Abstract
This chapter argues that researchers must look beyond narrow and simple notions of feedback impact in educational practice. It draws comparisons with what has occurred within student engagement research. This illustrates the challenges of researching a phenomenon that lacks conceptual clarity and hence gives rise to a range of contradictory measures, which promote misaligned research designs, and a focus on what is easy to measure. When feedback is acknowledged as a complex, social process, then the notion of impact itself changes.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Ajjawi, R., & Boud, D. (2017). Researching feedback dialogue: An interactional analysis approach. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 42(2), 252–265. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2015.1102863.
Ajjawi, R., & Boud, D. (2018). Examining the nature and effects of feedback dialogue. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 43(7), 1106–1119. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2018.1434128.
Ajjawi, R., Molloy, E., Bearman, M., & Rees, C. E. (2017). Contextual influences on feedback practices: An ecological perspective. In D. Carless, S. Bridges, C. Chan, & R. Glofcheski (Eds.), Scaling up assessment for learning in higher education (Chapter 9, pp. 129–143). Singapore: Springer. http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-10-3045-1_9.
Ajjawi, R., & Regehr, G. (2019). When I say … feedback. Medical Education, 53(7), 652–654. https://doi.org/10.1111/medu.13746.
Azevedo, R. (2015). Defining and measuring engagement and learning in science: Conceptual, theoretical, methodological, and analytical issues. Educational Psychologist, 50(1), 84–94. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2015.1004069.
Boud, D., & Molloy, E. (2013). Rethinking models of feedback for learning: The challenge of design. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 38(6), 698–712. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2012.691462.
Carless, D., & Boud, D. (2018). The development of student feedback literacy: Enabling uptake of feedback. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 1315–1325. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2018.1463354.
Dawson, P., & Dawson, S. L. (2018). Sharing successes and hiding failures: ‘Reporting bias’ in learning and teaching research. Studies in Higher Education, 43(8), 1405–1416. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2016.1258052.
Esterhazy, R., & Damşa, C. (2017). Unpacking the feedback process: An analysis of undergraduate students’ interactional meaning-making of feedback comments. Studies in Higher Education, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2017.1359249.
Esterhazy, R. (2018). What matters for productive feedback? Disciplinary practices and their relational dynamics. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 43(8), 1302–1314. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2018.1463353.
Farrell, L., Bourgeois-Law, G., Ajjawi, R., & Regehr, G. (2017). An autoethnographic exploration of the use of goal oriented feedback to enhance brief clinical teaching encounters. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 22(1), 91–104. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-016-9686-5.
Fredricks, J. A., Blumenfeld, P. C., & Paris, A. H. (2004). School engagement: Potential of the concept, state of the evidence. Review of Educational Research, 74(1), 59–109. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543074001059.
Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81–112. https://doi.org/10.3102/003465430298487.
Ifenthaler, D., & Yau, J. Y.-K. (2018). Utilising learning analytics for study success in higher education: A systematic review. In M. Campbell, J. Willems, C. Adachi, D. Blake, I. Doherty, S. Krishnan, … J. Tai (Eds.), Open oceans: Learning without borders (pp. 406–411). Geelong: ASCILITE. Retrieved from http://2018conference.ascilite.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ASCILITE-2018-Proceedings-Pre-Conference-1.pdf.
Jørgensen, B. M. (2018). Investigating non-engagement with feedback in higher education as a social practice. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2018.1525691.
Kahu, E. R. (2013). Framing student engagement in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 38(5), 758–773. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2011.598505.
Kahu, E. R., & Nelson, K. (2018). Student engagement in the educational interface: Understanding the mechanisms of student success. Higher Education Research & Development, 37(1), 58–71. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2017.1344197.
Kluger, A. N., & Denisi, A. (1996). The effects of feedback interventions on performance: A historical review, a meta-analysis, and a preliminary feedback intervention theory. Psychological Bulletin, 119(2), 254–284.
Kuh, G. D. (2001). Assessing what really matters to student learning inside the national survey of student engagement. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 33(3), 10–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091380109601795.
Liu, D. Y. T., Richards, D., Dawson, P., Froissard, J.-C., & Atif, A. (2016). Knowledge acquisition for learning analytics: Comparing teacher-derived, algorithm-derived, and hybrid models in the moodle engagement analytics plugin. In H. Ohwada & K. Yoshida (Eds.), Knowledge management and acquisition for intelligent systems: 14th Pacific Rim Knowledge Acquisition Workshop, PKAW 2016 (pp. 183–197). Cham: Springer.
Macfadyen, L. P., & Dawson, S. (2010). Mining LMS data to develop an “early warning system” for educators: A proof of concept. Computers & Education, 54(2), 588–599. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2009.09.008.
Mandernach, B. J. (2015). Assessment of student engagement in higher education: A synthesis of literature and assessment tools. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 12(2), 1–14. Retrieved from http://www.ijlter.org/index.php/ijlter/article/view/367.
O’Shea, S., & Delahunty, J. (2018). Getting through the day and still having a smile on my face! How do students define success in the university learning environment? Higher Education Research & Development, 37(5), 1062–1075. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2018.1463973.
Oxford Dictionaries. (2015). Feedback. Retrieved July 26, 2018, from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/feedback.
Tai, J., Ajjawi, R., Bearman, M., & Wiseman, P. J. (2018). Exploring the mismatch between conceptualisations and measures of student engagement. In European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction: Special Interest Group 1 (EARLI-SIG1). Assessment and Measurement, Helsinki.
Telio, S., Regehr, G., & Ajjawi, R. (2016). Feedback and the educational alliance: Examining credibility judgements and their consequences. Medical Education, 50(9), 933–942. https://doi.org/10.1111/medu.13063.
Urquhart, L. M., Rees, C. E., & Ker, J. S. (2014). Making sense of feedback experiences: A multi-school study of medical students’ narratives. Medical Education, 48(2), 189–203. https://doi.org/10.1111/medu.12304.
Vuori, J. (2014, July). Student engagement: Buzzword of fuzzword? Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 36, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080X.2014.936094.
Westman, S., & Bergmark, U. (2018). Re-considering the ontoepistemology of student engagement in higher education. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 1857, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2018.1454309.
Wiener, N. (1967). The human use of human beings: Cybernetics and society (first Avon). New York: Avon Books.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Tai, J., Dawson, P., Bearman, M., Ajjawi, R. (2019). Beware the Simple Impact Measure: Learning from the Parallels with Student Engagement. In: Henderson, M., Ajjawi, R., Boud, D., Molloy, E. (eds) The Impact of Feedback in Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25112-3_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25112-3_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-25111-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-25112-3
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)