INTRODUCTION
This module focuses on the provision of multiple opportunities for students to learn from feedback which need to be integrated carefully throughout their programmes of study. The materials specifically focus on the timing of our provision of feedback to students, so that it has maximal impact on their learning.
This module is aligned to dimension AF2 of the EAT Framework, ‘Providing early opportunities to act on Feedback’.
In order to support students to develop their own learning, they need to be able to assess the extent to which they are meeting the standards required as early as possible (DiFrancesca et al., 2016).
Providing feedback after a point where the student can use it to enhance their learning is of little or no value, so our focus should be on early opportunities for students to gauge their progress through formative assessment opportunities, and formative feedback. Essentially, we need to provide feedback while there is sufficient time for them to use the feedback to enhance their work.
Students need to be provided with numerous and repeated opportunities to test their understanding. Assessment design should take account of this.
Repeated testing has been shown to have significant impact on student learning outcomes (Heeneman et al., 2017; McCann, 2017; Sennhenn‐Kirchner, et al., 2017) but not for all students so individual learning needs should also be factored in (Evans, 2022).
We need to ensure, however, that formative feedback is linked clearly with the assessment criteria and standards being evaluated in the summative assessment.
For repeated practice and feedback to be effective, it needs to be undertaken in the context of an identified specific task. It requires re-aligning across different later tasks, and needs to be revisited regularly in order to support internalisation of standards and strategies (Panadero & Alonso-Tapia, 2013).
Assessment design should factor in opportunities for students to regularly check their understanding and students should be encouraged to also lead on these activities.