Edinburgh Napier University

  Feedback is becoming an increasingly vexed issue in
higher education. Lecturers routinely spend a great
deal of time reading and annotating students’ work,
only to worry that students are really only interested in a
single piece of information: the mark they will receive.
From this perspective the potential that feedback offers
for supporting student learning seems to be fragile, and
all too easily lost, and it’s easy to become disheartened.
From the students’ viewpoint, moreover, there is never
enough feedback and written comments are sometimes
seen as inadequate. No matter how much written
feedback the lecturer is able to provide it seems to be
too little, not detailed enough and leaves the student
feeling as disheartened as the lecturer. These are
commonly expressed concerns and so may well feel
very familiar. What these concerns demand is
exploration of what might be going on.
This guide will explore the idea that the term ‘feedback’
is problematic, and contextually situated. In other
words, different individuals or groups might use the
word ‘feedback’ to refer to very different things. In the
guide we explore some of the ways in which students
can be encouraged to take a broader view of feedback,
through developing student understanding of the range
and types of feedback that can help them in their
learning.