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The Value of Formative Feedback

Article Date | 26 September, 2022
                                                                          Source: Unsplash

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By Mrs Hazar Korkmazoglu, Lecturer in Business, LSST Elephant and Castle campus


At LSST we implement a myriad of ways to enhance learning. One of these is formative feedback. Sharing your draft work with your lecturer is especially important. This allows lecturers to provide you with formative feedback, which has significant advantages for your progression.

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But what is formative feedback exactly? Formative feedback is generated by your lecturer as a review of your draft for an assignment. This is a type of strategy that will allow you to develop your work and make necessary modifications. Do not confuse formative feedback with summative feedback or your final grade. Formative feedback is where your lecturer provides you with ways you can develop your work, aiming to achieve the best draft before your final submission. 

So, what are the advantages of receiving formative feedback?

1. Develops your knowledgethe main aim of formative feedback is to develop your skills and knowledge. By sharing your draft for formative feedback with your lecturer, you will be able to get an academic opinion that helps you identify areas you need to develop to meet the assessment criteria. 

2. Monitor your performance – if you send your lecturer a draft of your work before submission, you will be able to receive constructive feedback. This will allow you to assess your work and reflect, aiming to enhance your performance and produce a successful outcome. This is a transferable skill you will develop which will be useful throughout your academic journey. For example, you can compare your work to the assessment brief and to the provided feedback to bridge the gap.  

3. Identify your strengths and weaknesses – you will be able to identify your strengths and weaknesses at an early stage. For example, if you always receive feedback that you need to work on your writing skills or Harvard referencing, you may wish to pay more attention to these, so you avoid making similar mistakes in the future. This is a way you will plan ahead and move towards progress with continuous feedback. 

4. Achieving stronger grades – sharing your work with your lecturer allows you to receive constructive feedback that will provide you with the opportunity to improve and develop your work. We can all make mistakes or skip some parts when writing assignments. This is why it is crucial to send your work in for feedback before submission to highlight areas that need to be developed. Hopefully, this will result in a higher grade! 

5. Build your confidence – if you follow the formative feedback and develop your work according to academic advice provided by your lecturer, you will likely be more satisfied with your final work and feel more confident when submitting it.  

You are encouraged to send your work to your lecturer before the deadline in a timely manner, allowing your lecturer sufficient time to provide you feedback. This will also allow you to have enough time to make the recommended improvements before the submission deadline.  

Feedback can be provided in many different ways. You should discuss the most suitable way with your lecturer. 

How can formative feedback be provided?  

1. Verbally – you may want to discuss the assessment with your lecturer or ask questions about your assessment in person. This can be done in class or during a one-to-one meeting you have scheduled during your lecturer’s office hours. 

2. Email – you may send your draft to your lecturer via email, which your lecturer will reply to with formative feedback, highlighting areas that need to be developed to improve your work.  

3. Audio – your lecturer may provide you with some feedback over the phone, or with a voice recording. 

4. Video – you might schedule a Microsoft Teams meeting with your lecturer that may also be recorded for your later use.  

You can always transfer your written formative feedback to the digital platform,Microsoft Immersive Reader. This is a tool that reads text out aloud to you in any language you require. If you would like more information on Immersive Reader please visit https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/education/products/learning-tools.

Remember that regardless of what method you chose your formative feedback to be provided in, there will always be a record of it available on LSST Connect. This means that you will be able to refer back to the feedback at any time to make sure you have made all the recommended changes to improve your work. 

Don’t forget that formative feedback is a very valuable resource you have at hand during your studies, make good use of it to improve your academic performance! 

 

Email the author at hazar.korkmazoglu@lsst.ac 

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15 thoughts on “The Value of Formative Feedback”

  1. I am very pleased to understand the importance of formative feedback and how it can eventually help us as students to evaluate our assignments before submission

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