Abstract
Introduction: Developing a student’s capacity to provide and utilise feedback are transferable skills from classroom to employment. Feedback literacy encompasses a student’s ability to recognise, understand and take action on feedback. The link between feedback literacy and peer feedback remains under investigated. The aims of this project were twofold: firstly, to evaluate first-year allied health students’ behaviours and attitudes towards feedback; and secondly, to assess the capability of these students to provide peer feedback. Methods: Participants were first-year osteopathy students enrolled at Victoria University, Melbourne in 2019. Feedback learning activities were embedded throughout the year. Firstly, participants were invited to complete a Likert questionnaire to assess their behaviours and attitudes towards feedback. The survey was administered at three time points throughout the year. Secondly, the quality of peer feedback provided by the students was assessed at two time points (semester one and two) using a quantitative rubric. Results: A significant difference was identified in student behaviours and attitudes towards feedback over time (p<0.05). Peer feedback rubric scores significantly improved between semester one and two (p < 0.001). Discussion: First-year allied health student behaviours and attitudes towards feedback can develop throughout a study year. Participating in peer-feedback tasks, and the associated learning activities appeared to improve peer feedback quality. This may be due to experience with the task, the development of feedback literacy, and/or developing an appreciation of actionable feedback from peers. These findings highlight a potential link between feedback literacy and peer assessment and has implications for university curriculum design and workplace learning. Conclusion: Developing peer feedback capabilities may assist in fostering feedback literacy. How students develop feedback literacy and use feedback to improve performance requires additional investigation.
Highlights
Developing a student’s capacity to provide and utilise feedback are transferable skills from classroom to employment
Peer feedback rubric scores significantly improved between semester one and two (p < 0.001)
First-year allied health student behaviours and attitudes towards feedback can develop throughout a study year
Summary
Developing a student’s capacity to provide and utilise feedback are transferable skills from classroom to employment. Carless and Boud (2018) define it as "a process through which students make sense of information from various sources and use it to enhance their work or learning strategies" A desire to move away from a teacher-centred model to a more contemporary student-centred model has been described (Nicol, Thomson and Breslin, 2014; Dawson et al, 2019; Chong, 2020) This contemporary model emphasises student-centeredness, and a process-orientated approach, where students synthesise feedback information themselves, and apply it to an education or work setting (Johnson et al, 2016; Chong, 2020)
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