Educators’ perceptions of responsibility-sharing in feedback processes

Abstract

Many policies and processes in higher education reinforce a conception of feedback as being the transmission of information, thus placing primary responsibility on educators for delivering this information ‘well’ whilst neglecting the essential responsibilities of learners. In this study, 216 university educators described the responsibilities of students, and of educators themselves, in the feedback process. We analysed their responses using both content analysis and a novel linguistic analysis of the specific words used. The content analysis indicated a clear influence of transmission-based models of feedback on educators’ views, with educators seen as responsible primarily for providing comments, and students responsible primarily for processing these comments. Linguistically, educators conveyed greater certainty and were more likely to use referents to power and positive emotion, when describing their own as opposed to students’ responsibilities. These findings underscore the necessity of a cultural shift toward responsibility-sharing in the context of feedback in higher education.

Keywords:

• higher education
• feedback
• responsibility-sharing
• socio-constructivism
• language

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The research reported in this article was supported by the Society for Research into Higher Education through the award of a research grant (RA1648) to the first author.

Notes on contributors

Naomi Winstone

Naomi E. Winstone is a Reader in Higher Education and Head of the Department of Higher Education at the University of Surrey. Naomi is a cognitive psychologist specialising in the processing and impact of feedback information.

Edd Pitt

Edd Pitt is a Senior Lecturer in Higher Education and Academic Practice and the Programme Director for the Post Graduate Certificate in Higher Education at the University of Kent, UK. Edd is also a Visiting Fellow at Deakin University, Australia within the Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE).

Robert Nash

Robert A. Nash is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Aston University, and a senior fellow of the Higher Education Academy.