Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of educational research, 77(1), 81-112.
The authors provide insightful information about the effective use of feedback to enhance learning. They focus on feedback as information about the content as well as the understanding students acquired from the learning experience. They discuss how feedback can either impact positively or negatively on students’ learning depending on its usage. The authors explain that for feedback to be as powerful as expected, there must be a learning context to which it (feedback) is addressed. They show the effect of the “how”, “when” and “where” of the use of feedback to students’ learning stressing on the importance of the appropriate use of these three aspects. This connects with Svinicki & McKeachie’s (2014) suggestion that instructors should encourage students to first submit draft for feedback before the final draft for high-stakes written assignments so that the feedback provided will be useful to students and enhance their learning. Svinicki & McKeachie (2014) assert that providing feedback on students’ final draft most times become useless for the students especially where the subsequent assignments have nothing to do with the feedback provided. Hattie & Timperley (2007) illustratively provide four focus/levels of feedback and three guiding questions which they refer to levels as the “Model of Feedback” as a guide to effective use of feedback. In their statement, “Effective feedback must answer three major questions asked by a teacher and/or by a student: Where am I going? (What are the goals?), How am I going? (What progress is being made toward the goal?), and Where to next? (What activities need to be undertaken to make better progress?)” (p. 86), the authors show the effect of feedback through the three terminology: feed up (question 1-goals), feed back (question 2-process) and feed forward (question 3-effect of feedback). This model helps teachers identify particular properties and circumstances that make feedback effective and promote students’ learning. According to the authors, these conditions maximize the positive effects of feedback on students’ learning.
From the knowledge gained from this article, Hattie & Timperley (2007) as well as Svinicki & McKeachie (2014), it shows that most teachers underrate the use of feedback especially the preparation towards it usage and as a result the feedback they provide on students assignment (which is usually done on the first and only draft) do not help to achieve the full benefits of feedback to enhancing students’ learning therefore, limiting its effectiveness. As an instructor working on how best I can use feedback to help direct my students attention from just performance/grade to the real understanding of concepts learned, these readings are relevant to my practice. From my own experience as a student, supervisor and a teacher, it is obvious that most teachers at all levels of education especially at the higher education do not use feedback effectively. Giving students a second or third chance to make use of the feedback provided to improve learning is very rare in the teaching field. This is evidenced in Svinicki & McKeachie (2014) assertion that teaching is the only profession that does not give learners the second chance to improve upon learned concepts to better their understanding.
This article is very relevant to my study in that it the questions and the level/focus of feedback will serve as a guide in my implementation of feedback as a means to direct my students’ learning goals towards mastery. Also, the analysis of the model of feedback suggests ways in which feedback can be used to enhance its effectiveness in classrooms. It also provides additional sources for information on the effective use of feedback.
Reference
Svinicki, M., & McKeachie, W. J. (2014). McKeachie’s teaching tips: Strategies, research, and theory for
college and university teachers (14th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
The authors provide insightful information about the effective use of feedback to enhance learning. They focus on feedback as information about the content as well as the understanding students acquired from the learning experience. They discuss how feedback can either impact positively or negatively on students’ learning depending on its usage. The authors explain that for feedback to be as powerful as expected, there must be a learning context to which it (feedback) is addressed. They show the effect of the “how”, “when” and “where” of the use of feedback to students’ learning stressing on the importance of the appropriate use of these three aspects. This connects with Svinicki & McKeachie’s (2014) suggestion that instructors should encourage students to first submit draft for feedback before the final draft for high-stakes written assignments so that the feedback provided will be useful to students and enhance their learning. Svinicki & McKeachie (2014) assert that providing feedback on students’ final draft most times become useless for the students especially where the subsequent assignments have nothing to do with the feedback provided. Hattie & Timperley (2007) illustratively provide four focus/levels of feedback and three guiding questions which they refer to levels as the “Model of Feedback” as a guide to effective use of feedback. In their statement, “Effective feedback must answer three major questions asked by a teacher and/or by a student: Where am I going? (What are the goals?), How am I going? (What progress is being made toward the goal?), and Where to next? (What activities need to be undertaken to make better progress?)” (p. 86), the authors show the effect of feedback through the three terminology: feed up (question 1-goals), feed back (question 2-process) and feed forward (question 3-effect of feedback). This model helps teachers identify particular properties and circumstances that make feedback effective and promote students’ learning. According to the authors, these conditions maximize the positive effects of feedback on students’ learning.
From the knowledge gained from this article, Hattie & Timperley (2007) as well as Svinicki & McKeachie (2014), it shows that most teachers underrate the use of feedback especially the preparation towards it usage and as a result the feedback they provide on students assignment (which is usually done on the first and only draft) do not help to achieve the full benefits of feedback to enhancing students’ learning therefore, limiting its effectiveness. As an instructor working on how best I can use feedback to help direct my students attention from just performance/grade to the real understanding of concepts learned, these readings are relevant to my practice. From my own experience as a student, supervisor and a teacher, it is obvious that most teachers at all levels of education especially at the higher education do not use feedback effectively. Giving students a second or third chance to make use of the feedback provided to improve learning is very rare in the teaching field. This is evidenced in Svinicki & McKeachie (2014) assertion that teaching is the only profession that does not give learners the second chance to improve upon learned concepts to better their understanding.
This article is very relevant to my study in that it the questions and the level/focus of feedback will serve as a guide in my implementation of feedback as a means to direct my students’ learning goals towards mastery. Also, the analysis of the model of feedback suggests ways in which feedback can be used to enhance its effectiveness in classrooms. It also provides additional sources for information on the effective use of feedback.
Reference
Svinicki, M., & McKeachie, W. J. (2014). McKeachie’s teaching tips: Strategies, research, and theory for
college and university teachers (14th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.