The purpose of feedback is to motivate students and to help them improve (Brown 2001:48). Authors agree that feedback should be timely, relevant, meaningful, positive, encouraging and within the students’ grasp (Brown 2001:6 & Rust 2002:153 & SENLEF Project). The big challenge in feedback is to get students to actively engage and use the feedback (Brown 2001:6 & Rust 2002:153).
Student engagement with feedback is where formative and constructive feedback turns into deeper understanding of the assessed work and also the process where feedback becomes more than only a report of assessment outcome.
There are various strategies for feedback (Liverpool JMU LTA). This blog-page will discus feedback in terms of a formative or constructive strategy. The discussion will focus on feedback in the medical curriculum at the University of the Free State with reference to practical examples in the curriculum.
Policy regulating assessment in the medical curriculum at the University of the Free State as well as institutional policy enforce feedback for all assessment opportunities in the programme. Formative assessments and self-assessments are part of the curriculum to prepare students and to engage students in active learning opportunities. Constructive feedback maximises the benefit of formative and self assessment opportunities. The spiral of learning approach in the medical curriculum transfer summative assessment opportunities into learning opportunities as well. Feedback on summative assessments are thus important, not only as report card of assessment outcomes but also further constructive learning opportunities.
The department of Anaesthesiology uses online formative and summative quizzes in the third year residency module on Basic Anaesthesiology. The innovative teaching and learning strategy in the module enable students to take formative assessments on different topics to prepare for the summative assessment at the end of the residency. Both formative and summative assessments are set from the same question bank and feedback on questions refer students to the study guide (see image below). This feedback strategy forces students to actively engage in the feedback process as it does not just give them the correct answer. The feedback is timely, formative and leads to constructive learning opportunities that prepare students for the real world in the theater.
