Feedback on your work
Receiving feedback
- Feedback can be received through a variety of different mechanisms including coursework, examinations, presentations, practicals and placements.
- How you receive feedback can also vary, from verbal feedback, written electronic or paper feedback, to group feedback highlighting common errors.
- Feedback may be formal or informal, from your personal or unit tutor, your peers, or a placement supervisor and delivered during or after a specific task.
- Feedback should be timely and useful; but please remember that feedback is often a two-way process - please feel free to seek clarification and further advice when required.
- Feedback is not simply a justification for the grade awarded for a particular piece of work, but it should also help you to develop and improve and should therefore be transferable to future tasks.
Making feedback work for you
The feedback you receive on your assessments is a vital tool to help your personal learning and development. It is important therefore that you don't simply forget or file it away, but reflect on it and use it to improve. Below are some helpful hints on how to best use your feedback.
When you first receive feedback
- Carefully read or listen to the feedback - it may help to also check the assignment guidelines and/or marking criteria to help you understand the feedback.
- Pay special attention to the comments you receive if you've not done as well as you expected on an assignment or piece of work.
- Make a list of all the good points, these are sometimes easy to miss as we tend to focus on the areas for improvement and overlook positive feedback.
- Identify one or two main areas for improvement. Select areas that will have the most impact on your marks, or which you feel strongest about.
- Make a clear plan for how you will make use of your feedback.
- Put the feedback away for a day or two and then go through it again.
In the longer term
- It may be helpful to keep your feedback together in one place.
- Look at feedback from previous assignments when you are about to start a new assignment, even if it is on a different unit.
- When you have several pieces of feedback read through them all and jot down a list of any consistent points that arise.
- Look out for recurring themes; these are the actions that are either gaining or losing you marks regularly.
- Make sure you recognise your strengths so that you can build on these.
- Identify one or two areas for improvement and find a workshop that might help you.
- Make sure you are aware of the marking criteria for your assignment and use them for peer or self-assessment before submission.