Abstract:

The adequacy of guidance and feedback on set work in Higher Education is internationally an area that is repeatedly identified by both scholars and students as needing improvement, partly due to increased student-staff ratios and fewer opportunities for interaction in tutorials (Hounsell 2007:101-102). In the UK National Student Survey, students consistently score feedback lower than other aspects of teaching and learning (Williams and Kane, 2008).

At the Open University (OU), technology plays an integral part of the teaching and learning provision at the OU. The lack of human contact during and after the pandemic caused grave repercussions in our students’ emotional and mental wellbeing which consequently impacted on their ability to engage with their studies. In addition, our tutors’ emotional wellbeing was impacted by increased demand for more individualised student support, particularly in preparation for assessments. There is a growing body of work that supports an active dialogic feedback process that encourages student engagement (McArthur and Huxham, 2013; Mackay et al. 2019). While video feedback is not truly a dialogue, the findings of this project show that students feel that video feedback is ‘like having a conversation’ with their tutor.

Our project investigates the ability of video feedback to close the emotional gap felt by both students and tutors in distance education. We trained ten Open University (OU) lecturers in the use of video recording software. They then provided video feedback for their students in both written and spoken assignments across five modules (Applied Linguistics, French and Spanish). While video feedback has previously been used in spoken assignments by a small number of OU language lecturers, it had not previously been trialled alongside monolingual written assessments. Lecturers kept reflective diaries throughout the project, and, at the end, students responded to a feedback questionnaire and a focus group. The second phase of the project entailed the formation of a team of “champions” who now train other lecturers in the School.

Students overwhelmingly welcomed the new approach to feedback. Of 81 students surveyed, 91% felt video feedback helped them understand their weaknesses and strengths more than text-only, and 77% stated they preferred video feedback to text-only feedback. A key topic that came out of both student and tutor feedback relates to the isolation of teaching/studying online. Both tutors and students reported a strong feeling of connection and dialogue occurring though video feedback, which felt highly personalised.

References:
[1] Hounsell, D. 2007. Towards More Sustainable Feedback to Students. In Rethinking Assessment in Higher Education: Learning for the Longer Term, edited by D. Boud, and N. Falchikov, 101–113. Abingdon: Routledge.
[2] MacKay J.R.D., K. Hughes, H. Marzetti, N. Lent and S.M. Rhind (2019) Using National Student Survey (NSS) qualitative data and social identity theory to explore students’ experiences of assessment and feedback, Higher Education Pedagogies, 4:1, 315-330.
[3] McArthur, J. and Huxham, M., 2013. Feedback unbound: From master to usher. In Reconceptualising feedback in higher education (pp. 92-102). Routledge.
[4] Williams, J. and Kane, D. 2008. Exploring the National Student Survey: Assessment and feedback issues. The Higher Education Academy.

Keywords:

Technology, distance learning, assessment feedback, video feedback, student experience.