Margo McKeever, Hannah Waller, Emma Davies, Ben Ward & Lisa Gilholme

On reflection I found it difficult…I should have come to talk about it…we think we know what we are doing...I didn’t pay enough attention to writing as a nurse, maybe if I’d had to come […] it made me realise that despite previous academic success we are brand new to this… (student a)

Feedback first is designed to encourage students to actively engage with formal formative feedback, assignment criteria and guidelines during learning.

Feedback first is based on the premise that: ‘..teacher assessment which diagnoses students’ difficulties and provides constructive feedback leads to significant learning gains’. (Black and Wiliam 1999)

AfL aims to ‘foster student development through encouraging students to develop skills in evaluating, judging and improving their own performance’. Montgomery and McDowell (2008)

 Students receive formal formative feedback (feed-forward) on their work five weeks prior to the summative submission date  Script annotated. No Mark given  Students have the opportunity to critically appraise their work and make any changes they consider appropriate before summative submission

 A participatory action research approach was undertaken to identify, explore and address a practice issue. Hart and Bond’s (1995) empowering typology is applied through Lewinian cycles.  Research, Education and Action

Exploration Specification of and understanding the practice problem Planning Development and implementation of ’feedback first’ Action Implementation and Evaluation of ‘feedback first’ Reflection Identifying issues arising from implementation Planning second cycle

This phase consists of action:  The implementation of ‘feedback first’  Academic Staff : Analysis of feedback  Student research: Student Experience

 Opportunities and Challenges  Negotiation has been central to  Student involvement & roles  Research methods, data collection & initial analysis  Dissemination of findings  Contract of Ethical Conduct & professional ethical code

My initial thoughts were that (feedback-first) would be really useful as in the past I felt final draft comments were fairly useless. (RFF091) Got a few comments but I didn’t ever really read them (10b1) One students comment after 6 months on the course: I went into the loft on Sunday and brought down the assignments from my previous degree to read the feedback...that was the first time I’d actually read them. (ob095)

[Feedback first is] extremely helpful. I think specifically because we’re coming in at post-graduate level...it will let us know whether the pitch is right. [...]it’s a win- win situation really isn’t it? (10b) [knowing I was getting feedback first] made it a lot more reassuring I was happy about that. (0047) It definitely takes the pressure off and stress off. (101b)

‘I handed in a completed assignment.’ (various)

I was disappointed because although we weren’t given a mark you could work out the range... I’m guessing that I was in the range of 50s’...that’s not what I was hoping for...it was a bit of a comfort knowing the majority of my friends had done around the same as me. (003) I thought the feedback was very relevant and picked up some points I hadn’t thought of,some of the areas were very obvious that I had actually missed so I was happy with that. (002)

It was quite hard because I had handed it in and forgotten about it then you sort of had to go back to it so it was quite difficult to get back into the swing of it. (003) It wasn’t too bad having a complete break. (ed091) I knew I had a lot to do. I left it for two weeks once I grasped what I had to do I got on with it. (obs27)

To step up to master’s level I have to stop being so descriptive. Without the feedback first I wouldn’t have acknowledged that. I know you get feedback with the final assignment but I don’t think I would have looked back... I’d have got my mark and forgotten about it. [...] having feedback-first has made me recognise what I need to change. (003) I went to see [marker] to see if I was interpreting the feedback she had written in the right way. (022)

I’m feeling rather sad because it is quite clear that I hadn’t hit many of the criteria... After digesting the feedback I am able to see where I need to improve my written work. I can see that getting this feedback can only help, not hinder, my learning as the tutor has pointed out how I am able to improve my work. I can only see this as being positive. (RFF001)

[I ] need to be more critical, had little previous experience with criticality, hoping that after feedback and further discussion with my marker I will be able to develop these skills for the summative submission and future assignments. [I] need to keep referring back to the marking criteria and the assignment question, to make sure I am staying focussed on the task.

It’s a totally different essay...more structured argument, more depth. I did a lot more reading after the feedback and felt I had a much better understanding of the topic and what is expected at the level. Comparing the two I cant believe I thought the first one was good when I handed it in! (ob10/2)

I believe the feedback I received has been very useful in terms of personal development and transition to writing at Masters level. I’ve learnt that it is necessary to look deeper than the superficial level of inquiry that I have undertaken to some degree throughout the assignment. I have found the feedback very useful, much more than I was expecting.

Feedback first enables students to actively engage with marking criteria and standards, make sense of them and thereby enhance their academic skills. This interaction is perhaps best conceptualised in Vygotsky’s (1978) notion of zone of proximal development.