It came as no surprise that when the 2008 National Student Survey results were unveiled that once again assessment and feedback scored most poorly amongst students. I have always said that the NSS is only useful if the results are used to engineer positive change, and this is why I have been trying to tackle this area of greatest dissatisfaction amongst students. It still strikes me that despite the widespread criticism of the provision of feedback in Higher Education, not enough is being done to rectify this, and there are still scores of small changes and ‘easy wins’ that can be delivered which would make a real difference for students.

Over the summer I have been engaging with academics, particularly looking at the work of Professor Brenda Smith, but also with students, student officers and student union staff to collate some Principals of Good Feedback. These principals have now been launched, and I am encouraging sabbatical officers to sit down with the relevant people in your institutions to consider how many of the principals currently exist in your university, and how steps could be made to implement those that do not currently exist.

Keeping feedback on the agenda, I have also launched the Great Feedback Amnesty where I am looking to collect good and bad examples from across the UK. I am keen for this to be a balanced activity where bad examples of feedback continue to highlight real examples of how poor feedback can sometimes be, whilst also collecting and showcasing best practice in the dissemination of feedback to students such as effective feedback forms, techniques and the inclusion of student peer review.

Take a look at this article The Times Higher featured following the start of our work on feedback.

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