Feedback: The Heart of Good Pedagogy

Abstract

Researchers agree that while feedback is central to learning it is under-researched and under-theorised. It could also be argued that within the tertiary sector, feedback is also under-utilised. This article reviews the literature on external formal feedback in higher education settings and makes recommendations to help redress this lack. Following a summary of the effects of feedback on achievement and learning, the different levels at which feedback operates, evaluative, motivational, and cognitive, are discussed. Strategies for increasing the efficacy of feedback, in particular timing and focus, are identified. Moves towards more contemporary constructivist understandings of learning have led to a focus on the role of feedback in developing self-regulated learners and how it is mediated by students’ beliefs. It is argued that this results in a need for a shift towards a more student-centred view of feedback.