Current Feedback Practices Research Articles

Issues and agency: postgraduate student and tutor experiences with written feedback

This paper examines the issues which postgraduate students and tutors experienced as they engaged in receiving, providing and requesting feedback, as well as the strategies which they adopted as they sought resolution of these issues. The study employed a case study approach, using data obtained from semi-structured and stimulated recall interviews with students and staff from three discipline areas at one university in the UK. The findings reinforce the conclusions that have been drawn in a number of previous studies in terms of the sources of dissatisfaction emerging from individual interactions and institutional practices. Additionally, however, the results expand on our current understanding of feedback and agency in higher education by illustrating how participants sought out imaginative solutions to the challenges they experienced, in order to enhance the effectiveness of the feedback process. The diversity of the strategies used provides evidence of student and tutor agency, and has implications for current feedback practices and future research in this area.

The nature and effectiveness of feedback given by cooperating teachers to student teachers

Effective feedback from cooperating teachers is a critical component of a successful student teaching experience. Unfortunately, few cooperating teachers are trained to provide specific feedback to their student teachers, and the lack of such communication is one of the most commonly reported problems among field experience students. Using weekly time logs, biweekly questionnaires, and midpoint and final conference interviews, the researcher identified current feedback practices of a group of cooperating teachers selected specifically for that purpose, and examined the congruence between the feedback reported by these teachers and their respective student teachers. This article synthesizes related research literature, reports and interprets the findings of the current study, and suggests recommendations to enhance cooperating teacher feedback practices.