Drifting towards disengagement: consuming and/or squandering

not developing?

Liam McCann and Gary Saunders

Lincoln University

The view that today’s students are ill-prepared for H.E. is oft asserted (see Jobbins 2003 quoted in Leathwood, 2005, p314)

This was illustrated by student’ comments in our research

“from A’ level to degree level I thought it was completely a new ball game…” (2nd year male student)

“in A’ level and GCSE I was just told what I had to write down and what I had to learn which was easy …just given to you on a plate” (Respondent 4)

There is widespread acceptance of the important role played in learning of “helpful feedback” (Ramsden, 1992 quoted in Gibbs & Simpson 2004, p10)

or “appropriate feedback” (Chickery & Gamson, 1987 quoted ibid p16)

But what exactly that ‘suitable’ feedback actually is, remains vague and poorly defined. Understandably?

Our research exposed that there is considerable variations in ‘good’ feedback and ‘effective’ feedback and what some students’ value, some others may reject.

There is a clear need for us to recognize this and try to offer equally diverse varieties of feedback to students

One size does not fit all.

Weaver (2006) discusses in detail the values which students attach to their feedback.

But students’ views of what they “like” should not dictate the feedback we provide. E.g.

‘positive’ feedback may not always be best

. “I preferred it when I got a kick in the teeth and thought I’ve actually got to pull my finger out…”

A minority of academics elsewhere do not value feedback’s influence in learning:

Maclellen (2001, p313) found 6% of academics who believed feedback “never” improves learning.

We did not find this here! On the contrary staff were positive about

feedback but frustrated that, despite 89% of students valuing individual oral feedback, some students did not attend appointments for additional oral feedback.

If feedback is viewed as part of the necessary “process of communication” (Higgins, et al 2001 p270) between staff and students

Then we must be clear about the capabilities of those who we are ‘speaking to’ and what they expect to ‘hear’

If consumerism mediates students’ receptiveness to feedback (Ding, 1998 cited in Higgins et al, 2001, p271) we must be aware of this influence.

What they ‘expect to be given’.

Higgins believe that “The student makes an emotional investment in an assignment and expects some ‘return’ on that investment.” (2001, p272)

We found this this investment was far too uncommon.

Many students stated that they wrote what they thought the tutor expected rather than what they believed.

We want to contextualise feedback within the damaging consequences of the current assessment culture.

Thomson (2000) argues “the assessment process and the resulting school league tables generate a ‘pass at all costs’ culture in which pupils are spoon-fed the information they need to pass a given exam and make their school look good in the league tables.”

These essentially Fordist educational policies and practices result in students who are not merely deskilled but who are also alienated from, and indifferent to, the educational product which they produce. (see Fielding & Rikowski, 1996)

We must recognise also that much of what is taught in H.E. contrasts with wider cultural orthodoxies and ideologies.

The opportunities for students studying certain subjects to get wider approval for their efforts to ‘make sense of’ many complex issues they encounter is limited.

This too may invite surface learning as their ‘own’ explanations are often marginalized as weak, overly anecdotal, ill-considered and under researched.

But their family and friends may commend such explanations as meritorious and ‘commonsense’.

Thus the knowledge and expertise of some H.E. subjects may struggle when its worth is marginalised and/or ridiculed and this too may explain many students’ preference for surface learning contemporarily.

So is ‘our’ feedback as bad as the N.S.S. appears to show?

We must recognise, take pride in and be less defensive about the efforts and developments in feedback which have been considerable in recent years.

Currently in HE the plethora of Quality Boxes, end of unit/module evaluations and reports, double marking and moderation, external examiner reports, periodic subject reviews and the like, all try to monitor and ensure, amongst other things, the general quality and constructiveness of the feedback which academics provide to students.

But despite devoting so much time and effort to ensuring diverse forms of constructive feedback, too many students ‘appeared’ to be impervious to much our best efforts.

We found 29.6% of students’ not expressing appreciation for the value of feedback in assisting improvements in their future assessment performance.

So “What works?”

Our students said they simply had not previously experienced feedback which was formative, which asked them to consider and reflect.

They were far more familiar with didactic instructions and felt ill-equipped for the new assessment and research demands of H.E.

Students need to recognise their role in responding to feedback, all feedback.

All students should be encouraged to reflect on all of their assessments, their performance therein and the feedback and even the mark they receive and potential reasons for this and lessons to be learnt.

“Perhaps we need to shift the emphasis to ‘feeding forward’ into a piece of work, rather than simply ‘feeding back” (Higgins et al p274).

But we cannot ‘feed forward’ unless we can understand what the student’ expects from feedback.

We must emphasise/clarify what students can and cannot expect in feedback!

We strongly believe that the National Student Survey’s poor ‘satisfaction’ results for feedback do not correlate with implicitly widespread poor quality of the feedback which students allegedly receive.

We must not simply meet demands that students may make: “The big words they use. You know they come up with some fabulous words. It needs a bit of clarification right away” (Male 2nd year student). Rather students must recognize their responsibility to familiarize themselves with what such words mean.

We argue it is essential that students are taught to understand how they should use feedback.

Academics recognize and we found no evidence that they shirk the clear challenges of meeting the educational demands of an increasingly far broader spectrum of abilities, but students must also be made to realize what we expect of them.

If the objective is to get the student to “engage in appropriate action which leads to some closure of the gap” (Sadler 1989, p121).

The problem is that too often students are literally debilitated by such variety, choice and room for their own distinct approaches.

One tutor was recently explaining to a student that they would have to think about the best way to approach their research task, having outlined the range of options available and their specific strengths and weakness, the student replied that they didn’t want to have to think about such, they wanted to be told what to do.

We must also consider the changing institutional rules which delimit and actually work against our ability to meet the diverse needs of students.

Should we merely provide students with the feedback they like?

Our answer is unreservedly no, the student as ‘consumer’ simply does not understand what may be good for them despite what the N.S.S. might suggest

Are students deskilled in thinking? Despite the increase demands of

students ‘we’ do have in place clear mechanisms to support students appropriately in their educational endeavours.

Finally can we meet the challenge of how to encourage disengaged learners to become critical thinkers and producers of knowledge?

The quality of feedback we encountered and the vast majority of students’ appreciation of that contradicts the N.S.S. findings and we firmly believe that N.S.S. ‘dissatisfaction’ is largely the consequence of previous feedback which ‘spoon feed’ students and deskilled and debilitated them as independent learners.

Our efforts have largely gone unrecognised and unappreciated! We have to try to change that!