Dialogic Feed-Forward in Assessment: Pivotal to Learning but not Unproblematic

A key debate in higher education is how assessment and feedback can be constructed to maximize opportunities for meaningful student learning. In this paper, we explore how a learning-focused model of feedback, teacher-student dialogic feed-forward, is enacted in practice, exposing many affordances...

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Main Authors: Jennifer Hill, Harry West
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Calgary 2022-06-01
Series:Teaching & Learning Inquiry: The ISSOTL Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/TLI/article/view/71831
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author Jennifer Hill
Harry West
author_facet Jennifer Hill
Harry West
author_sort Jennifer Hill
collection DOAJ
description A key debate in higher education is how assessment and feedback can be constructed to maximize opportunities for meaningful student learning. In this paper, we explore how a learning-focused model of feedback, teacher-student dialogic feed-forward, is enacted in practice, exposing many affordances but also some challenges. Adopting a small-scale intensive approach, we trace the learning journeys of four students through a second-year undergraduate unit at a British university and on into their third and final year of study, accessing verbal testimony, teacher written comments on draft and final summative coursework, and student performance within and beyond the unit. We present in-depth student responses, understanding, behaviours, and achievement with respect to the feed-forward dialogue, revealing the subtleties of their reactions. Our findings evidence the transformative power of assessment dialogue on student learning for a range of achievers. Dialogic feed-forward can act as a pivotal moment in learning, where students reflect on their work, judge their standards against criteria, and co-create positive actions for improvement. Students develop cognitively, meta-cognitively, and affectively, becoming more comfortable with challenge and more productive in their learning. We conclude by widening our frame of reference to problematize dialogic feed-forward within current debates about higher education pedagogy.
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spelling doaj.art-2f0c5edf0e434c2faecf21453eb0a83e2022-12-22T02:32:14ZengUniversity of CalgaryTeaching & Learning Inquiry: The ISSOTL Journal2167-47792167-47872022-06-011010.20343/teachlearninqu.10.20Dialogic Feed-Forward in Assessment: Pivotal to Learning but not UnproblematicJennifer Hill0Harry West1University of GloucestershireUniversity of the West of England, Bristol A key debate in higher education is how assessment and feedback can be constructed to maximize opportunities for meaningful student learning. In this paper, we explore how a learning-focused model of feedback, teacher-student dialogic feed-forward, is enacted in practice, exposing many affordances but also some challenges. Adopting a small-scale intensive approach, we trace the learning journeys of four students through a second-year undergraduate unit at a British university and on into their third and final year of study, accessing verbal testimony, teacher written comments on draft and final summative coursework, and student performance within and beyond the unit. We present in-depth student responses, understanding, behaviours, and achievement with respect to the feed-forward dialogue, revealing the subtleties of their reactions. Our findings evidence the transformative power of assessment dialogue on student learning for a range of achievers. Dialogic feed-forward can act as a pivotal moment in learning, where students reflect on their work, judge their standards against criteria, and co-create positive actions for improvement. Students develop cognitively, meta-cognitively, and affectively, becoming more comfortable with challenge and more productive in their learning. We conclude by widening our frame of reference to problematize dialogic feed-forward within current debates about higher education pedagogy. https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/TLI/article/view/71831learning-focused feedbackdialogic feed-forwardfeedback literacysocial constructivismcase study
spellingShingle Jennifer Hill
Harry West
Dialogic Feed-Forward in Assessment: Pivotal to Learning but not Unproblematic
Teaching & Learning Inquiry: The ISSOTL Journal
learning-focused feedback
dialogic feed-forward
feedback literacy
social constructivism
case study
title Dialogic Feed-Forward in Assessment: Pivotal to Learning but not Unproblematic
title_full Dialogic Feed-Forward in Assessment: Pivotal to Learning but not Unproblematic
title_fullStr Dialogic Feed-Forward in Assessment: Pivotal to Learning but not Unproblematic
title_full_unstemmed Dialogic Feed-Forward in Assessment: Pivotal to Learning but not Unproblematic
title_short Dialogic Feed-Forward in Assessment: Pivotal to Learning but not Unproblematic
title_sort dialogic feed forward in assessment pivotal to learning but not unproblematic
topic learning-focused feedback
dialogic feed-forward
feedback literacy
social constructivism
case study
url https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/TLI/article/view/71831
work_keys_str_mv AT jenniferhill dialogicfeedforwardinassessmentpivotaltolearningbutnotunproblematic
AT harrywest dialogicfeedforwardinassessmentpivotaltolearningbutnotunproblematic