Receiving Feedback on Your Work

In each year of your studies you will receive regular feedback. Feedback comes in many forms and from different sources. It can be any information that may result in improved learning and understanding.  

A common misconception is to think that feedback is only provided in the form of written comments on a marked piece of work. Feedback does often take this form, but the majority of feedback you will receive during your university career is not associated with a mark for an assignment.

Feedback could also be received:

• while a staff member explains the answer to a problem during a tutorial class
• during a discussion at the end of a lecture
• receiving guidance on experimental technique during a practical class.

All members of the teaching team are committed to providing you with feedback throughout your programme of study.

Feedback could come from a variety of sources including, but not restricted to: 

• Lecturers.
• Tutors.
• Demonstrators.  
• Floor-leaders in practicals or workshops. 
• Course Organisers.  
• Cohort Leads.

Importantly, feedback also comes from your student peers. 

Peer feedback may be received:  

• In tutorials and workshops, when you discuss topics with your peers and tutors.  
• In practicals, when you can receive feedback while working with other students in pairs or small groups.  
• When you discuss the course content with your peers, for example by forming study groups. 

Formative feedback

Formative feedback is ongoing feedback which monitors your learning and is intended to improve your performance both later in the same course, in future courses and also beyond your studies. This can take many forms.

• Informal verbal feedback from the teaching staff within class, or discussions with peers about course content during study groups.
• Formal verbal feedback such as a lecture detailing the common errors the class made, designed to help the whole class improve on work to be marked in the future.
• Written feedback, for example on a practice essay or report that you are asked to provide early on in a course, which is not formally marked.

Think of formative feedback as ‘feed-forward’ feedback.

Summative Feedback 

The goal of summative feedback is to evaluate your learning by comparing it against a standard or benchmark.

• Summative feedback will include the marks given for your coursework or exams, with some explanation as to the grade awarded. 
• Like formative feedback, summative feedback can be used to guide your efforts and activities in subsequent courses/assessments.

Think of summative feedback as a summary of how you have done in a particular component of assessment, such as the final grade for your research project and comments explaining why you achieved that grade.

It is your responsibility to review your marked work.  

• When marked work is returned to you, you should think about any feedback that has been provided and not just focus on the mark.  
• The feedback gives you an indication of what you did well, what you misunderstood and what you did not address correctly. It is this that will help you in your future studies.