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Peer review of feedback
Getting your colleagues to review samples of your feedback to give you an indication of the quality.
1 August 2019
Peer review of feedback involves groups of staff reviewing the quality of samples of feedback given to students.
It can be done as part of the Peer Dialogue Scheme.
Educational benefits for your students
Feedback quality is often commented on in the National Student Survey (NSS).
Peer review opens the ‘black box’ of feedback enabling effective practice to be shared as staff get together to openly discuss practises.
How to introduce peer review on feedback
Share two or three samples of written feedback (or recordings of verbal feedback) with your reviewer(s).
You can determine together how to judge the feedback, and how to submit the review, which could be done in writing, over the phone, on Skype or in person.
Hattie and Timperley’s (2007) model of effective feedback identifies three types of effective feedback. You could devise some questions with your reviewer(s), based on the below.
- feed ‘up’
- feed ‘back’
- feed ‘forward’.
1. Feed ‘up’ - where the student is going
This sets goals and tells the learner about the progress they have made.
- Are the student’s individual goals made clear?
- Are indications given to the student on whether or not they have made progress since a previous piece of work? (Hughes, 2014).
2. Feed ‘back’ – where the student is now
- How is it made clear that the assignment meets, or does not meet, the assessment criteria?
- Are suitable examples from the assignment used to illustrate the student’s current position?
- Does the feedback engage the student in a dialogue (e.g. is the learner being encouraged to reflect on the feedback or seek out clarification of points raised?)
3. Feed ‘forward’ - where the student should go next
This tells the learner what to do next and is sometimes called developmental feedback.
- How is it made clear what the student must do to improve for the next piece of work?
- Are suggestions made for the student to explore ideas or develop skills which encourage them to become more autonomous?
The language and tone of feedback
You should ask your reviewer(s) to give you feedback on the overall language and motivation effects of your feedback in general.
- Is the balance between being encouraging and being critical appropriate? Too much praise may encourage complacency.
- Harsh critique that implies that the learner is inadequate should be avoided and it should be clear that it is the work not the person that has flaws which can be rectified.
Systematic and detailed feedback analysis: tools and guide
Assessment Careers: enhancing learning pathways through assessment on the JISC website provides a Feedback Analysis tool and Guide that could be used to prompt a more detailed dialogue on feedback profiles.
This was a JISC-funded project supported by the Assessment and Feedback programme and led by the IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society.
Other resources
Assessment and feedback: resources and useful links.
This guide has been produced by the UCL Arena Centre for Research-based Education. You are welcome to use this guide if you are from another educational facility, but you must credit the UCL Arena Centre.