Developing first-year engagement with written feedback

Abstract

Assessment feedback continues to be a relatively under-researched area in higher education despite its fundamental role in learning and teaching. This article positions assessment feedback as a complex meaning-making process requiring dialogue and interpretation.The article outlines an evaluative case study investigating a feedback review meeting organized through the personal tutor system. This meeting is designed to support students’ engagement with written feedback at their first formal feedback ‘moment’ when confidence and self-esteem can be at risk. The evaluation of the review meeting suggests students benefit from one conversation about all their written feedback. The article concludes that developing positive learning relationships with personal tutors at the point of assessment feedback can encourage a sense of achievement and success at a time when learners may feel most vulnerable to low self-esteem. In this way, the intervention can be valuable as part of an institution’s retention strategy.