Starting to study abroad means many novel and exciting experiences. You’ll meet new people, explore a city and adjust to a different lifestyle. With this, you’ll also be expanding your academic and intellectual horizons. Adjustment to a new learning environment will take time, and a crucial element of this is understanding and using academic feedback. We’re here to help you navigate this and discover what academic feedback at university is all about.
What is academic feedback?
Academic feedback is the practice of a lecturer/professor/tutor giving you information related to the assessment and evaluation of your work. This feedback is an essential element of any effective teaching and learning approach. Universities will usually give you clear guidelines on how, when and in what form you will be given feedback and by whom. Remember that you can be given feedback in different ways, including:
- Written
- Oral
- Evaluative
- Self-assessment
- Peer-review
- Numerical
- Discussion-based
You may also get feedback that combines all of the above.
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How can you tell if the feedback is of good quality?
When you get feedback from a tutor, lecturer, supervisor, or professor, there are a few things you should look out for. Good feedback should be:
- clear
- relevant
- specific
- given on time
- constructive
- easy to follow
- encouraging
- motivating
- an opportunity to improve and to self-reflect
Feedback should not be all negative, confusing, or demotivating, and it should not be personal. This won’t help with your growth, development and confidence. However, it is important to prepare for some negative feedback and critique.
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What types of academic feedback are there?
Not all feedback is the same. Some universities, schools or faculties may prefer a particular kind of feedback, which you can often find out about in the university prospectus. You can also check directly with your prospective university to get further information. Broadly speaking feedback falls into two main categories, namely formal and informal.
Formal feedback is mostly given when assessing work you have done as part of your course. This may be for any of the following:
- Presentations
- Assignments
- Essays
- Dissertations
- Projects
- Orals
- Examinations
Formal assessment and feedback can be either formative or summative. Formative assessment refers to the feedback you are given at regular intervals during your course to help improve your knowledge, skills and performance. Summative assessment is usually given at the end of your course or programme. It is used to evaluate and summarise your overall performance.
Academic feedback is intended to give you useful information on your strengths and weaknesses, where you can improve and develop, and the reasons for your scores and marks. The regularity and structure of your feedback may depend on the course that you are taking. However, at most universities, you will receive regular academic feedback.
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What are some examples of the feedback I will receive?
You may receive feedback in writing or an audio recording. For this article, let’s look at written feedback for an essay. This may include:
An overall comment at the end of the essay
This should include the areas of strength in the essay. This should be both in terms of answering the question given to you and presenting your case clearly, logically and with few mistakes in spelling and grammar.
You should focus on any comments at the end of your essay, as this provides valuable information on the areas you need to work on the most. It may also tell you what to work on specifically and what resources you should look at.
Comments in the essay
Along with the overall comment, any feedback in the actual body of your essay highlights a particular area you will need to work on. The comments should explain what needs to be changed and why.
If the comment doesn’t do this and you don’t understand why you’re being asked to make this change, you must arrange to speak to the tutor directly. Understanding why you need to change something is as important as changing it. Knowing why helps you to improve and self-reflect and hopefully avoid making the same mistake in the future.
Questions in the essay
Sometimes your tutor will ask you to think about a question instead of telling you directly what to do. This can be frustrating as you may just want to know what you have to do instead of thinking about the subject any more than you already have done.
However, questions are a form of indirect feedback. For example, if the tutor writes ‘What’s the main purpose of your essay?’ this is an indication that your thesis statement and/or overall argument isn’t clear or that your claims don’t support your original thesis. When you return to rewrite that section of your essay, make sure the changes answer the question in the comment.
What questions should I ask about academic feedback?
One of the ways that you can get the most out of academic feedback is by active engagement. This means participating in conversations, discussions, asking questions and taking notes. Not only will this help you develop, but it’s also a great way to understand your feedback better. Some of the key questions you can ask when receiving feedback include:
- What criteria are used for the feedback and evaluation?
- Is there a rubric (instructions, rules, criteria) or checklist for the feedback?
- Are there any rules or regulations that relate to the feedback?
- Is it possible to receive an explanation for written feedback?
- Is it possible to have more detailed feedback?
- How does the feedback relate to course and performance evaluation?
- What resources are available to enhance the feedback and aid understanding?
- What areas can be improved, and where are the growth opportunities?
- What actions need to be taken to improve, including skills and knowledge?
Remember that you can take the initiative and request a meeting or discussion if there are aspects of the feedback you want to discuss or better understand. Try and collect guidelines, criteria and resources related to feedback for your course, as this can help when preparing for assignments, tests or presentations.
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How to deal with academic feedback?
The purpose of feedback should always be to encourage and motivate but also to guide you in improving your performance. The first thing you should do when you receive feedback is to remember this. It can be difficult to receive critical feedback as you may have spent many days and a great deal of effort preparing for a test, essay, assignment, or presentation.
Your initial reaction may be one of frustration or even anger. You may feel that the comments are unfair and completely wrong. If you try not to take it personally and instead focus on what you can learn from the feedback, these negative feelings will decrease. Try to understand your tutor’s or lecturer’s point of view.
We recommend that you make a record of your feedback. Create a spreadsheet with the comments you received for each assignment. Or you could copy the feedback into a table, or use whatever method works for you.
Update the information each time you receive feedback from later assignments. Each time you have a new assignment to complete, use the record of feedback to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses. This way you avoid repeating the same mistakes.
Try to approach feedback with a positive mindset and view it as an opportunity for growth and learning. It will be a skill that will help you at university and in your career in the future. You may also find our guide to how to revise for exams effectively and how to communicate at university useful.
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