Providing Students with Written Feedback on Their Assessment: A Collaborative Self-Study Exploring the Nexus of Research and Practice

Abstract

This article is an account of a collaborative self-study of the process of providing written feedback on assessment to our teacher education students. Our five-year study grew out of concerns that written feedback might not always meet the learning needs of our students. The study was informed by on-going analysis of our reading of the relevant literature, our experience conducting a qualitative research study of students' perceptions of written feedback on assessment, and our professional conversations along the way. We became increasingly aware that our personal beliefs about learning and teaching underpin our respective approaches to providing written feedback on assessment. The process of critical reflection enabled us to achieve a congruence of professional practice that resolved our concerns about the nature of written feedback and enhanced our respective pedagogical practices.

Keywords::

• written feedback
• critical reflection
• pedagogical practice
• assessment

Acknowledgements

We thank Professor Kim Beswick (Faculty of Education, University of Tasmania) and Ms Kylie Meyer (School of Teacher Education and Early Childhood, University of Southern Queensland) for their helpful advice on earlier drafts of this article.