A strategic framework for delivering ongoing feedback at scale

Abstract

The growing trend for massification in higher education delivery has contributed to challenges in student engagement and experience. This has been further compounded by the global pandemic, with the sector experiencing reduced financial, staffing and resourcing budgets. The authors identified the delivery of meaningful feedback at scale as a critical emerging challenge. Although models of feedback exist within education, there are few discipline-agnostic frameworks for providing feedback that accounts for first-year education in the context of massification. With a focus on feedback within large-scale teaching and the first-year experience, and drawing on the authors’ lived experiences, the paper proposes a conceptual non-disciplinary framework to scaffold the delivery of timely feedback in three stages. The proposed ‘strategic framework for feedback at scale’ promotes deeper first-year undergraduate students’ learning and engagement across multiple teaching contexts through the feed-forward assessment design of automated ongoing feedback, peer-led staged feedback and teacher-led staged feedback. Examples of activities are discussed as well as steps for implementation applicable to tailoring to any discipline setting. Limitations and areas for future research are then discussed, calling for empirical research into the practice and effectiveness of the conceptual framework.

Keywords:

• Feedback
• first-year experience
• massification
• higher education