Reviewing pedagogic feedback practice from the Integrated Foundation Year student perspective

Harvey, Tina ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2250-3197 and Scott, Joanne (2022) Reviewing pedagogic feedback practice from the Integrated Foundation Year student perspective. In: Assessment in Higher Education (AHE) Conference, 22-24 June 2022, Manchester, UK. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

The transition into higher education (HE) can be challenging for many students, but in particular for those from nontraditional backgrounds. Understanding ‘how to play the academic game’ and adapting to the academic language and expectations can be difficult, in turn, this becoming exclusionary (Northedge, 2003). The problem occurs when educators ‘…take for granted that students know what to do with feedback’ (Nash and Winstone, 2017:4) however the obvious fact remains that ‘students cannot act on which they do not understand’ (Mulliner and Tucker, 2017:268). Therefore, if students are to be academically successful, these skills are essential (Winstone, Mathlin and Nash, 2019) and pivotal when developing successful assessment practice for the long term. Students on the Integrated Foundation Year (IFY) programme are typically from non-traditional backgrounds, which is why the aim of this project is to support their long-term academic development. Previous research has noted the importance of assessment feedback with aiding in retention and achievement for foundation students (Beaney 2006) which is a key focus of the IFY programme. Beaney (2006) continues and asserts that foundation students will be willing to work through many outside issues they may face if they feel they are gaining from their learning experiences. This was a main driver during the revalidation of the IFY programme, to create modules that were authentic to the workplace, along with embedding authentic assessment that would lead to developing employability skills and promoting life-long learning. Research demonstrates that student insight is needed in order to be able to develop and adapt future assessment in response to feedback practice (Boyd, Hymer and Lockney, 2015; McDowell and Sambell, 1999). Hence the aim of this project was to gain students’ perspective on various approaches to feedback practice, in order to identify best practice that enables students to understand, develop and progress their assessment literacy skills in preparation for progression to level 4. Applying a mixed method approach, an online anonymous questionnaire survey was deployed to 35 IFY students. Semi-structured interviews were then conducted to gain a richer depth of data. This presentation will discuss the discoveries of findings and reflect on the diverse perspectives of students’ feedback preferences along with analysing the practicalities of embedding these findings into pedagogical practice within the teaching team. Finally, this presentation will highlight the next steps to this ongoing project and how improvements can be made.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Departments:	Institute of Health > Social Work, Children and Families
Depositing User:	Anna Lupton
Date Deposited:	09 Jun 2023 09:25
Last Modified:	13 Jan 2024 13:32
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/7167

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