Front Page

Learning is an active process. To learn, we need to plan what we are going to do, attempt to do it and then receive feedback on our work. We then use this feedback to improve the work we have just done and to ensure the next work we do embraces what we have learnt. Feedback can also help to motivate to develop and improve further. Feedback can be given informally or formally but should be recorded.

Based on facts not opinions
Clear, genuine and unambiguous
Constructive and developmental
Documented
Helpful and supportive
Honest, specific and detailed regarding what was or wasn’t achieved

What I would like feedback on is where this feedback should be stored - should it be on learners work or or specifically designed feedback sheets? Do we ask learners how and where they would like their feedback stored?

From Mary Cryan
My Teaching Assistant students ( Level 2 STL ) students stated they liked feedback directly on their work with formal paperwork ( CACHE record sheets ) completed when they had finished a full unit.
They commented
"I can see which bits I need to change"
"I know what I have done correctly and what I need to add to"
"It makes the feedback very direct"
" I can see you have checked it all"

I will ask my Level 3 students later so we can compare their answers.

From Jacky Jordan
Mary thank you for those interesting points and good starting point for further discussions. - It will be interesting to see what your level 3 learners prefer.

From Ann Hill
We tend to give a lot of feedback verbally but personally I think written is much better as there is a track of what has been said and its something the learners can go back and check if they have forgotten what was said to them. This equally is a reminder for me as an assessor to check back that any amendments have been made. As we mainly work with documents this can be on a feedback sheet or actually on the document itself using comments or track changes, depends on the learner needs and what the documene is. Because we are working electronically this is not detrimental to the original file but I could see why this could be a problem for written work.

From Sue Robson
I had already decided to give all my learners the opportunity to say where they want their feedback, this could be empowering to them, but also confusing if groups preferred different methods. Also CACHE has always wanted feedback on the sheets so a clear record of planning and feedback cycle can be seen and the learners are involved in their planning for assessment.

From Mary Cryan

I agree that it is important that evidence of planning and summative assesment is clear and have used the service Assessment Feedback form for this purpose. I feel that this does not work as well for QCF as it did with NVQs and needs some revision.

Level 3 STLs gave very similar comment to the level 2. One student said
" I would not think you had given any attention to my work if you did not make comments on it"
Others stated that they needed to see exactly where additions or changes were needed and that comments in the margins helped identify this.

I'd just like to reiterate that this is only for developmental feedback - the formal summative 'Unit completed' would always be on an assessment sheet.