six key principles around feedback for staff and students:

1. Student engagement with feedback is promoted

2. Feedback is for learning

3. bnFeedback is clearly communicated to students

4. Feedback is timely

5. Feedback is consistently delivered

6. Feedback quality is maintained

Looking at these principles, it is clear that there are responsibilities for both students and staff around ensuring effective feedback. Our Commitment sets out the responsibilities of both staff and students in terms of giving, receiving and using feedback. Part of the challenge in providing feedback is that students and academics may not always understand it in the same way. This is particularly evident in the transition from the secondary to postsecondary environment. Students may have received, for example, comments on a draft essay in its entirety at school as opposed to feedback aimed at developing a more independent learner at the university level, which would focus specifically on an essay plan.

Engaging students in the feedback process can be helped by providing students with consistent and clear information on what feedback is, when they will receive it, what type they can expect and how they can use it to reflect on their learning and improve performance. It will also help students to understand their own responsibilities and develop techniques around using feedback to further their learning. By clarifying expectations, this may help address general concerns raised in the National Student Survey regarding dissatisfaction with the speed and quality of feedback at universities.

Departmental processes should also support this engagement in providing and using feedback to ensure consistent quality of feedback across different modules and courses. Senior staff have a role in promoting the importance of feedback in their departments, for example through induction, and through the Annual Reflection process.

Feedback should be accessible, clear, legible, and unambiguous. It is important to make sure that your feedback is fair and honest, and not overly positive or negative. Remember to include positive feedback on points to continue, as well as those to improve.

Types of feedback

The range of feedback includes:

• one-to-one individual feedback
• generic feedback
• peer feedback
• informal feedback
• self-evaluation to submit along with the assessment

Tutors and peers can use a variety of methods to deliver these types of feedback:

• written feedback (eg typed comments sheet for an essay)
• annotation of a text (ie Grademark on Turnitin)
• oral feedback (either in discussion with the student or as a recorded audio podcast)
• seminar discussion
• conversation with research supervisor

Feedback from students, especially through the National Student Survey, shows a strong desire for online feedback. Although some departments have moved to online submission for assessments, fewer have adopted online feedback techniques. There is a clear imperative for more departments to move to online feedback – at its most basic level (for example through Grademark) it reduces the problem of illegible handwriting. It also makes it easier for students to collect feedback. For more information, see “Use of technology for assessment and feedback”.

Synchronous learning

Put simply, synchronous elearning involves any type of learning that is completed in real-time. That’s to say through video-conferencing, instant chat and other