable opportunities for improvement.
Students often only look at the mark on a returned assignment and do not always
pay sufficient attention to useful comments provided by the lecturers. The marks
given for an assignment should be seen as a useful form of feedback rather than the
main focus of your studies.
Looking at your answers above, which of these two types of feedback do you think
is the most important for your academic success: formative or summative?
Activity 14.3 Rating the importance of feedback
It will help you to know the kind of formative and summative feedback methods
utilised by your department. Look at the following list and tick all that apply. If you
are not sure of some of the answers, try to find out by reading the course handbook
and asking other students and your lecturers.
Activity 14.4 Feedback methods used in your context
Formative feedback methods Yes No Not sure
Lecturer feedback on drafts – this process is integrated into
the course
Lecturer feedback on drafts – non-integrated, informal
comments made to students who ask
Peer feedback* on drafts – this process is integrated into the
course
Whole class feedback on typical areas of difficulty
Personal feedback – you are asked to rate and comment on
your own work
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TIP Make sure you know what feedback methods are in place in your
department.
Knowing the various mechanisms in place better prepares you for the kind of help
which is available. We would like to draw your attention to four areas, as follows.
1 Individual approaches to feedback differ
Despite the procedures in place for feedback, lecturers are all individuals and their
approach may therefore be different. Some lecturers may make (coded) corrections
on your text whereas others may only place ticks or write nothing. Some may only
write on the assignment cover sheet whereas others may write on the top sheet, on
the text, as footnotes and on a tick-box sheet at the back.
261
Formative and summative assessment and feedback
Formative feedback methods Yes No Not sure
Feedback provided by academic skills unit (or similar student
academic support centre)
Other
Summative feedback methods Yes No Not sure
Lecturer feedback written on assignment cover sheet
Lecturer feedback provided all over the assignment
Lecturer feedback given on template forms
Lecturer feedback on pro-forma tick-box grids
Written lecturer feedback with opportunity for tutorial
Whole class feedback on typical areas of difficulty
Peer feedback*
Personal feedback – you are asked to rate and comment on
your own work
A mark and feedback on your course website
A mark on your course website followed by comments on
your hard copy
Other
* Some students question the validity of peer feedback. In fact, peer feedback can be extremely valuable.
A fresh pair of eyes may spot different things in the text. Moreover, if your peer cannot understand certain
points in the text, it is highly likely that neither will your lecturer. At the same time, when you are reading a
peer’s work, you may pick up new ways of doing things.
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Our advice is therefore not to rely on there being one particular type of feedback.
Whenever your work is returned to you, carefully examine the pages from start to
finish as you may miss something important.
2 Look beyond the overall mark
We strongly urge you not to rely purely on the mark you may have already received,
whether poor or excellent.
Make sure you pick up your hard copy and examine it carefully. We suggest you
keep a small feedback notebook and you dedicate one page to one repeated feedback
comment, adding to it every time one of your assignments is returned to you.
The following is an example of a student’s entries into a feedback notebook.
Sample student notebook
14 Working with feedback
262
Page 1
28 Oct
Consult handbook for
referencing conventions
17 Nov
Referencing conventions
Page 2
17 Nov
Make writing more
cohesive – look at
signalling words
Page 3
17 Nov
Use spellchecker
Two things to note here are:
1 The feedforward terminology used in the notebook (e.g. not ‘lack of cohesion’,
but ‘make writing more cohesive’; not ‘inadequate referencing’, but ‘consult
handbook for referencing conventions’). If your lecturer has written feedback,
change it into feedforward terminology. Think of it in terms of what you can do in
future work.
2 The repetition of the same problem on page 1. If you find that one area is constantly
reappearing as an issue, you need to make sure that you tackle it for
future assignments. Ask your lecturer or an academic skills unit (if applicable) for
help.
TIP This notebook will also be particularly useful if you choose to use the academic
skills service, if one is available. The service will then be in a position
to focus on the specific areas you need to improve.
TIP If you really want to impress, add a page at the start of your next assignment
asking the lecturer to look at one particular area of your work which
you are trying to improve on.
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Formative and summative assessment and feedback
3 Analyse positive and negative comments
Some lecturers may like to emphasise the positives whilst others may seem more
critical.
Look through the positive comments with a fine-tooth comb. Some lecturers are so
concerned about hurting students’ feelings that they may ‘cloud’ the areas which
need improvement with too many encouraging remarks. This may make you feel
good, but it is not helping you much. For example:
Wide-ranging and interesting essay – well written and researched, covering the main points
well, although perhaps lacking the necessary depth for analysis. But encouraging start.
Pat yourself on the back for the five areas done well, by all means, but do not overlook
the sentence ‘lacking the necessary depth for analysis’. As this is being
mentioned, aim to do something about it whilst also continuing the good work.
On the other hand, when you read what seem overly critical remarks, do not take
them to heart. Use the feedforward strategy we looked at earlier and choose one or
two points to deal with in your next assignment rather than trying to fix everything
at once. Most importantly, do not take the remarks personally. For example:
It is a shame you have restricted the majority of your discussion to information from lectures.
You do not demonstrate your own understanding of the subject by simply
regurgitating other people’s examples. You must also use references throughout your work
to acknowledge the sources of information/facts you discuss. You should also use more
books/journals (academic sources) and fewer web references. This work does not reflect
the 22-hour time burden.
Take a deep breath and appreciate that the lecturer has actually given you a great
deal of useful feedback despite the negative language used. Rather than only
mention two points in order to soften the blow, they seem to have covered every
area that needs attention. This approach has probably saved you from poor marks
in your future work as long as you make sure you carefully consider each point. Ask
yourself if you would rather be marked down on five subsequent assignments for
making mistakes you were not aware of. If you do not like the negative way in which
this has been written, change it into feedforward language as described earlier.
4 Turnaround time
A specified turnaround time for assessed work forms part of university regulations.
Five weeks is a common turnaround time, but you should check your institution’s
regulations. If the deadline has passed and you are still waiting, and as long as there
has been no illness or other extenuating circumstances, you are entitled to ask your
lecturer when your work will be returned.
If the work you are waiting for is in the form of a draft, then a one to two-week turnaround
time is more appropriate.
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MAKING SENSE OF LECTURERS’ FEEDBACK
Often the problem lies not with a lack of appreciation of feedback, but with a lack
of understanding of what the feedback means and how to put it to use. This section
attempts to clarify this.
We mentioned earlier that the mark alone is insufficient. Nevertheless, the mark also
carries meaning as it is a quick indicator of excellent, good or poor work. (For
grades and their meanings please refer to your course handbook. As a general
guide, an ‘A’ ϭ 70ϩ, a ‘B’ ϭ 60ϩ, a ‘C’ ϭ 50ϩ, a ‘D’ ϭ 40ϩ, an ‘E’ ϭ 35ϩ and an
‘F’ is a clear fail.) Regardless of your mark, you should then read the feedback.
Feedback on excellent work will encourage you to use similar strategies in the future
and feedback on poor work will pinpoint the areas you need to work on to improve
your future grades.
Lecturers’ comments
Provided you can decipher the lecturer’s handwriting, common comments found on
assignment cover sheets and on your text itself can be seen in Table 14.1. The comments
are taken from actual student work. Reading through the comments you will
begin to see the type of issues picked up by lecturers when marking your work,
which may help you avoid making the same mistakes.
14 Working with feedback
264
Rewrite the following feedback comments using feedforward terminology.
1 Limited reading
2 Better structure needed
3 Lacking in critical depth
4 Lack of references
5 Spelling.
Activity 14.5 Preparing for writing in a feedback notebook
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Making sense of lecturers’ feedback
Table 14.1 Common comments
Lecturers’
comments
(usually found on
assignment cover
sheet)
What they mean
(in feedforward
terms)
What you need to do
Good
understanding
apparent
Keep up the good
work.
Maintain the reading you are clearly doing.
Good attempt to
apply theory
You are on the way
to achieving good
critical writing.
Read Chapters 10 and 11 on
incorporating authors’ ideas and on
finding your own voice for further
suggestions.
A highly critical
account
Make sure you
maintain this level
of critical writing.
Keep reading critically (see Chapter 5) and
make sure your own voice continues to
come through in your work (see
Chapter 11).
Well-written Put the same effort
into future work.
Continue to organise your work and to
write well-structured, cohesive text. See
Chapter 6.
Lack of integrated
references
Please use an
appropriate
referencing style
There are clearly
two very different
writing styles in this
assignment
You are in great
danger of
plagiarism due to
lack of references
Make sure you
always
acknowledge the
authors whose
words or ideas you
are using.
You must never copy text from a source.
You must always include the reference in
the text and in the reference list at the
end. Copied text tends to stand out from
student writing. To avoid plagiarism
issues, never include unreferenced
material in your work. Check the
referencing conventions used in your
faculty. See Chapter 10.
Try not to rely on
quotes to make
your points
Stronger link
between your point
and the reference
needed
Incorporate authors’
ideas into your
writing. Make sure
your voice is heard
and your opinion is
supported by a
referenced source.
Try to construct your paragraph so it
includes your point with support from a
source, or use the idea from the source
first and link it to your point. See Chapters
10 and 11.
 
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Table 14.1 continued
Lecturers’
comments
(usually found on
assignment cover
sheet)
What they mean
(in feedforward
terms)
What you need to do
Your work became
descriptive in
places
Need to increase
the critical element
You seem to lack
critical review
Needed to have
shown critical depth
Need to develop an
analytical ability
Your ideas and
opinions (your
voice) must be
made clearer in
your writing.
Question what you
read.
Make sure you read sources with a
questioning, critical mind which is
consequently reflected in your writing. Ask
questions such as ‘how’ or ‘why’ and
weigh the strengths and weaknesses of
an argument in your reading as well as in
your writing. Avoid stringing ideas from
sources together to make your point. See
Chapters 5, 10 and 11.
There is a lack of
evidence to
substantiate your
arguments
Some wild
assumptions made
without back up
evidence
A very opinionated
piece of work
Ensure that you
have evidence from
sources to support
your points.
Do not make statements which are not
backed up by evidence from sources.
They will not be accepted. You need to
balance ideas from sources with your own
opinions. See Chapters 8, 10 and 11.
Your understanding
of the theories is
limited
Limited reading
You need to use a
range of sources.
Don’t rely on one
author
You have restricted
your discussion to
information from the
lectures
Read more sources
to develop more
ideas and
arguments in your
work. These
include: books,
journals and all
relevant academic
publications.
You should always read extensively on the
subject and incorporate ideas from the
relevant sources into your own thinking to
form a valid argument. Do not regurgitate.
Do not accept only one author’s point of
view. The lecturer’s notes are not enough.
See Chapters 4, 5, 10 and 11.
Fewer web
references!
You should use
more books and
academic journals.
If the web references are of an academic
nature the lecturer will be happy.
Wikipedia and Google references are
usually frowned upon. See Chapter 4.
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Making sense of lecturers’ feedback
Lecturers’
comments
(usually found on
assignment cover
sheet)
What they mean
(in feedforward
terms)
What you need to do
Plan?!
You need to include
structure of essay in
intro
Paper should have
a better structure
Write a plan. Group
relevant ideas
together and make
sure the order they
appear in is logical.
Include structure in
the introduction.
Your work would benefit from a plan
before you start. You must attempt to
organise your ideas more logically.
Indicate the structure of the essay in the
introduction and follow that structure in
your text. Use signalling phrases to guide
your reader. See Chapters 2, 3, 6 and 12.
You need to
improve your
sentence structure
Shorten your
sentences. Avoid
complicated
sentences with
subclauses.
When your spellchecker puts a squiggly
line under a sentence, read it carefully and
make any essential changes (not
necessarily those offered by the program).
Make use of appropriate conjunctions.
See Chapters 6 and 15.
Take pride when
handing in work
Imagine your work
is a piece of art.
Handle it
accordingly.
Check your work thoroughly for spelling
mistakes, correct order of pages, printing
clarity and other proof-reading issues. See
Chapter 15.
Lecturers’
comments (usually
found within the
text)
What they mean (in
feedforward terms)
What you need to do
Circled or
underlined words
Poor sentence
structure
Spelling!
Make sure you edit
your work. Read
everything carefully
before handing it in.
Avoid use of informal language (including
contractions, e.g. ‘don’t’, or abbreviations,
e.g. ‘etc.’. Choose your words more
carefully. Always keep the spellchecker
switched on. It will help with correct
spelling and grammar. Always allow
yourself time to edit your work. See
Chapters 6 and 15.
Ref?
Source?
Page (number)?
Use appropriate
citation.
Make sure you provide references in the
text when using someone else’s ideas or
words. Always remember to include the
author, year of publication and the
relevant page number of your quoted
source. See Chapter 10.
 Good point. Well
done.
This is good. Keep thinking like this.
Table 14.1 continued
 
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14 Working with feedback
268
Table 14.1 continued
Lecturers’
comments
(usually found
within the text)
What they mean
(in feedforward
terms)
What you need to do
?
This doesn’t make
sense.
I don’t
follow/understand.
Why is this
relevant?
How does this
relate to the essay
topic?
Make sure you edit
your work. Read
everything carefully
before handing it in.
Group relevant
ideas together and
make sure the order
they appear in is
logical.
Make sure your points are relevant and
your argument is clear to a person other
than you. Provide a good link between
your point and the assignment topic and
make the links between ideas more
obvious. Imagine you are explaining to
someone outside your field. See Chapters
6, 10 and 11.
Stay focused
Rambling
Make sure your
points are relevant
and your argument
is clear to a person
other than you.
Do not veer off the topic in an attempt to
increase your word count. Is this piece of
information vital to your argument?
Why? / How?
Explain
Examples
Such as?
More details
needed
Provide evidence
from sources to
support your points.
When you make a point, you must
support it with examples and evidence.
Use these lecturers’ questions and apply
them to your points when you proof-read
your work. Make sure you have provided
relevant answers. See Chapters 10
and 11.
No! Make sure you have
your facts straight
before making any
claims.
Read sources carefully and make sure you
understand the point they make before
you use it in your work. See Chapter 5.
The majority of the authentic feedback shown in Table 14.1 seems to relate to one
of the following areas:
I reading
I planning and text organisation
I critical writing
I referencing
I editing.
We have attempted to cover these areas in this book to help you succeed in your
studies. Try the activities in the suggested chapters and search for other material
which may help you further as early in your course as possible.
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CONTACTING YOUR LECTURER
It is essential that you see your lecturer if you do not understand the feedback. You
should not use that time to try and haggle with the lecturer in order to increase your
mark as you will be wasting your time (and the lecturer’s). Many lecturers indicate
their availability in one or more of the following ways:
I in the course handbook
I on their doors (often there is a grid for you to write your name for an appointment)
I on the course website
I by specifying ‘open door policy’.
In case none of the above is applicable, talk to your lecturer after the lecture and
arrange a suitable time to meet. Do appreciate however that the lecturer may be
going to another lecture and may not have time for you at that moment.
Emailing your lecturer
It is always best to email your lecturer in order to make an appointment. Ask for confirmation
as sending the email does not necessarily mean it has been received or
opened and you would not want to have made a wasted trip. Also make sure that
your email explicitly states the reason for requesting an appointment, for example:
‘I would like to see you regarding the feedback on my assignment, TITLE OF
ASSIGNMENT. There are a few areas I would like to clarify and I would appreciate
your time’ (or words to that effect). Make the subject line pertinent too. Subject lines
with ‘hi’ or ‘urgent’ or ‘question’ or ‘CN I C U?’ are both inappropriate and often considered
SPAM and so trashed; ‘coursework feedback’ should be acceptable.
At the meeting
Make sure you go prepared with exactly what you want to say. Take your feedback
notebook with you both to remind you of areas you would like to discuss and to
make notes of any advice. If you have been allocated a 15-minute slot for example,
you do not want to waste the first few minutes trying to formulate your thoughts or
expecting your lecturer to play a guessing game. You could perhaps say one of the
following:
‘I would like to prioritise my areas of improvement and wanted to check with
you which ones affect my work most.’
‘I am not sure I understand this comment fully. Does it mean. . .?’
‘I’m sorry, I can’t quite read your writing here. Does it say. . .?’
Do not leave the room until you have fully understood what you need to do with your
future assignments (clearly within reason).
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Contacting your lecturer
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CONSEQUENCES OF IGNORING OR NOT
UNDERSTANDING FEEDBACK
Clearly, if you ignore the lecturer’s feedback, the main consequence will be that you
will continue to produce work of a similar standard. In Chapter 3 we asked you to
decide what kind of marks you are happy with. (If you are excelling, congratulations;
keep up the good work.) Do look at the feedback all the same as it will identify what
you do well and you can therefore do the same in future. Look out for lecturers’
feedback which uses words such as ‘almost’, ‘mostly’, ‘somewhat’, ‘an attempt’ as
they indicate that further improvement is needed.
If you are averaging ‘C’ and ‘B’ grades and would like a higher mark, utilising the
feedback will help you improve.
If passing is sufficient for you and you are managing to pass, you may be able to
get away with not taking any feedback on board. As feedback also forms part of
your personal and working life however, failing to use it does question your whole
attitude to study and work.
SUMMARY
We have tried to show you that marks are not a sufficient indication of how you
are progressing with your studies. You need to know the reasoning behind a particular
mark if you want to learn from it. The feedback you receive both explains
and justifies the mark with a view to helping you improve your future work.
Clearly, in order for you to improve, it is essential that you understand the feedback
and that you respond to it in your later assignments. Keeping a record of
that feedback for you to refer to may be a useful aid to your future academic
success.
References
Martala, M. and Parry, J. (2008) Lecturers’ Written Feedback and Students’ Use of Feedback
– A Match Made in Heaven? Hatfield: The University of Hertfordshire.
14 Working with feedback
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