Teaching and Learning > DISCOURSE
Engaging Students in Personal Development Planning: Profiles, Skills Development and Acting on Feedback
Author: Deirdre Burke
Journal Title: Discourse
ISSN: 2040-3674
ISSN-L: 1741-4164
Volume: 6
Number: 2
Start page: 107
End page: 142
Return to vol. 6 no. 2 index page
How far do the prior learning experiences of students prepare them for higher education? In a previous edition of this journal King noted that she moved from teaching undergraduates as she was disillusioned with student 'indifference and apathy'. (King, 2006) Have students changed? Are they more instrumental in their learning? Or could it be that current students face a more complex learning situation and struggle to meet academic conventions? (Lillis & Turner, 2001).
The academy that we are initiating new students into is far different than the one I entered thirty years ago. I didn't need to use technology to access books and journals, essays were handwritten, and I was assessed by essays and exams. My teaching over the past twenty years has drawn on technological developments to enrich student learning experiences. This means that current students have to develop a wide range of skills to access information and present their knowledge and understanding. This article explores an initiative 'to welcome students into the academy' through a consideration of learning experiences which support student transition to higher education. Students explore what it means to be a student, and develop skills to support their current study.
The context
My home institution appears at the top of only one league table, showing our success in widening participation from low participation households within Shropshire and the West Midlands. The University is now challenged to achieve the mission statement to 'enable and encourage individuals to realise their full potential and to achieve academic excellence.'
Staff in higher education are becoming more aware of the cost of 'failure' for those students who drop out or fail to pass the first year of a degree course. Research findings show that students face social and psychological burdens as well as the financial implications of failure. The Institute of Fiscal Studies estimated that male students who failed to complete their studies earned 9% less than workers who had not been to university, which shows that by entering higher education some students may actually reduce their life chances. Thus, as institutions, we need to take seriously our responsibility in accepting 'widening participation' students, and research ways to be better able to help them to succeed.
The initiative explored here, a pilot of a module called Personal, Academic and Career Enhancement (PACE), is a part of our Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) work—to focus on our response to the first year experience, and in particular to explore strategies to close the gap between the skills that many students possess on 109 Discourse: Vol. 6, No. 2, Spring 2007 entry and the requirements of their course of study. At Wolverhampton we need to respond to the university's success in widening participation by addressing the needs of an increasingly diverse student intake, in this instance through linking subjects to wider support service areas. This approach is proactive rather than reactive, in recognising that all students need to align their skills to those required in higher education. In this module the aim is to identify where and when individual students are likely to need support, and then to provide this support in the midst of their learning.
Religious studies students were involved in the pilot as I had school responsibilities for Student Support and had developed the module to provide students with a formal opportunity for personal development planning. The School Quality Committee required the module to be piloted with a small number of students before it was made available to all students in the school.
My interest in this field developed from a range of experiences. Firstly, from an awareness that students did not always act on feedback on assignments that advised skills development for study. I felt I was providing the same feedback advice to the same students time after time, and there was little evidence to show that students had acted on advice. I teach modules at all levels and have electronic copies of feedback sheets—thus, I was able to track individuals and note that students were not picking up advice on developing generic skills or specific subject related study skills.
Secondly, in my role as school student support co-ordinator, I worked with students at drop-in workshop sessions responding to general student queries about the learning process. In this role I was able to stand outside the 'power relationships', that Higgins et al., 2001, noted made discussion between a student and the marker of their work complex. Many queries concerned tutor feedback; how to interpret it and then how to act on it. These first hand contacts revealed the full nature of the practical challenges facing students. It is very easy for tutors to write comments on essays, such as 'more analysis' or 'full reference required'. But sitting next to students as they attempted to act on such feedback revealed the complexity of the task facing students engaging in academic discourse.
The Innovation
The PACE module aimed to provide students with an effective start to their university course, acting on Cottrell's recommendation that 'changes in the student body go hand in hand with the need for different kinds of teaching and with increased emphasis on skills development'( 2001, 6).
This module situated the development of skills for study within a model of personal development, which meets the Dearing Report's requirement for students to 'learn how to learn'. Students were encouraged to develop their independence as learners through opportunities to analyse how they stood in relation to 'skills' required for study. Students then decided where to focus their efforts and learned how to set measurable targets for their development.
Learning outcomes
At the completion of the module students are expected to be able to demonstrate:
- An understanding of what it means to be a student of higher education in terms of academic expectations and how those expectations should be met.
- An understanding of how university procedures and practices work in relation to potential student issues.
- An understanding of Personal Development Planning through the production of an initial personal development plan for the first semester, based on an analysis of the student's own Individual Learner Profile.
- The ability to use feedback effectively by recording the necessary steps and re-writing a negotiated assignment.
The theoretical foundation for this approach is based on the work of Biggs, 2003, who identified metacognitive skills as a third level of skills, which goes beyond generic and study skills. Metacognitive skills are in essence involved with 'what a learner does in new context' (2003, 94), and an awareness of the self as a learner. This links to Race's 2001 work on leading students to conscious competence, which involves possessing the self-awareness to assess their own learning against specified outcomes. We want students to know why they achieved a particular grade for an assignment, to be aware of their strengths and weaknesses, and to set targets for their own development.
The final strategy in the innovation focuses on student use of tutor feedback. This provides an opportunity for students to draw on 'expert' advice to facilitate their development. The activity on resubmitting an assignment applies Butler and Winne's advice that positions 'feedback within a model of self-regulation that guides cognitive activities during which knowledge is accreted, tuned, and restructured.' (1995, 246)
Returning to Race, who identifies the 'art of teaching' in the work that tutors do with learners in assisting student self-awareness 'to explore their danger box' and then to work with students to move them 'towards conscious competence'(Race, 2001, 4). Thus, Race challenges us as lecturers to set our subject learning within a pedagogical strategy which recognises that students are only likely to become effective learners, in any subject area, if they are helped to develop selfawareness of themselves as learners.
Details of the religious studies cohort
PACE was a new module, offered initially to religious studies students as a pilot in Semester 1, 2005-6. At induction all students complete an Individual Learner Profile (ILP), which provides an opportunity for students to consider the fitness for purpose of the skills they possess on entry to HE. The ILP was developed by staff in the School of Art and Design and adapted by most schools across the university, to identify both individual student needs and support required by cohorts of students. Research on this profile by Slater and Peacock set thresholds for students, noting that students with less than 60% in more than one section had struggled, and thus provided a measurement for identifying students who were at medium or high risk of dropping out or failing. Results from the Individual Learner Profile 2005-6 cohort for all students in the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science revealed that over a third of students were at risk (37%), and the figures for the religious studies students involved in this module was almost two thirds (62%). Table 1 below reveals that the religious studies students had a lower perception of their skills than the school average - thus it was appropriate that they were involved in the pilot.
TABLE 1 GOES HERE
Table 2 presents the percentage of students who scored less than 60% in the aspects listed and thus were deemed to be at risk. The table reveals that the religious studies students identified particular problems in speaking, which was relevant for this module as students were required to do a presentation. The students also lacked confidence in numeracy but there was little need in the first year modules for students to engage with numbers, as the research methods module in the second year introduces students to numeracy skills.
TABLE 2 GOES HERE
Three elements of this module will be explored in this study to explore how far three strategic innovations enable students to become 'architects of their own learning'.
Strategy 1: individualised learning
The approach to skills development in this module is innovative in two ways. Firstly, students are encouraged to think about why they have come to university, and work out what 'being a student' means to them. I am indebted to a philosophy colleague, Rob Baron, for his work in this area with all students at induction, and then a follow up session with the RS group. This positioning of skills development within a philosophical context of critical thinking encourages students to adopt a proactive stance and take ownership of their learning. Astudent noted that the essay on 'Being a student', 'got me to think about why I came to university and how I will make the most of it'. Others wrote of the importance of thinking about goals and responsibilities, and taking an active part in education.
Secondly, completion of an Individual Learner Profile encouraged each student to think about their own skill level in relation to the learning outcomes of the modules they were studying. This ensured that students made a link between the skills they entered with and the skills requirements of the modules they were studying. The ILP is a short diagnostic questionnaire, covering aspects of key skills, which encourages students to think about their strengths and areas for improvement. Slater and Peacock, 2001, when introducing the ILP to Wolverhampton, noted that 'Embedding learner support generically from the outset within the curriculum is facilitating the removal of the stigma of seeking assistance and subsequent admittance of weakness'. (2001, 73).
This identification of particular individual areas for development was followed in this project by the specification of a Learner Action Plan, to develop the skills each individual needed to develop in order to be successful. This initiative sought to build on the starting point of the ILP by ensuring that students had the opportunity to do something about the perceptions of their skills that they have at the start of their course. The ILP is based on the student's perception of her position, and often students are wide of the mark. Some students are not aware of the requirements of higher education and think the skills that served them well in school will suffice. Others worry that they will not be able to cope with higher education, and often such worries are unfounded. Whichever way students are wide of the mark, the ILP is a useful starting point as it raises awareness about the range of skills required for higher education and starts discussion about ways of developing skills.
Resources for the PACE module made it possible for each student to have an individual tutorial. In this tutorial students completed a Personal Development Planning form to identify the area they wanted to focus on for this task and selected at least two workshops to attend to develop their profile. The workshops were run by the Student Union, the Counselling Service, Learning Centres and academic schools.
This approach to skills development enables each student to work from their starting position and think about how to meet their own particular needs. The linking of skills to subject learning made it possible for students to reflect on the 'process' of essay writing as they work on the 'product' (Prosser & Webb, 1994). Traditional approaches to skills usually aim to cover all bases, and this means that for most of the time students may be covering areas they already possess confidence and competence in. In addition, the need to cover all bases means that the amount of time spent on each area is reduced and may not provide the depth and detail that an individual student would gain the most benefit from.
In addition this approach offered an alternative to the debate about free-standing skills modules or embedded skills development in subject modules. Cottrell recommended that skills learning be situated in subjects, with links to 'additional support, skills modules or peer support [that] are part of a multifaceted and integrated approach' (2001, 43).
The benefit of free-standing skills modules is often questioned, due to problems students seem to face in applying their 'skills' development within their subject learning. However, skills development within subject learning can be problematic if the staff delivering the programme do not have sufficient depth in teaching skills. Thus, this 'middle' approach was selected as a way to retain the strengths from each, by providing expert skills delivery within subject contexts.
This innovation acts on the awareness that if students start a higher education course without the necessary skills to be successful, they will struggle to find the time to make the required development to their skills set. In this module students have the time to work on their skills and the point is made that all students need to develop their skills set in order to make the most of higher education. Thus, rather than view skills development as a remedial activity to put right some deficit, this module presents skills development as a normative activity which is beneficial for all students.
Lecture sessions introduced students to all the staff they could usefully encounter to support their learning, through a three minute 'elevator pitch' overview of available support. The elevator technique challenges the individual to present their 'pitch' to their boss in the elevator, in the time it takes the elevator to reach the top floor. Thus, staff presented against the backdrop of a screen shot of the elevator doors closing, and the elevator progressing between floors. Staff modelled both presentation skills and time management skills in their short three minute pitches on how their role supported students.
Students in pairs followed up these areas by finding out more about the role of a particular person. This covered subject librarians, study skills advisors, personal counsellors, careers lecturers, and student union officials. Students then presented their findings to the wider group, sharing the approachability of the staff featured and re-iterating how these people could support students. This introduction to wider university support within the module aimed to bridge the gap that usually operated between students and centralised support. Several students stated that they would find it easier to seek support now they had met staff.
Students selected workshop sessions to aid their development. The majority chose workshops from the programme offered by the Student Union on general skills and using the ePortfolio. In addition many attended the school based sessions on essay writing and time management. The Counselling Service put a special session on for the group on handling anxiety. Student feedback was generally positive. One student reported: 'The stress workshop helped a lot. After finding it hard to adjust to uni life, stress busting techniques helped. [They] benefited me by giving me the skills and exercises to relax myself during the long bus journey, this enabled me to enter lectures feeling calmer'. Others noted the benefit of meeting other staff and students: 'Workshops were very good and helpful, and I also got to know other people as a result'.
At the end of the module students completed the ILP again. They did this without sight of their original submission so it is likely that their answers reflected their actual views at the end of the semester. Overall changes in perceptions in the ILP show that the majority of students felt more confident in relation to all areas. In the first five areas the total marks per aspect was 24 (made up of six elements in which students rated themselves on a scale of 1-4) and for ICT the total was 44. There was an overall average increase for students from 115 to 118 points out of a possible total of 188, although there is no baseline average as the main detail is in student responses for each section. Student perceptions of confidence increased in three sections, stayed the same in two, and decreased in one. Student comments showed a better understanding of the demands of higher education and a more realistic assessment of their ability to complete tasks.
TABLE 3 GOES HERE
The overall picture provided by this table shows a slight increase, but when individual results were unpacked two significant points emerged. Firstly, the numbers of students in the 'at risk' category was reduced from the initial 62% to between 5–10%, which was significantly below the original school average of 36%. Four students had started in the high risk category, with four sections under 60%. At the end of the module, only one student remained at high risk, with four sections under 60%. A similar picture emerged for the eight students who were at medium risk, with only one student remaining at medium risk, with three sections at less than 60%. Thus, the at risk percentage for both risk categories stood at 5% for the RS cohort, which was substantially lower than the school at risk category.
Secondly, the analysis of individual student changes from the start to the end of the semester revealed a number of variables. Generally the trend was for students to show increased confidence, particularly in the areas they sought to develop in the module. However, some students seem to have revised their views of their study capacity in light of their actual study experiences. There were some individual blips, some caused by students discovering that standards at university were higher than they expected, or other students realising that their skill set was appropriate for university. We can examine the results by considering individual student views on their experiences.
Three main positions were identified by students in relation to the development of their individual learner profile. First, what I have termed 'position 1: positive'; students who found the exercise useful as it helped the identification of 'strengths and areas for development', especially when a weakness was identified as something that 'affects every aspect of my life as a student'. Second, 'position 2: neutral'; students who completed the exercises but were neutral on the benefit of such activities. Despite the link between their studies in religious studies and skills development, these students were unlikely to apply study strategies to their RS assignments. Finally, in the third category, 'position 3: negative'; were students who found the focus on their skills very threatening. Most of the students were mature and did not want to think about any areas of weakness they brought to their course. Rather than use this module as an opportunity for development, these students wanted to get on with their academic subject study and not 'waste time on skills'.
The Individual Learner Profile asked students to rate themselves on aspects of six areas of their learning.
Position 1: 'positive'
Student 1 is a mature student, with family commitments, who has to travel a distance to university. Her results on all her modules were good, with an average of B, yet overall her ILP shows a reduction of confidence. She is more confident only in the area of time management. She is less confident speaking, reading and writing, despite receiving positive feedback on modules on her reading and writing skills. Follow up discussion with this student revealed that her view of speaking was influenced by her initial expectations that her degree course would be easier than it turned out to be. She felt that her lower perceptions were due to stress and exhaustion at the end of the semester. She feared that the study load together with family commitments, health worries and travel would make study in the future more difficult. Thus, whilst she recognised that her basic skills were sound, she worried that she would not be able to cope.
TABLE 4 GOES HERE
Student 2 showed the largest overall increase and was also the student who demonstrated the strongest commitment to developing her skills in the module. This student took up all opportunities to develop skills, attending more than the required number of workshops and making good use of book and electronic sources for development. Her evaluation noted how skills development had enabled her to improve specific skills, which overall had increased her confidence.
TABLE 5 GOES HERE
Position 2: 'neutral'
Student 3 is a residential student living away from home, who despite showing an overall increase still remained at high risk. There was an increase in four areas and a significant loss of confidence in the area of writing. Follow up discussion revealed that loss of confidence in writing was linked to negative feedback on essays and the experience of failure. It was also clear that the student did not start with a realistic view of the workload in higher education and the range of skills required to complete tasks.
TABLE 6 GOES HERE
Position 3: 'negative'
Student 4 was a mature student who was following up a lifelong interest in religion and history by taking a joint degree. This student wanted to focus on subject study and did not recognise the need to develop skills. Completing the ILP was considered to be an unnecessary chore, which took time away from subject study. This student felt that skills would emerge through subject study and did not see the point of paying specific attention to study skills. Whilst this student showed an increase in confidence in IT skills it was noted that the requirement to use the e-portfolio had a negative impact on his motivation for study. The requirement to develop new skills was regarded as very threatening and made the student 'feel stupid'.
TABLE 7 GOES HERE
Characteristics of this position are similar to those noted by Booth's work on history students, who 'arrive at university primarily wishing to focus upon their subject and a large part of their motivation is bound up with this'. Such students need to be shown that skills are central to their subject, and that 'scholarship and skills go together' (2001, 500).
Strategy 2: learning how to act on feedback
A specific area in which students are able to take more control over their learning is acting on tutor feedback, a learning resource that Orrell, 2006, noted often has only a marginal status. The background to this innovation is located in our attempts at Wolverhampton to meet the requirement in Section 6 of the QAA Code of Practice on Assessment of Students, 2000, to 'ensure that appropriate feedback is provided…in a way that promotes learning and facilitates improvement' (QAA, 2000).
Written feedback has been identified by many sources as one of the main ingredients in effective student learning. Cottrell, 2003, for example, stated that feedback is the 'passport to better marks', with comments providing more information than grades. However, researchers have identified feedback as the one aspect of the assessment process that is often overlooked or ignored. Chanock, 2000, found that students tend to look at the grade and ignore tutor comments, particularly if they seem negative. Failure to engage with feedback is not a recent phenomenon, Brannon and Knoblauch noted in 1981 that there is 'scarcely a shred of empirical evidence to show that students typically even comprehend our responses to their writing, let alone use them purposefully to modify their practice' (1981, 1).
A cross university workshop on feedback developed the Using Feedback Effectively form to guide and support students in their interaction with tutor feedback. (A copy of this form is available in the appendix.) This form guides students through a systematic process to enable them to make the most of the feedback provided by staff. Tutors often feel that they spend a lot of time marking scripts and there is little evidence that students take any notice of the feedback. The reason for this be may be found in the fact that student do not know 'how' to act on feedback. One student introduced his work on this section with the words 'So...now I have the feedback...what am I to do with it?' Weaver, 2006, stated that students 'may need advice on understanding and using feedback before they can engage with it', but then found that 50% of students surveyed have never been given any guidance on how to act on feedback. (Weaver, 2006, 379)
TABLE 8 GOES HERE
The stages within the Using Feedback Effectively form link to Maclellan's research, which found that 'most students did not view feedback on their learning as either routinely helpful in itself or as a catalyst for discussion' (Maclellan, 2001, 316).
TABLE 9 GOES HERE
For the purposes of this assignment students were to work on the feedback they had received on one of their essays. The Using Feedback Effectively form was supplemented by a range of exercises, which encouraged reflection on the process of essay writing from start to finish. These stages encouraged students to look at the detail of feedback, to prepare for a tutorial, and to act on the feedback to develop learning in a specific area. This process applied the recommendation 'to shift the emphasis to 'feeding forward' into a piece of work, rather than simply 'feeding back' (Higgins, Hartley & Skelton, 2001, 274).
Stage 1: positives and negatives
Firstly, students were to break tutor comments on their essay into positive and negative points. Often tutor feedback focuses on negative points and students do not recognise the things they are doing right. Race, 2001, termed this feature as 'unconscious competence,' when students do not really know why or how they got something right. By undertaking a systematic overview the student is able to take a more balanced account of their achievements, in order to counter Race's observation that students 'often are quite blind to valuable feedback' (1997, 64).
Students generally found the process useful in helping them to get an overview of their achievements, and to overcome the tendency to focus on negatives. One student noted: 'I feel it is important to be aware that you are good at certain things. I used to have a tendency to look at the negative points made and therefore have a negative view of my abilities. I now realise the criticism I receive is for me to use to my advantage'.
However, for the majority of students the recognition of areas for development is central to their development. Race stated that 'unconscious uncompetence' (sic) was the most important area to gain awareness of as it enabled students to become aware of 'what they didn't yet know that they couldn't yet do' (2001, 4). Only when students develop this awareness can they move to the position of 'conscious uncompetence', and actually be in a position to address the area of 'uncompetence'.
Stage 2: preparation for a tutorial
This stage helps the student prepare for a tutorial by encouraging the listing of questions to discuss with their tutor. Lillis & Turner, 2001, found that feedback could raise more questions for students than it answered. Students need to understand what tutors meant by key terms such as arguments, structure, or explicitness, which may require students to become code breakers to crack, what Sommers termed, a tutor 'uniform code' in vague feedback 'commands, requests, and pleadings' (1982, 153).
Maclellan's findings on tutor and student perceptions of feedback showed the greatest discrepancy in the area of feedback prompting discussion. Tutors responded that feedback frequently prompts discussion, but whom they had discussion with is questionable as 50% of students stated that feedback never prompted discussion!
This process of tutorial discussion can also assist students to overcome the psychological barrier of facing criticism. In many cases students often find it easier to put feedback sheets, which are regarded as negative, out of sight and out of mind. If having an essay tutorial is a matter of choice it can be easy for students to opt out of facing up to perceived failings by not having a tutorial. However, when a tutorial is required, students have to face up to the feedback, and through this process should gain a balanced overview of their achievements, which can direct future learning.
The questions prepared by the student for the tutorial address Race's observation that 'students may not have the opportunity to make sense of the feedback they receive' (1997, 64). The requirement for students to develop questions prior to a tutorial facilitates this process, and helps students engage in dialogue with their tutor, the dialogue serving to initiate students into subject specific academic discourse: 'Discussion, clarification and negotiation between student and tutor can equip students with a better appreciation of what is expected of them, and develop their understandings of academic terms and appropriate practices' (Higgins, Hartley & Skelton, 2001, 27). The actual process of asking questions about what was meant by a comment could be regarded as challenging the expert judgement of their tutor (Higgins et al.); but for any learning to take place students need to understand the comment and think about how to act on it. Thus, thinking about the question in advance and writing out the words to be used may help students do this in a manner that staff do not find challenging, and enable students to take this important step in finding out what the tutor meant.
Firstly, students can confirm that their interpretation of tutor feedback comments are correct, and check that the intended follow up actions are appropriate. Secondly, students have an opportunity to ask about the tutor comments they do not understand, or to ask how the comments related to the detail in the essay.
This process is important for all students, including high achievers. One student who received a high grade for her essay expressed frustration: 'Can you tell me what exactly is right and what I should do next time and if the essay was so good why didn't I get a higher grade? There must have been something that needs improvement'.
This asking of questions enables the student to enter into dialogue with the tutor, and empowers the student to take control of the revision process. This opportunity to discuss how far they were successful in communicating their intentions is a vital step. Brannon & Knoblauch noted 'Writers know what they intended to communicate. Readers know what a text has actually said to them' (1982, 162). Thus, the tutor can fulfil the role of a 'sounding board' enabling the student to see where their communication was successful and where it needs revision. This step empowers the student through dialogue: 'By negotiating those changes rather than dictating them, the teacher returns control of the writing to the student' (Sommers, 1982, 149).
The opportunity to discuss their assignment with a tutor enables a student to engage in academic discourse which is necessarily complex when exploring ideas and arguments. Butler and Winne identified five functions of feedback which are only likely to be achieved in a discursive situation. Firstly, the tutor can discuss how far the student has an appropriate understanding of key concepts in the essay. Secondly, the tutor can suggest sections which required more information. Thirdly, the tutor can discuss with the student how elements of prior knowledge influenced their interpretations in the essay. Fourthly, tutors can help 'refine' understandings to help the student discriminate between key concepts. Finally, tutors can challenge false theories that the student might hold, which are incompatible with the range of ideas that students need to be able to take on board.
Students in this study noted that this process of discussion with the tutor enabled them to explore feedback which seemed to be contradictory. One student noted a comment on the script 'set out your views in an objective manner' whilst the feedback sheet noted 'You are developing a strong personal voice'. On the surface these comments seem to conflict and would be likely to confuse the recipient. Clarity is only likely to be achieved through a tutorial, where the student can ask such questions, which would allow the tutor to enter into dialogue and explain the meaning of each comment. Students also drew attention to the fact that the process allows for 'legitimate questioning of feedback by students'.
Stage 3: Learner Action Plan
Requiring students to develop a Learner Action Plan recognises that the developments in light of feedback will not happen unless there is specific and directed action. A student user of the form noted: 'I realise that in order to develop my study skills I have to make an effort. I need to research these topics in the same way I do other aspects of my work'.
Firstly, students are required to break the feedback down into major and minor points. This is an important step as tutor feedback may list and mix major and minor points, as illustrated by Sommers: 'Check your commas and semi-colons and think more about what you are thinking about' (1982, 151). Only by working out major and minor concerns will students be in a position to work out how long they should spend on follow up tasks.
In this module students were required to have a 30 minute tutorial to discuss strategies for acting on the feedback with their tutor. Stephani noted that staff assume that students know how to complete the tasks they are set, and staff 'rarely guide students through or model the process of structuring an essay' (1998, 348).
The difficulty of acting on advice was identified as a major problem by students. Many stated that they felt it was very easy for tutors to make bland comments about study skill changes, which do not recognise the level of the challenge facing the student. There was widespread recognition that staff need to prepare students for assessments with slots on study skills within modules. In addition providing exemplars, not just of model essays but actual essays with usual feedback, was beneficial in enabling students to see what they have to do.
The Using Feedback Effectively form contained information about study skills resources (people, book and electronic) which students could use in their action plan. In addition the Study Skills Feedback and Recommended Readings form provided a range of web resources which specify the nature of each grammar requirement, for example for the use of an apostrophe, and provided examples of usage for the student to check their understanding. Students completed this final section to identify the resources they drew on to act on feedback advice. This recording of the steps taken has the dual purpose of encouraging students to take specific actions, and then by making the actions transparent it is possible to assess if the actions have been appropriate for the development required.
Strategy 3. Acting on feedback to re-submit an assignment
Falchikov noted that 'students often do not read their teachers' feedback, and when they do so, often misunderstand it. Even when the feedback comments are read and understood, they are rarely acted upon' (1995, 159). The aim of this strategy was to promote direct use of feedback so that students reflected on their work to address the feedback comments. This aspect followed the guidance from Ivanic et al. on the timeliness of feedback and the opportunity for students to respond to comments: 'if necessary change the way you run the course so as to be able to give more and better feedback at times when the students can use it' (2000, 63).
Taras argued for undergraduates being afforded the opportunities of acting on advice on drafts, practices which are a feature of staff writing experiences. This would give students support when they need it, it would initiate them into academic practice, and encourage students to use feedback: 'allowing updating and resubmission of weak or failed work would permit direct use of the feedback and would support learning' (2006, 375).
For this task students were able to select an assignment from either of their subjects for the re-submission exercise. This was an attempt to make this exercise relevant and link the skills development to their subject learning. The majority of students took the opportunity to work on a religious studies assignment - in some cases this was an essay that they had failed and would need to re-submit at a later stage.
Students used the Using Feedback Effectively form and completed reflective exercises to record their thoughts at various stages of the writing process. Students had individual tutorials with the module leader as well as with the tutors who provided the feedback on the actual essay they were going to re-write. Students were assessed on their reflection on their learning, the development of their action plan, and how far the final essay had addressed the points raised in feedback.
Two main problems were encountered in this activity. Firstly, the actual tutor feedback that students had to work with was often too brief or too vague for students to act on. Secondly, many students lacked the motivation to work on the feedback. They felt they had completed that task and wanted to move on to the next challenge, and not re-visit earlier work.
Student comments in response to the question 'Does acting on feedback by re-writing an essay help your learning?' showed general agreement with the exercise although their comments stressed that they felt they already had too much work and would only undertake such a task if it was worth their while in terms of grades or credits.
TABLE 10 GOES HERE
Those who strongly agreed felt the task helped to 'show me whether I have learnt from my mistakes', and 'to know what to improve'. Those in-between recognised the value of working on drafts of an essay and receiving feedback that they could act on: 'if I do a draft and get feedback on it, I can do better in the final essay'.
Those who strongly disagreed with the benefits of the task felt that their work could improve if they received generic advice as they did not see the benefit of spending time going over the same ground.
Overall, students in the pilot study found the feedback exercise helped them to engage with tutor feedback and to use feedback to develop their learning. The strongest comment in recognition of this benefit came from this student: 'I realise that in order to develop my study skills I have to make an effort. I need to research these topics in the same way I do other aspects of my work'.
Lessons learnt from the innovation
1. The first lesson is that many students benefited from this explicit opportunity to assess their starting points and develop skills for successful study. One student reported on the acting on feedback exercise: 'This exercise was interesting and helpful to complete, since I misunderstood some feedback I received and if I did not complete this exercise, I would have continued doing what I was, which would have had a negative impact on my work'.
All the students who completed the module passed. However, two students started the module late, one of whom completed it successfully in the following semester, and one who has yet to complete all tasks. This pass rate was much higher than their results in the core religious studies module in the same semester, and the majority of students continued to progress in the second semester and start Level 2.
2. Building formative feedback into modules at the start of a degree course helps students by providing the opportunity for gradual and incremental alignment to higher education standards. The approach in this module provided a built-in buffer zone, in which students were able to explore the requirements for writing in higher education, and have the opportunity to respond to formative feedback. If their first experience of assessment is summative, then students may experience failure before they have found their feet in higher education. This can be such a negative experience for some students that they never recover from it. Cannon noted the importance of learning through such experiences: 'Helping students to manage and learn from setbacks improves their chances of attaining that success, given failure's ability to teach important lessons' (2002, 83).
3. In this module students had the opportunity to 'learn by doing', to utilise feedback to further their understanding of a task through resubmission. Butler & Winne, 1995, advised such a review of temporal location of feedback, to set it within the process of learning rather than at the end. Falichov, 1995, also recommended that feedback be located close to the 'behaviour' in order to reap psychological benefits. Taras provided strong arguments for students having the opportunity to resubmit assignments. She pointed out that this enables students to use tutor feedback and provides an opportunity for students to check 'if they have internalized and completely taken the feedback on board' (2001, 609).
The approach is based on the Aristotelian notion of developing good habits through action. By using the form students will learn how to get more out of feedback, and may draw on aspects of the process to assist their future development. This addresses MacLellan's recommendation that students need to be actively involved for learning to take place: 'The implication of this is that if students are not actually monitoring and regulating the quality of their own learning, feedback of itself, regardless of its degree of detail, will not cause improvement in learning' (2001, 316).
Getting more out of feedback can enhance the development of all students, helping students to reflect systematically on tasks (Prosser & Webb, 1994). Each assessment opportunity can become an opportunity for growth if students develop their own capacity to interpret and act on tutor feedback. The following comment reveals a student's changed attitude to feedback: 'Next time I complete an assignment, I am certain I will be more conscientious not to make the same mistakes but more importantly, remember my strengths too'.
Retrospective support for this approach is provided by Bloxham and West's consideration of the impact that assessment activities had on students in the following year of their study. They noted in particular the importance students placed on face to face contact, which made it possible for tutors to provide 'verbal clarification of written guidance and feedback' (2007, 77).
4. Developing independent learners: The vast majority of students involved in this module agreed that 'feedback contributed to their personal development by identifying areas to work on'.
TABLE 11 GOES HERE
In this approach students were involved in making decisions for their own development. They selected the area for development based on responses in their Individual Learner Profile, and they chose the essay to re-submit. This approach challenges the notion that skills development is a form of remedial activity which only applies to weak students, as all students in the module were able to engage in activities to develop their skills set. The motivation to improve was as strong for students on the cusp of the highest grades as for students with lower grades. In all cases there is a need to initiate students into subject specific academic discourse.
5. Working closely with students as they attempted to interpret and act on tutor feedback provided an insight into potential difficulties facing students, and raised questions about the nature of the feedback provided by tutors. In many cases students found it difficult to act on feedback that lacked detail or focus. Further study in this area is required to identify the forms of feedback that best facilitate student learning. Bloxham and West's students preferred short explicit feedback written in easy to understand language. They hypothesised that 'less feedback helps the students to focus' (2007, p. 85).
Finally, it is necessary to widen the classification of skills required by students in higher education. The expectation at the start of the module was that students would choose to work on one of the six 'key skills' identified by the QCA. However, student feedback showed that this list needs to be expanded, or the remit of skills needs to be respecified. Oral communication skills are usually understood in the form of presentation skills, however, students drew attention to the challenge of speaking to staff and even to older students - one student noted the challenge: 'Communication with people older than me. I have always been around people my own age'.
The strategies within this module helped these students develop a foundation for their higher education study through specific learning activities. Students were inculcated into a proactive approach to learning, drawing on the full range of university resources to develop their own skills set to meet their specific study needs.
Further information
Work in the area of student use of tutor feedback is the focus for my National Teaching Fellowship project. This involves the further development of learning activities to help students to use tutor feedback. These can be used by staff to incorporate into sessions for students, or be freestanding for students to use by themselves. In addition I am working on specific guidance which models and guides the development of skills within specific discipline contexts. In both these areas I welcome the opportunity to work with colleagues in religious studies (and cognate disciplines) so please get in touch if you would like copies of reports or for me to run a staff or student workshop.
References
Bloxham, S. & West, A., 'Learning to write in higher education: students' perceptions of an intervention in developing understanding of assessment criteria', Teaching in Higher Education, Vol.12:1, (February 2007) pp. 77-89.
Biggs, J. Teaching for Quality Learning at University,(Maidenhead: SHRE, 2003).
Blundell, R., Dearden, L., Goodman, A., and Reed, R., 'Higher Education, Employment and Earnings', (London: Institute of Fiscal Studies, 1997).
Booth, A., 'Developing History Students' Skills in the Transition to University', Teaching in Higher Education, 6(4), (2001) pp. 487-503.
Brannon, L. & Knoblauch, C.H., 'On Students' Rights to Their Own Texts: A Model of Teacher Response', College Composition and Communication, Vol. 33, No. 2., (1982) pp. 157-166.
Brown, S. & Knight, P., Assessing Learners in Higher Education, (London: Kogan Page, 1994).
Burke, D., 'Students as architects of their own learning: Strategies for Personal, Academic and Career Enhancement,' Position Paper, Multi National Teacher Scholar Forum, University of Nottingham, 2006.
Burke, D., 'Getting the most out of feedback', in Nutt, D., (ed.) 1st International Conference on the First Year Experience, (Middlesbrough: University of Teesside, 2006).
Burke, D., 'Using Feedback Well', from 'Sharpen Up Your Skills,' (Student Union, University of Wolverhampton, 2006)
Accessed on 20th November, 2006, Website: http://asp.wlv.ac.uk/Level4.asp?UserType=11&Level4=3961
Butler, D.L. & Winne, P.H., 'Feedback and Self-Regulated Learning: A Theoretical Synthesis' in Review of Educational Research, Vol. 65, No.3, (Fall 1995) pp. 245-281.
Cannon, D., 'Learning to Fail: Learning to Recover,' in Peelo, M. & Wareham, T. (eds.), Failing Students in Higher Education, (Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press 2002) pp.73-84.
Chanock, K., 'Comments on essays: do students understand what tutors write?', Teaching in Higher Education, 5(1), (2000) pp. 95-105.
Cooper, N. J., 'Facilitating Learning from Formative Feedback in
Level 3 Assessment', Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, Vol. 25, No.3, (2000) pp. 279-291.
Cottrell, S., The Study Skills Handbook, (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2003).
Falchikov, N., 'Improving Feedback To and From Students,' in Knight, P., (ed.) Assessment for Learning in Higher Education, (London: Kogan Page, 1995) pp. 157-166.
Glasner, A., 'Innovations in Student Assessment: A System-wide
perspective', Brown, S. & Glasner, A., (eds.) Assessment Matters in Higher Education, (Buckingham: SHRE & Open University Press, 1997) pp. 14-27.
Higgins, R., Hartley, P. & Skelton, A., 'Getting the message across: the problem of communicating assessment feedback', in Teaching in Higher Education, 6(2), (2001) pp. 269-274.
Hyatt, D.F., 'Yes, a very good point!; a critical genre analysis of a corpus of feedback commentaries on Master of Education assignments', Teaching in Higher Education (2005) pp. 339-353.
Ivanic, R., Clark, R. & Rimmershaw, R., 'What am I supposed to
make of this? The Messages conveyed by Tutors' Written Comments' in Lea, M. & Stierer, B. (eds.) Student Writing in Higher Education, (Buckingham: SHRE & Open University Press 2000) pp. 47-66.
Johnston, V., 'Improving student retention—by accident or design?', Exchange (1) (Open University Press 2002).
King, U., 'The Discourse Interview', Discourse: Learning and Teaching in Philosophical and Religious Studies, Vol. 5, No. 2, (Spring 2006) pp. 13-28.
Lea, M.R. & Street, B., 'Student Writing in Higher Education: an academic literacies approach', Studies in Higher Education, 23 (2), (1998) pp. 157-172.
Lillis, T. & Turner, J., 'Student Writing in Higher Education: contemporary confusion, traditional concerns', Teaching in Higher Education, 6(1), (2001) pp. 57-68.
Maclellan, E., 'Assessment for Learning: the differing perceptions of tutors and students' in Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, Vol.26, No.4, (2001) pp. 307-318.
Orrell, J., 'Feedback on learning achievement: rhetoric and reality.' in Teaching in Higher Education, Vol. 11, No. 4, (October 2006) pp.441-456.
Orsmond, P. Merry S. & Reiling, K., 'The Use of Student Derived Marking Criteria in Peer and Self-assessment', Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, Vol.25, No.1, (2000) pp.23-37.
Prosser, M. & Webb, C., 'Relating the Process of Undergraduate Essay Writing to the Finished Product', Studies in Higher Education, 19(2), (1994) pp. 125-138. Quality Assessment Agency Code of Practice, Section 6: Assessment of Students, (Gloucester: QAA, 2000).
Race, P., 'Why Assess Innovatively?', in Brown, S. & Glasner, A. (eds.) Assessment Matters in Higher Education, (Buckingham: SHRE & Open University Press, 1997) pp.57-70.
Race, P., Using feedback to help students to learn, (York: Higher Education Academy, 2001).
Slater, P. & Peacock, D., 'An Individual Learning Profile' (ILP) in Gale, H. (ed.) Learning and Teaching Projects 2000- 2001, (Wolverhampton: Centre for Learning and Teaching, 2001) pp.70-74.
Slater, P. & Peacock, D., 'Identifying and addressing the needs of art and design students at risk of underachievement in their incoming year of study' in Gale, H. (ed.) Learning and Teaching projects 2001-2002, (Wolverhampton: Centre for Learning and Teaching, 2002), pp.28-34.
Sommers, N., 'Responding to Student Writing', College Composition and Communication, Vol. 33, No. 2., (1982) pp.148-156.
Stephani, L.A., 'Assessment in Partnership with Learners', Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, Vol. 23, No. 4, (1998) pp. 339-350.
Taras, M., 'Do unto others or not: equity in feedback for undergraduates', Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, Vol. 31, No. 3, (2006) pp. 365-377.
Taras, M., 'The Use of Tutor Feedback and Student Self-assessment in Summative Assessment Tasks: towards transparency for students and tutors', Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, Vol. 26, No. 6, (2001) pp. 605-614.
Weaver, M.R., 'Do students value feedback? Student perceptions of tutors' written response', Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, Vol. 31, No. 3, (June 2006) pp. 379-394.
Wootton, S., 'Encouraging Learning or Measuring Failure?', Teaching in Higher Education, Vol. 7, No. 3, (2002) pp. 353-357.
Appendix: Using Feedback Effectively form
The strategies employed in the Using Feedback Effectively form can be incorporated into sessions by staff, or used by students as a freestanding resource.
The feedback you receive on work is the best guide to how your work is progressing. The comments give you information on how far you achieve the learning outcomes for the assignment, and also comments on the text will provide suggestions for improving aspects of your academic writing. Use this form to develop your skills in this area.
1.Working on feedback:
Read the feedback on your assignment carefully, then re-read the piece of work to see the areas that the feedback refers to. You might use a highlighter pen to cross-reference the feedback to your work, or to draw attention to corrections and suggestions.
Summarise the feedback from your tutor:
Comments on the text
Overall feedback comments
Break the feedback down into:
Good points (note these down so you can do them again)
Areas for improvement (draw out the two main areas from feedback)
2. Preparing for a tutorial
Use these prompts to prepare for a tutorial with your module tutor. Make an appointment with your tutor or go during your tutor's office hours. Take this form and your assignment to the tutorial.
Feedback that you understand:
List the main points.
Fill in the actions you intend to take on these points and discuss with your tutor.
Feedback you do not understand:
Make a list of questions to ask your tutor.
Action points. Fill this section in during the tutorial.
Action Plan: Stage 1.
Divide the main feedback between:
Major issues e.g. Referencing
1.
2.
3.
Minor errors e.g. Punctuation
1.
2.
3.
Stage 2.
Issue 1: e.g. Referencing
Tutor Advice: To use quotation and reference appropriately.
Action to be taken: Check how to use Harvard: http://www.wlv.ac.uk/help
Areas to develop
Study Skills
If the advice is that you need to brush up on study or writing skills you might find a section listed below will help.
Academic writing
Planning, developing an argument, grammar (sentence construction, punctuation, use of apostrophe), referencing.
Extend your reading base
To find appropriate sources for your work: OPAC (books and journals), electronic data-bases, internet.
Coping with stress
Not able to focus on your work, worrying about failure, how to develop your confidence.
Where to go for help
Recommended books
Look for separate sections on Study Skills or locate at classmark: 378.170281 WOLF HLSS Student Support—group folder.
Study Skills Advisors
(HLC, book appointment on ext.2301). Use on-line tip sheets on study skills: http://www.wlv.ac.uk/help HLSS 'Developing your Study Skills' sessions.
Academic librarians
Harrison Learning Centre, first floor help-desk, subject starting points: http://www.wlv.ac.uk/help
Counselling and Guidance
Make an appointment at the Student Gateway in MB.
Student Union
Advice and Support Centre
Recommended Study Skills Books
Cottrell, S. (2003), The Study Skills Handbook, Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Good sections on: covers most aspects very well.
Northedge, A. (2005), The Good Study Guide, Milton Keynes: Open University.
Good sections on: planning essays, developing an argument.
Websites
'Sharpen Up Your Skills', University of Wolverhampton, retrieved October 1, 2006, from website:
http://unilearning.uow.edu.ac/main.html
Landsberger, J. (2006) 'Study Guides and Strategies', retrieved October 1, 2006, from website:
http://wwwstudygs.net/index.net
'Writing Home', Monash University, retrieved October 1, 2006, from website:
http://www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/writing/index.xml
Return to vol. 6 no. 2 index page
This page was originally on the website of The Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies. It was transfered here following the closure of the Subject Centre at the end of 2011.
