1 - I think that feedback is, without a doubt, one of the most significant components of an education.  After all, you attend higher ed to learn from the experts.  Feedback is, then, an essential component of the coaching that the experts should provide to the students.  The same logic would follow for each of those groups you list, however, it ought to be noted that descriptive, cognitive, and intentional feedback is not easy to provide when one does not have a sense what the end-goal is.  So, for some cases, it might make more sense to focus on purposes/ends before committing a "yes" to all counts for feedback.  As CS Lewis said, "We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive."

2 - Without providing feedback and engaging in intentional efforts to develop and grow students in the learning of central content and skills of their chosen field we leave them at the mercy of luck and self-direction.  Check out Doug Reeves article here for an interesting discussion on what he deems as effective grading practices and discussion of some 'toxic' grading practices.  LINK: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/feb08/vol65/num05/Effective-Grading-Practices.aspx  - While he is writing to a K12 audience, I think the information is worth our time in higher ed, as well.

 I forgot to add that John Hattie (again in K12 settings), conducted a large-scale meta analysis of practices that actually improve learning and found that "feedback" was the most powerful - in terms of effect sizes.  Check out his work in "Visible Learning".

Feedback is essential at all levels of education. Without it, the grading system would be little more than an instrument of power in the worse sense of the word. Speaking from the perspective of a university professor, students can accept their shortcomings and learn from them if the faciitator makes clear how they may improve performance. Feedback is part of a larger process, including a clear and detailed explanation of what is expected of the student in a given learning experience, continuous support throughout the process, feedback during and after the experience, and further experiences incorporating what was learned and providing additional feedback. If a student perceives this process as a power game in which he or she is the weaker player, subject to the hegemonic domination of a stronger player, the situation is not conducive to the goal of assisting the student in realizing his or her potential as a human being in a given area of competence.

Kevin/David: I strongly concur with you on this, but different systems exist amongst groups who we would otherwise expect to be quite similar. Although I would also argue along the lines you have chosen (& come from a system where this is rigorously enforced), I hope there will also be answers which give alternative perspectives.

Nicholas: I am intrigued by your statement that "others may provide feedback only if directly requested by the student." I was not aware of this sort of policy. Can you (or other followers of this question) please provide more information on where this is done and how it is put into practice?

Hi,

I believe and the literature supports the importance of formal feedback for students especially. There is a need for awareness among students as to their strengths and weaknesses of their work. This feedback has proven to motivate students to improve on their weaknesses and further capitalise on their strengths. The consequences of not giving feedback has proven damaging to students' progress and motivation. Hence, feedback is important as a driving force to students' motivation and progress in their work.

From my own background and training, I too have considered the provision of structured and positive feedback as a mandatory part of HE practice.  However, there are systems where this is not so.  For example, educators may be given the freedom to decide the level and type of feedback a student is given. They may also be 'too busy' to provide detailed feedback (other than a few quick words & a grade).  My concern (& that of much mainstream literature) is that as has been said above, not only is the student negatively affected by such practices, but that it also calls into question fundamental issues such as the quality of grading, commitment to education, and the integrity of the HE system.

Kevin's post highlights what we SHOULD provide to students, and the literature and research clearly show why. In today's era where data supporting feedback is openly available to all, if we choose not to commit to this view, then there must be some reasoned alternative viewpoint. Otherwise, we are knowingly giving our students a sub-standard & potentially damaging learning experience which will have consequences on their future lives. Can we let claims such as employment policies, cultural difference, personal choice, workload management, or simply 'that is what we do here', act as legitimating reasons for not following this vital aspect of education?

If students are to achieve mastery, then knowing where they need to improve is essential.  This is the role of formative feedback, and I think that in many ways, formative feedback is more important than summative feedback (i.e. grades).

Michael:

I agree with you that formative feedback is more important than summative. I have experienced the latter from running my research e-clinics for graduate students while they are working on their master's theses. In fact, the summative feedback enhances the summative submissions.

Many thanks,

Debra

Conference Paper Piloting Graduate Research E-clinics Toward Completion of Ma...

Formative assessment is more important because it helps students identify their strengths and weaknesses. Faculty also recognizes where the students are struggling and address problems immediately. However formative assessment  should be in limits. A student or learner must start thinking himself and try to modify himself. He must develop his own rational  thinking capacity. In any project or the task assigned , a student must be capable of showing , explaining and expressing his rational thinking and the instructor / guide should also be democratic and generous enough to accept if anything new rational expression comes from his / her student during the project .

Supporting much of what has been contributed already, feedback is clearly essential for learners to make sense of strengths and areas for further development at whatever age or stage they are operating.  Something that hasn't been mentioned yet, but which is even probably more important, is how that feedback is used by the learner. 

On summative end-of-course assessments we often find that students do not even pick up or download qualitative feedback provided in support of the grade - they 'pass', and at best are only interested in the grade or mark.  In order to support better use of feedback we have introduced  assignment tasks that are given 'feed forward' commentaries, sometimes without a numerical mark.  The benefit here is that the comments are more likely  to be taken on board to enhance subsequent submissions, some of which are directly related to the earlier task.  From  a staffing perspective there is an added incentive to provide quality comments in the knowledge that they will be read and built upon; more so than if we find our feedback goes unread.  Quality feedback is expected on those interim tasks in the knowledge that final summative tasks are only given brief comments in support of the final grading. 

Primary goal in this 'feed froward' approach is to encourage learners to make full use of the comments provided by expert teachers and assessors.

I agree with many of the prior points. I have always found formal, specific and detailed feedback is the foundation for learning content. Honing skills and guiding development of experts are critical benefits of constructivertebrae and detailed feedback.

In what context is formal feedback NOT being considered?

I believe formal feedback helps the performance of the students and the institution. It benefits the student by knowing his weak areas which in the end improves his learning outcome. The institution also benefits by the knowing the general strength and weakness of both students and teachers.

I am impressed with all the excellent points made here and would only add that the distinct role of feedback is to assist the learner in evaluating his or her own learning process and making adjustments as necessary.  We all learn from mistakes an mistakes when identified in a positive way through individualized feedback can often change the hole learning trajectory for individuals.

There have been a number of good points raised in favour of the benefits of formative/summative feedback. So, to expand the conversation:

Excellent questions, Nicholas!  Here is what I would say given the research I know best:

1.  When some individual students do not receive any feedback --, depending on their backgrounds (whether they are in single parent families, whether they are living in poverty, whether they are second language learners, and many other related factors) -- they can become increasingly unmotivated to pursue even their own learning goals.  That is something no educator should live with.

2.  Most students will read summative feedback if it is personalized in some way.  One size fits all summative feedback is very ineffective it turns out.  Those students who will read generalized summative feedback are already those who are engaged in their own learning.  Seems like even common sense would tell us that ...

I too agree with many of the above answers, formal feedback is essential and it produce good impact  in the student performance. The rapport is very important.

As far as positive and negative points are concerned in every system plus and minuses are there. no system is perfect ! Limited formative feedback help trigger the rational thinking process in the mind of a learner. Excessive feedback help kill the rational thinking process. A student develops a tendency for every point to ask instructor and  do the work called ' donkey work ' ! Hence there should be a balance maintained. To a certain extent other external forces too are influential. In the academic environment , limited formative feedback produces desirable positive impact but non academic environment makes it futile. Environment at home too is an influential component. So pure limited formative feedback + academic environment in the institute + friendly and academic driven home environment = ,more chances of development of rational mind.

Yes Formal feed back is very necessary you may aware about the how much students gained ,What kind of problem they are facing during learning you may know your strategies are going successful of failure......You may change your strategies...

Providing feedback is essential to students' writing and critical thinking processes . . . if the comments, suggestions are read by the student.  Also, coupling the feedback with conferences or other measurements to assure the student has absorbed the feedback is even better.  It creates a guided path to produce expected results, and builds healthy rapport between student and teacher.  

Feedback is critical at all stages and in all forms. Feedback is tells the learner, what was good and how to improve.  However, some students do not use the feedback (e.g. just in time learners) and others do not know how to enegage with it. There are lots of ideas around feedback for example, medal and mission (what you did well and how to improve it) and the feedback sandwich (good, bad, good). 

There are many key players but the links provided are heaveily used within the UK education system. Where there is a transition towards evdiance based learning and active research.

https://weaeducation.typepad.co.uk/files/blackbox-1.pdf

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjl3Lu3oIbNAhVJK8AKHUDDAyQQFgg6MAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dylanwiliam.org%2FDylan_Wiliams_website%2FPresentations_files%2FSSAT%2520workshop.pptx&usg=AFQjCNFPS1Wrbz9gfpwgs47HqidvwBgacQ&sig2=TAK4AyvTjoteRcjDMHuJhA&bvm=bv.123325700,d.ZGg

http://www.dylanwiliam.org/Dylan_Wiliams_website/Presentations.html

http://www.spd.dcu.ie/site/teaching_today/documents/raisingstandardsthroughclassroomassessment.pdf

http://geoffpetty.com/for-teachers/feedback-and-questions/

http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/sites/default/files/files/beyond_blackbox.pdf

http://datause.cse.ucla.edu/DOCS/pb_wor_2004.pdf

I suppose that really depends on whether you define necessary in a strict logical sense.

Ian:  I am talking generally (as in whether we think it is necessary from an individual perspective), but most of the literature and Rc (e.g. above) shows that feedback has a considerable impact on student attitudes & achievements. The main perspective is that positive feedback (i.e. feedback which is aimed to be supportive) has positive effects. Literature also shows that negative feedback (i.e. 'you've failed') has a short-term negative effect, but it can be turned into a positive by allowing students to learn from their experience, and employ that learning to gain better results in the future. What I am interested in, is what effects no feedback (other than a grade) has on a student. The above posts point out that whilst some see providing constructive feedback as part of their role, others may spend less time on this, and some may even just offer the bare minimum. Given the weight of literature that says feedback is an important (if not vital) aspect of learning & communication, I want to know how those who do not feedback efficiently or in a structured way, justify their position. I personally could not (so I give constructive  & structured feedback), but there must be those who have alternative opinions/arguments.

Feedback is very important at all levels of learning. It not only ensures the topic is understood, but can also yield new knowledge on the subject matter.

Having just completed a whole module on assessment and feedback in Higher Education I also support that feedback is essential. However, it is the type of feedback that is given that is the problem. Many students in UK institutions that fill in surveys on feedback comment that they do not receive very good individual feedback. Part of the problem is that students often do not understand what feedback is and  lecturers are tied by having to use set university forms and grade descriptors. Having recently done a review of literature in this area it is clear that at present the tendency is to rely on lecturer-centred feedback based on written comments. What is needed is dialogic feedback with a dialogue created between the lecturer and the student. The use of feedforward is also worth noting.

Stella - could you expand on 'feedforward'? I agree that standardising feedback & grading forms can be seen as restrictive,  but if it helps fairness, quality & transparency it is not a bad thing. The dialogic elements are also good, but although all students potentially have the opportunity to discuss grades & performance with lecturers & tutors, unfortunately few do unless there is a problem. One issue that is raised however, is that although feedback & discussion are widely acknowledged as a key part of academic (& social) development, we often hear that people are 'too busy' ...

Feedback can be seen as justifying the grade given for the work (what the student did well), whereas feedforward is how the student can improve their work (next step, upgrading etc...). Critically, both forms of feedback need to be clearly linked to the stated learning aims/ objectives of the learning event. 

Often staff achieve feedforward by indicating to the whole class common errors, however, this is not personalised and specific to the individual learner. 

'Feedforward' is a new term for me, but I use the practice in formal feedback on all assignments (attached is my own adaptation of my UK university marking & assignment feedback sheet - feel free to comment/share). My perspective is that students also don't want a drawn out process forced upon them.  I have run personal/academic development units that had structured class & individual sessions at 3 intervals throughout the year. Whilst some liked the process, others preferred to engage only when they felt they needed to. Of course, the unit tutors, personal tutors & academic support staff were available to advise students as needed, so my 'tips' were often in written form. Of course, dialogue does not have to be restricted to 1:1 meetings, and we can also converse by other means such as email, Skype, social media etc.  For me, it is important to provide structured feedback to all students, but any further discussion has to be a mutual issue between the learner & educator. This is (IMO) especially so in HE, where an aim is to foster independent learning.

The issue, as I alluded to above and in my opinion, is that there is a generation of learners and educational professionals who do not understand the art of feedback and feedforward. Arguably, if the student does not understand the feedback (e.g. Good level of creative & independent thinking. May generate new ways of viewing issues. Makes relevant links) the feedback may as well be meaningless. For example, what is that the student wrote which demonstrated “creative & independent thinking.” If the student cannot recognise this within their own writing then they need to be explicitly taught. Otherwise, we risk creating a fix mind set of intelligence. A more effective method of feedback would be “you demonstrated creative & independent thinking, in paragraph 3 and 7 where you …..”. Whereas the feedforward would include the up grading comment “… to improve this you could …..” and therefore creating an improvement/ incremental mind-set of intelligence.

As indicated within the thread, the time taken to complete this process effectively is significant. In the UK state education (Primary and Secondary school) where they are required to provide feedback and feedforward on every piece of student work there is significant retention crisis. Recent figures have indicated that 63% of teachers leave the profession within four years of training. This can be translated to a 60% turn of teaching staff every four years.

A strategy which I use to reduce my marking burden is to provide the feedback and some feedforward, but ask all students to provide a list of feedforward points which I discuss with individual students during tutorials. The age old issue, at university, is often the feedforward is not acted on by the students as it may not be appropriate for the next assessment.  Without this student action, it is questionable how much difference, to the student attainment feedforward will make.

Sorry for the long post!

Daniel: 'You can please some of the people some of the time, ...'  ;-)

I think there are so many variables, that you cannot find a perfect solution that can be widely adopted.  You are right in that different people understand or interpret things differently, so many systems explicitly teach students what these 'bands' mean. However, even if they are not perfect, they are definitely better than giving no feedback at all.

Aside from direct 1:1 dialogue, perhaps a reasonable measure is to have a central on-line resource that goes over these general issues in text, video tutorial, or even some form of interactive exercise. Especially in HE, we hear of supervisors/teachers who are so pushed for time that they simply cannot deal with so many individual  meetings and tutorials. I would like to see more emphasis on the academic support services that our institutions provide. Although this may seem superficially costly, what we can't afford is to leave students with no feedback. Academic support is often compromised by staff workload, staff contracts, a concentration on research etc., but addressing the issue would help support more students to achieve, would improve student experience, and on the other side of the fence, it would reduce the practical and moral burden of those with heavy teaching/research workloads.  Improved grades, student experience, staff retention (+/- related cost savings) - these can all be anticipated as positive aspects that can be gained.

The problem won't go away, but we can take reasonable steps to improve the situation. 

Is formal feedback necessary for student assignments?

Think formal feedback is helpful to students because if the assignment is done wrongly / badly, the feedback can highlight what went wrong, what should be the correct answer, what areas of learning need improvement etc.  If the assignment is done properly, the positive feedback is telling the student that s/he is on the right path, providing further motivation etc. 

The bottom line is feedback will provide direction, guidance, knowledge sharing & improvement to the students.  Sometimes the teacher also can benefit from the feedback itself e.g. by hi-lighting what changes might be needed on his / her teaching approach etc.  If no feedback if given, how the students know whether their submitted assignments are being marked or whether they have done correctly / badly for the assignments etc.

What is the purpose of your feedback? Is it formative? Formal feedback and informal feedback help the learning process. Once the purpose of the feedback has been identified, discuss with your students what their goals are for the feedback. Is it grade achievement? Is it improving a skill for later application? Once you and the student have identified the purpose of the feedback, as the instructor you can help guide students towards meeting their goal both in the class and for their chosen profession.

Interesting discussion!

I remember a very clarifying article, some 20 years ago, that I used it in my endeavors to focus on the basics of instructional design. Honestly it really seems worthwhile to read it again.

Feedback and Self-Regulated Learning: A Theoretical Synthesis

Deborah L. Butler and Philip H. Winne

Review of Educational Research

Vol. 65, No. 3 (Autumn, 1995), pp. 245-281

I would recommend reading it since it sheds light on a lot of comments in this discussion. Indeed, it brings us back to the essentials of the concept. 'feedback' in learning contexts.

Enjoy!

Joost - this a prime example of why feedback is not just a desirable element of learning, but also how it works in the development of self-regulated learners.  I find it hard to believe that any qualified educator would not actively engage with such principles, not least be fully aware of them. Thus, in such a case, policies that do not support the provision of effective feedback may be seen as fundamentally flawed. As I look back on the replies to this question, I cannot see a single voice that argues against the necessity of feedback in the learning process, so I am reassured in my own thinking - thank you!

One part of the question remains unanswered:

What are the consequences (if any) of not giving feedback?  How does this affect the student both developmentally and psychologically?

I believe that the tasks of the student feedback is required. How to how make may vary. The aim is that students learn from their mistakes and know their strengths and can make a plan for improvement, if needed to overcome the course.

Well, feedback should be formative, leading to scaffolding of the existing concepts of the students with more knowledge as well as  meta learning. Feedback should also be iterative. Keeping it formal is good but the teachers can keep it informal too based on their level of interaction with students. Understanding students psychology and sharing feedback accordingly after a careful needs analysis always helps a teacher.

Nicholas,

You added a question to my former answer referring to Butler & Winne.

"What are the consequences (if any) of not giving feedback? How does this affect the student both developmentally and psychologically?"

I think that the answer on this additional question highly depends on the meaning of the concept of 'feedback'. If teaching is essentially communication between teacher and students, or between students and students, it always intrinsically implies feedback since, otherwise, there is no communication but monologue. Your question rather refers to more specific feedback in which teachers use students' answers or reactions to support, add, correct, finetune or redirect the content of their answers to reach a valid knowledge-base or behavior. In this way, quality of feedback affects developmental and psychological aspects of expertise building, besides more affective dimensions like a.o. perceived self-efficacy, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, willingness to learn, and failure anxiety. 

The question if and how developmental and psychological effects of (absence of) feedback influence learning is highly relevant and interesting though, given its complexity, difficult to be answered in more general terms.

Joost:  excellent answers to an otherwise complex question.  Particularly you highlight that a lack of communication feedback in effect means that '... there is no communication but monologue', and this is important from the perspective of the moist basic human relations. If we don't give people anything meaningful to go on, then any idea of conversation or involvement is lost and any consequences are likely to be negative.  This is especially important if our cultures have a different perspective on communication, and the message (intended or otherwise) that others are going to receive.

You then talk of 'more affective dimensions like a.o. perceived self-efficacy, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, willingness to learn, and failure anxiety'. IMO, anyone who has undergone formal teacher/educator training should be either aware of, or have the potential to anticipate such impacts, and also take responsibility to self-regulate their practices to prevent any foreseeable negative consequences. From what I have seen so far on this thread, people from a range of cultures and backgrounds seem to be of the same mind, even if they operate in different systems.

In Business, the saying "If you can not measure you can not manage" is highly applicable and crosses roads with the process of problem solving and the process of decision making where feedback comes as the control key to these processes and which deals with results, error analysis, and definition of tolerance, etc...

Moreover, if we tie the above with  the newest requirements for academic accreditation and the definition of learning outcomes and relating these to the selected tools of measurement, we find ourselves that from the minute we start planning for a course we also decide on the feedback mechanisms and how we introduce "formative and summative" pedagogical techniques. That is putting together mechanisms where an outcome is related to a testing tool and its feedback approach. Any loopholes in such processes and breaking the loop leads to problems with students, from the learning and education objectives.

My colleagues in this thread have contributed densely and eloquently about the questions, however, I thought adding my penny worth to the existing discussion is a must.

Feedback is important for students continuous improvement

Not all feedback is good.  If feedback is honest, truthful, and constructive, it may be good.  However, if feedback expresses anger, is untruthful, and destructive, it probably is not good.

Not all candid-feedback is good or constructive.  A candid person loves to "tell it like it is" with total disregard for the recipient's feelings.  The candid person believes it is a virtue to be completely honest in all things said whether it hurts people's feelings or otherwise.  When giving feedback, we should intersperse it with, or at least end it with, an upbeat comment so the feedback does not anger, disappoint, or frustrate the recipient of the feedback. 

Whether feedback is good or bad is in the eyes of the beholder.  Some people say that there is no constructive feedback.  Some consider all feedback as both destructive and negative.  A person's perception (right or wrong) is his reality.  He or she will react according to his or her interpretation.

Some people always desire feedback whether good or bad.  Others do not want any feedback (constructive or destructive) whatsoever because they see all feedback as criticism, and they cannot handle criticism.  Hence, it may be useless to provide such people with any kind of feedback.

We should desire all feedback, for the provided feedback may tell more about the person making the feedback than the feedback itself.  We should use our critical thinking skills to vet all feedback and differentiate between those that are constructive/positive and those that are destructive/negative.  By separating the wheat from the chaff and only selecting the wheat, we can receive something good or useful even from feedback received from our worst enemies.  Hence, we should be flexible, maintain a thick skin, and receive all feedback as the best the feedback giver can offer.  There just may be an unseen benefit within every mean or spiteful feedback.

With today's technological capabilities, feedback can be individualized quite simply.  For those who do not want or feel they benefit from feedback of any kind, an initial question can give us the data we need to prepare personalized feedback.  Student answers to carefully constructed questions whether delivered face to face or via a digital device,   Individual student responses are a form of personalized feedback that also lets each student know that he or she matters.  We do it in our work with learner-centered instruction whether online or offline.

Every action should have some reaction....Well said Mr Robert ,according to my personal opinion, its is nessesary for the instrctor to provide detailed feedback on the students assesments based on their performence.It will really help them for indecating their problematic areas and will guide them for further improvements...But feeback should be constructive ratherthen distructive.

No feedback:

I think the idea that there are students who require no feedback needs exploring further. Feedback is a basic element of society & helps us orientate ourselves to others.  If someone states that they don't want any feedback, I would think this means that they do not place value on the feedback that is on offer.  From a formative perspective this in effect closes down their learning opportunities, or in fact cuts out the person who's function it is to guide & develop them (hands up those of us in HE who do not receive a salary / part-salary to do this). Not to provide summative feedback also threatens development ('what you can do better next time'), self evaluation ('how well you did & why'), as well as raising severe questions of quality and professional practice.  If we encounter such students, then maybe we should look at how they perceive our actions, and not how we see them ourselves.

Feedback is not optional (even if your institution says it is)

Feedback is not something we can opt in or out of.  You can offer supportive feedback to even the most poor performance, without pretending that you are merely expressing a 'critical judgement'.  To knowingly adopt negative attitudes is both damaging and an abuse of power.  Based on the threads that have been offered so far over the 5 pages of this post, the concept of feedback should be well known to any 'educator', and also a positive element of members of our society.  At best, anyone who fails in this area can be judged as avoidably ignorant & be expected to take steps to improve their practice. At worst, those who purposefully indulge themselves in destructive feedback can be considered as pathological, and a threat to both learning and our profession.

The risks of foreseeably negative feedback

It should not be left until an extreme situation develops before either the individual or the institution addresses what is often dismissed as a 'minor' issue. Effective feedback promotes learning & development, but it also has a role in the pastoral care we give students as an institution & as fellow members of society. The idea that students only need 'care' if they are young, 'weak', have just left home etc. is entirely false. Depression is commonplace in academia, among both students & staff. This can take minor forms that lead to loneliness, feelings of inadequacy or hopelessness, being a 'waste of space', low self-esteem, but we adopt memes that imply that the fault lies in the person's lack of resilience or 'backbone'.

Left unchecked, these issues can be fatal, and in HE, after personal problems, academic problems (together with communication & relationship failure) are a big cause of student suicide. Negative attitudes & behaviours can not only cause these types of feelings/perceptions, but if left unchecked, they can allow them to escalate until they are unable to be controlled. It is no longer acceptable to claim that negative or destructive attitudes and behaviours are simply 'part of the academic environment'. 'Competitiveness', 'academic excellence', 'moral fibre', 'character building' .....  if these are the justifications people give, then they are out of touch with both the modern educational ethos, and also perhaps their place in society.

I think we all entered HE for positive reasons ... but it sometimes does us good to take a long honest look in the mirror & ask ourselves if we are still on the positive mission that was once so important to us.

I don't know if I have understood the question correctly, but I wonder if it is possible to conceive teaching without feedback with students. And what could be the learning of students without a continuous feedback with their teachers?

George:  Isn't feedback & communication also part of establishing that trust?  In the same way that conversations develop between strangers, they sound each other out, swap bits of information, measure the response & act accordingly. Juan wonders if it is possible to conceive teaching without feedback, but I think it is an integral part of forming any relationship.  I think we often forget that whether we like it or not, in HE we relate on both human and educational levels.  If either of these is perceived by either party as defective, then the relationship is headed for difficulties.  Yes, we can simply go through the motions of mentor/disciple, teacher/student, but it is not a recipe for effective learning or good social conduct. You often hear the old cliche: 'We don't have to like each other, we just have to work together', but I am not sure how appropriate or applicable this is to the HE setting ....  ;-/

Not sure I understand your question, Nicholas.  Why do you think it may not be appropriate or applicable to form relational groups wjere trust is established in HE contexts?

I meant it the other way: I think we have an obligation as both educators & caring human beings to form the best relationships we can with students. I also think that as the 'power holder' we have the obligation to form & maintain those relationships through our actions, choices & behaviours.  In other work settings however, although positive relationships are desirable, it is quite possible to 'get the job done' if these are put aside.

Interesting evolution in this discussion: the role of student's perceptions toward instructional interventions, like feedback.  

We, at CIP & T (Centre of instructional psychology and technology), Leuven university did a lot of work on students' perceptions . See a.o.: Lowyck, J., Elen, J. & Clarebout, G. (2004.), Instructional conceptions: Analysis from an instructional design perspective. International Journal of Educational Research, 41(6), 429–444.

Indeed: learners are active actors in learning environments and not mere consumers of instructional designers' products. In line with mediating paradigm, instructional conceptions of students act as cognitive filters that affect students' use of both instructional interventions and support in learning environments. Students do not react to the objective or nominal instructional stimuli as constructed by the designer or teacher but, through perception or interpretation, they transform the nominal environmental stimuli.

I guess a question is ... why do they find feedback undesirable or offensive? I think (perhaps naively) that most people walk into new situations warily, but with a more or less open mind. If feedback is thinly disguised criticism (which is not to be mistaken for academic critique), then it will indeed be seen as offensive & not welcomed. If however it is civil, reasoned & clearly positive in its intent, then this intelligent student will probably listen to anything you have to say .... that's how academic (& social) respect is built isn't it ?

Formal feedbacks are definitely necessary in student assignments  because it ensures accuracy and precision  and also clear doubts in the mind of students.  This is so because informal feedbacks may not be accurate and may also be characterization by doubts in the minds of students

Adequate and proper feedback is always needed.

And in society and in technical systems.

George:  I definitely hear you - our degrees are more & more often looked at as 'credentials' or superficial markers, and students can see universities as a factory type process where they enter at one end, & expect to exit with the 'upgrade' they signed up (& often paid) for  :-/

Your question, as to whether formal feedback is necessary for student assignments, requires that you define what you mean by 'necessary'. Clearly, in a logical sense, your subsequent observation that "...others may provide feedback only if directly requested by the student" indicates that feedback is not logically necessary (however much it might be seen as being desirable) but is, instead, optional. Interesting rather than claim, as some respondents have done, that formal feedback is essential I'd suggest that the quality of the feedback (rather than simply its provision) is the critical issue that needs to be considered/researched further.

Ian: I was thinking on a general rather than philosophical level, as this caps the subjective answers ;-)  However, if we are going to focus on quality, then it follows that the feedback has to be there in the first place. 

My own learning & practice says it is definitely necessary, but this view is not held by all. I am keen to hear from those who can substantiate or defend this position, because I cannot fathom it myself 🤔

Nicholas: I thought you might have been thinking on a general rather than philosophical  level ;-)  However, that said, I'm not clear what you mean when you say that if we focus on quality it (feedback) has to be there. Surely your claim then raises the interesting question as to whether poor feedback is always necessarily (take that philosophically or generally!) better than no feedback.

Best wishes,

Ian

For myself, as long as the feedback is honest (i.e. not purposefully misleading), it gives a basis for reflection, interpretation and dialogue. I see this as a crucial part of higher education. However, again on a personal level, I view no feedback as a wilful non-response, as I see no reasonable setting where we cannot take autonomous steps to provide it.

So, other than conveying an opinion on someone's work (which we do by grading it), we give no rationale, no critique, no direction for development, and no support. It makes our grading unsupported and detracts from its purpose.

If feedback is poor or contradictory, a student has recourse to discuss or challenge their evaluation. If ìt is wrongly critical or falsely positive (e.g. inflated grades), it is easier for others to correct in 2nd marking. If there is no feedback .... there is nothing to go on, which helps neither student, evaluator, institution or system.

Quid pro quo - if we want students to furnish evidence of their learning, then should we not furnish evidence of our comprehension and evaluation ?