Feedback about Teaching in Higher Ed: Neglected Opportunities to Promote Change (original) (raw)
Related papers
Making the Grade: Using Instructional Feedback and Evaluation to Inspire Evidence-Based Teaching
CBE life sciences education, 2016
Typically, faculty receive feedback about teaching via two mechanisms: end-of-semester student evaluations and peer observation. However, instructors require more sustained encouragement and constructive feedback when implementing evidence-based teaching practices. Our study goal was to characterize the landscape of current instructional-feedback practices in biology and uncover faculty perceptions about these practices. Findings from a national survey of 400 college biology faculty reveal an overwhelming dissatisfaction with student evaluations, regardless of self-reported teaching practices, institution type, or position. Faculty view peer evaluations as most valuable, but less than half of faculty at doctoral-granting institutions report participating in peer evaluation. When peer evaluations are performed, they are more supportive of evidence-based teaching than student evaluations. Our findings reveal a large, unmet desire for greater guidance and assessment data to inform peda...
Journal of Multidisciplinary Evaluation, 2009
This paper analyzes a national sample of teachers’ self-reported use of assessment and feedback in Advanced Placement (AP) biology classrooms. Descriptive statistics of what teachers reported doing in these two areas are discussed, followed by the identification of reported teaching practices variables that were found to be significantly related with student performance on AP biology exams. All the significant variables found are exemplars of authentic assessment and feedback practices and techniques. The study provides valuable information on the types of assessment and feedback practices currently being employed by teachers, and shows the relationship of such practices with actual student outcomes.
Enhancing feedback for students in a health science faculty
How much feedback is enough for undergraduate students in medicine, dentistry and health science? Feedback is meant to provide students with sufficient information on their performance in a given activity so it guides their future performance in similar activities. Different models of feedback have been described in the literature, some more comprehensively than others, with formative assessment and reflective practice being the underlying themes for all of the models. Data gathered from the undergraduate courses of Medicine, Dentistry, Health Sciences and Podiatric Medicine raised awareness of the common issues related to insufficient and inadequate feedback for students about their performance. These findings shaped the development of five targeted pilot projects. The pilot projects looked at ways to improve verbal and written feedback through formal and informal mechanisms. This paper describes how one Faculty is approaching the difficult task of shifting the established culture of offering limited feedback to students and enabling students to ask for feedback that is appropriate and useful for them. In doing so it offers ideas for other Faculties wanting to enhance the feedback mechanisms for students.
Enhancing feedback for students across a Health Sciences Faculty
How much feedback is enough for undergraduate students in medicine, dentistry and health science? Feedback is meant to provide students with sufficient information on their performance in a given activity so it guides their future performance in similar activities. Different models of feedback have been described in the literature, some more comprehensively than others, with formative assessment and reflective practice being the underlying themes for all of the models. Data gathered from the undergraduate courses of Medicine, Dentistry, Health Sciences and Podiatric Medicine raised awareness of the common issues related to insufficient and inadequate feedback for students about their performance. These findings shaped the development of five targeted pilot projects. The pilot projects looked at ways to improve verbal and written feedback through formal and informal mechanisms. This paper describes how one Faculty is approaching the difficult task of shifting the established culture of offering limited feedback to students and enabling students to ask for feedback that is appropriate and useful for them. In doing so it offers ideas for other Faculties wanting to enhance the feedback mechanisms for students.
CBE life sciences education, 2018
Many efforts to improve science teaching in higher education focus on a few faculty members at an institution at a time, with limited published evidence on attempts to engage faculty across entire departments. We created a long-term, department-wide collaborative professional development program, Biology Faculty Explorations in Scientific Teaching (Biology FEST). Across 3 years of Biology FEST, 89% of the department's faculty completed a weeklong scientific teaching institute, and 83% of eligible instructors participated in additional semester-long follow-up programs. A semester after institute completion, the majority of Biology FEST alumni reported adding active learning to their courses. These instructor self-reports were corroborated by audio analysis of classroom noise and surveys of students in biology courses on the frequency of active-learning techniques used in classes taught by Biology FEST alumni and nonalumni. Three years after Biology FEST launched, faculty particip...
2016
Practical courses are very important in teachers’ professional training. It is important that teachers learn professional knowledge and skills by personal experience, and it can increase the quality of their teaching. The accuracy of the practice should be considered for the practical studies of pre-service teachers. When the practices do not include feedback, the connection between theoretical information and practice is not successfully established, which leads to performances to be taught adequately, but in fact insufficiently. The aim of this study is to determine pre-service science teachers’ opinions about the use of feedback during the preparation of teaching materials. This is a case study, a qualitative research method. The study data were collected using an Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 17, Issue 1, Article 11 (Jun., 2016) Özlem KORAY Pre-service science teachers’ opinions about using the feedback process in the preparation of teaching materia...
Feedback in the Sciences: What is Wanted and What is Given
This paper reports the initial findings from a study investigating students' perceptions of the feedback they have received at university in order to gain insight into the kinds of feedback most sought by students. Four hundred and nineteen second-year university Science students completed a 53 item questionnaire. Using a Likert scale, the questionnaire examined i) how students experienced feedback, ii) what students did with feedback, iii) how useful students perceived feedback to be, and iv) what type of written feedback was important to students. Statistical analyses of the data indicated that students carefully read feedback, used it to both go over the current assignment and improve future assignments, and that feedback received contributed to their understanding of course content. In addition, the data showed that a significant majority of students reported both positive and negative feedback as useful. The results suggest that students use written feedback not only for reflection on the assessment for which it was provided but to feed forward on future assessments. The results will be discussed in relation to the model of feedback proposed by .
Formative peer and self feedback as a catalyst for change within science teaching
Feedback to students is vital for effective learning; however, it is a relatively under-researched area in the UK. This study sought to use new and more effective methods of formative feedback to students within the context of Chemistry teaching in order to facilitate student learning. Emphasis was placed on the use of Student Directed Assessment, and in particular, the use of Student Self and Peer-Assessment. During semester 2 of the 2005-06 academic year, a cohort of some 100 Chemistry students and 33 Natural Sciences students attended a series of problem-based workshops designed to test Self and Peer Assessment methods. Results show that both Peer and Self Assessment were preferred over Tutor Assessment. Whilst Peer Assessment was viewed as helping to learn more on specific topics, Self Assessment was perceived as having a didactic value as they learned from their own mistakes.
The effective use of feedback in health professions teaching
Revista Hospital Universitário Pedro Ernesto, 2014
The purpose of this review is to define feedback and provide informed commentary on how feedback should be given to health professions learners during the educational process. The purpose of feedback is to enhance and improve student learning; this is in contrast to grading, which has the purpose of summarizing what a student has learned during a given educational experience. Feedback is highly influenced by other characteristics of the educational setting (e.g., clarity of objectives, context of learning, timing, and specificity). Both students and faculty members have a responsibility to seek and provide feedback within the context of the teaching relationship. Surprisingly few research studies exist concerning how feedback impacts learning outcomes. Surveys have shown that feedback is highly desired by students and yet often felt to be inadequately given. Simultaneously, faculty members often feel that feedback given is of good quality but has not been recognized by students. Factors that impede good feedback in the clinical teaching setting include teacher preparation, student characteristics, the learning environment and time pressures. There is evidence that student expectations concerning the type of feedback they desire change over time, i.e., as the student progresses through the curriculum. It is strongly suggested that the quality of feedback impacts student learning, perhaps more than any other aspect of the teaching process. Best practices associated with giving and receiving feedback have been identified, but faculty development in this regard may be lacking. Recommendations to students and faculty members alike may help alleviate problems with the feedback process and serve to facilitate more effective learning.