Feeding forward: using feedback to promote student reflection and learning – a teaching model

TLDR

Reflection is essential for university learning, and feedback on written work can serve as a vehicle for this practice, requiring deliberate classroom activities to capture experiential learning. The paper proposes using reflection on written feedback as a formative tool for university teachers. The authors implemented a self‑copying sheet for management undergraduates that prompts reflection on feedback and encourages feed‑forward to subsequent assessments, thereby completing the learning cycle.

Abstract

Engaging in reflection is a vital part of learning for university students and its practice should be embedded in course design. Feedback on written work can be used as a vehicle for reflection. Both the gift and receipt of feedback and the habit of reflection require practice and capturing this experiential learning can be achieved in a class environment. This paper outlines how reflection on written feedback may be used formatively by teachers in a university context. The paper reports on the use of a simple tool, a self‐copying sheet, given to management undergraduates on the return of coursework, which engages students and captures their reflection on their feedback. The teaching model presented outlines an approach to reflective learning that recognises the need for students to engage with feedback in the classroom, to reflect on it and to feed forward to the next assessment, thus completing the learning cycle.