How can we encourage students to benefit the most from the feedback they receive in the course of their studies? This is a hotly debated topic, and Dr Naomi Winstone and Dr Rob Nash have secured funding from the Higher Education Academy to explore the issues and identify steps forward.

Project summary:

Much research and policy on assessment and feedback focuses on delivery: how educators can communicate, structure, and present feedback optimally. Yet a promising approach to improving students’ ability to benefit from such feedback might be to better understand ways to promote its reception: training students in how best to use it, assimilate it, and implement it in future goals. This project will set out to establish an evidence-base for the role of receiver effects in the appraisal and use of feedback. We will apply this knowledge through exploring, developing and sharing some good evidence-based recommendations for psychology students and educators.

Naomi and Rob will be working closely with their newly appointed Research Officer James Rowntree, as well as a Professional Training Year student who will be apppointed soon and will complete a placement working on the project. The project will run until April 2015.