Building Feedback Literacy: Students’ Perceptions of the Developing Engagement With Feedback Toolkit

Abstract

Developing the requisite skills for engaging proactively with feedback is crucial for academic success. This paper reports data concerning the perceived usefulness of the Developing Engagement with Feedback Toolkit (DEFT) in supporting the development of students' feedback literacy skills. In Study 1, student participants were surveyed about their use of feedback, and their perceptions of the utility of the DEFT resources. In Study 2, students discussed the resources in focus groups. Study 3 compared students' responses on a measure of feedback literacy before and after they completed a DEFT feedback workshop. Participants perceived the DEFT favorably, and the data indicate that such resources may enhance students' general feedback literacy. However, the data raise questions about when such an intervention would be of greatest value to students, the extent to which students would or should engage voluntarily, and whether it would engage those students with the greatest need for developmental support.

Individual differences in self-reported use of assessment feedback: the mediating role of feedback beliefs

“…Educational interventions may therefore maximise the impact of feedback, and counteract unhelpful dispositional tendencies, by giving students opportunities to develop confidence in their ability to use feedback effectively (Värlander, 2008). An example of such an intervention was reported by Winstone, Mathlin, and Nash (2019), who developed a toolkit of resources to support students in developing the skills and strategies needed to use feedback. Future work could examine whether such initiatives are effective in improving students' self-efficacy.…”

A dialogic technology-mediated model of feedback uptake and literacy

“…From this perspective, improved feedback literacy is viewed as a pre-requisite for successful feedback engagement and uptake. This understanding has encouraged approaches to scaffolding feedback literacy before learners engage with feedback information, for example, the approaches of Evans (2016) and Winstone, Mathlin, et al (2019).…”

The Development and Validation of the Feedback in Learning Scale (FLS)

“…This supports the pattern of results found by Boudrias et al (2014) who suggested that development activities and behavioral change may not always be perceived to be under the control of those receiving feedback. As research indicates undergraduate learners appear to be hostage to poor strategy and planning processes (Winstone et al, 2017b), supporting learners with pedagogies that promote the identification of appropriate strategies, such as planning future action may be critical to integrating feedback (Winstone et al, 2019). Instructors that provide appropriately challenging feedback are critical to this process (Forsythe and Johnson, 2017;Carless and Boud, 2018).…”

“…For example, the FLS is a tool that facilitates identification of learners with lower levels of acceptance, trust, awareness, motivational intent, and desire to act in response to feedback. Following identification, addressing suboptimal feedback behaviors using appropriate pedagogies appears to be an effective mechanism to assist learners in developing the evaluative judgments that are necessary to optimize learning (Winstone et al, 2019). The ability to be able to accept feedback, in particular how this is associated with the ability to trust the source of challenge and feedback, was endorsed in the feedback measure.…”