“Whoosh! That went right over my head”: a practical exploration of how to make feedback effective Anne Montgomery Sue Morison Feedback and Assessment: Making it work for you and your students CED 4 th Annual Conference May 2009 Queen’s University, Belfast

How the teacher can help the student to bridge the gap between the knowledge and skills they possess and what they need to achieve Examine feedback relevant to group activities – but not exclusively so. Purpose of today:

about what sort of feedback works and why to help students help themselves and ‘learn to learn’ about the relevance of CEIPE’s interactional research to your own practice By the end of this session you should have ideas:

What is CEIPE? Department for Employment and Learning funded initiative (2005 – 2010) Primarily healthcare professions Research and development of programmes of interprofessional learning Research and development to enhance understanding of learning and teaching

What is IPE? Members (or students) of two or more professions engaged in learning with, from and about each other with the aim of promoting collaborative practice 1. Why research into teaching and learning? To examine effects of learner- teacher interaction on the learning process. Implications of uniprofessional practice for interprofessional development

CEIPE empirical research on feedback What is feedback? - Informal - Feedback effect on teachers Practical exploration of what makes feedback effective Discussion Overview of workshop

CEIPEPractice Patient Safety And Improving The Quality Of Care High Fidelity Simulation Drug Prescribing and Administration in Paediatrics Medicines GovernanceInfant FeedingDentistry and the Dental TeamNutritional Care of Older PeopleBeyond The Clinical TeamHealthy Urban PlanningArts in Medicine Theory Teacher-Learner Process Learner-Teacher Interactions Studying and Learning Preferences Inventory (SALPI) Professional IdentityE-Learning

“Whoosh! That went right over my head” Nursing Student

[formative assessment] encompass[es] all those activities undertaken by teachers, and/or by their students which provide information to be used as feedback to modify the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged 2 What is ‘feedback’?

Extent and nature of feedback impoverished Teachers ‘pay lip service to it but not realistic in practice’ It’s not well understood by teachers and weak in practice The context of national and local requirements for certification and accountability exert a powerful influence on its practice Implementation of feedback calls for deep changes both in teachers perception of their own role regarding students and their classroom practice 2 Feedback: Agree? Disagree?

“encompassing all those activities undertaken by teachers, and/or by their students which provide information to be used as feedback to modify the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged” Informal feedbackFormal feedback 3 TransmissionDialogic

The act of assessing (formally, informally; formatively, summatively) has an effect on assessors as well as on students. Assessors learn about the extent to which students have developed expertise, and can tailor their teaching accordingly […] The potential for the assessor to develop his disciplinary and/or pedagogic repertoire may be realised after a period of reflection (perhaps supported by a staff development programme) with the effect that the revised repertoire of the assessor becomes available for subsequent cohorts of student 4 Feedback effect on teachers

An effective tool for teacher training and self evaluation – Sense personal strengths and limitations – Plan and participate in professional development Augment learner achievement Use in variety of settings Steinaker and Bell’s Experiential Taxonomy 5

EXPERIENTIAL TAXONOMY ANALYTICAL GRID TAXONOMIC LEVEL ExposureParticipationIdentificationInternalisationDissemination MIN XXXX 2XXXXX 3XXXXX 4XXX 5XXXX 6XXXXXX 7XXXXXX 8XXXX 9XXXXX 10XXX 11XXX 12XXX Learner-Teacher Interactions

Experiential Taxonomy Look for evidence in recordings/transcripts of: Exposure Teacher introducing new information, presenting examples, facts or principles to illustrate new concept or skill Participation Teacher encouraging learner-participation in generation of information by asking open questions i.e. ‘why?’ Identification Teachers and students planning, doing, or evaluating an activity Discussions between teacher-learner or between learners in which learners exchange points of view. Making and testing out provisional hypotheses Internalisation Discussion or probing questions that enable the learner to demonstrate their internalised learning - learner making connections with what they already know Dissemination Students making voluntary or formal presentations to defend their views.

Small groups Transcriptions and Analytical Grids Recordings 1 & 2: Nursing tutor feedback to nursing students Medical tutor feedback to medical students – View recording – Analyse recording individually and then in group – Feedback to group M aking feedback effective: your chance to explore

Recording 1: Nurse Tutor to Nursing Students

Recording 2: Medical Tutor to Medical Students

Was workshop valuable in giving: – Ideas about what sort of feedback works and why? – Ideas to help students help themselves ‘learn to learn’? Are these ideas relevant: – To other teaching settings? – To other disciplines? Discussion

1.Barr et al 2.Black, P., & William, D. (1998) ‘Assessment and Classroom Learning’, Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice., 5:1,7-74 (pp. 7,18,20) 3.Rowntree, D. (1987) Assessing Students: How shall we know them? [Revised edition] London: Kogan Page (p. 4) 4.Yorke, M. (2003) Formative Assessment in Higher Education: Moves Towards Theory and the Enhancement of Pedagogic Practice. Higher Education, 45(4), (p.482) 5.Steinaker, N.W. & Bell, M.R. (1979) The Experiential Taxonomy: a new approach to teaching and learning. London: Academic Press References

Anne Montgomery Sue Morison Thank you