Making the most of your Feedback

Crawley, 15th March 2011.

Reflection• What is reflection?• Why should we reflect?• How to become a reflective learner.

What do we mean by reflection?Brainstorm!!!!

Some definitions

• Boud et al. (1985) A generic term for those intellectual and effective activities in which individuals engage to explore their experiences in order to lead to a new understanding and appreciation.

• Reid (1993), "Reflection is a process of reviewing an experience of practice in order to describe, analyse, evaluate and so inform learning about practice."(p.3)

• Louden (1991) is sober thought out of the stream of action, looking forward or (usually) back to actions that have taken place.

Why do it?

Why should we reflect?• Planning and prioritising• Setting and achieving goals• Dealing with procrastination and anxiety• Recognising and overcoming self-limiting beliefs • Making effective use of available support

The good, the bad and the ugly• Think of your time on AA100 so far.• What sort of experience has it been?• What has worked well for you?• What might you need to approach

differently?• What do you believe about yourself as a

learner?

Kolb’s Learning CycleConcrete

Experience

Reflective ObservationActive Experimentation

Abstract Conceptualisation

Reflective Observation

Learning is a continuous process

Reflecting on your learning needs• What kinds of environments support you to learn at your best?• What kinds of environments inhibit your learning?• What activities help you to learn?• What activities make it hard for you to learn?• What skills do you have that come so naturally to you that you

wonder that others can’t do them?• What skills would you like to develop?• What’s important about learning for you?• What do you believe about yourself as a learner?• Do you have any negative beliefs? Are there things you think you

can’t do?• When you are learning really well what’s your purpose? What is it

all for?

Setting a personal learning goal• What’s one specific thing that you’ll be practicing to

improve your learning?• I will know I’m achieving my goal when (What will you or

others see/hear?• I’ll know I’m not achieving my goal if (What willl you or

others see/hear?

How to reflect• Blogging/a learning journal helps you to keep a record

which is– useful to you– a cue to memory– honestly written– evaluates key aspects of your work– a tool to help you to identify recurring themes– key to developing a plan of action to take– an appraisal of that action.

Tips for keeping a journal• Make regular entries (even if they are brief)• Focus on a specific event/issue for an individual • Use questions to help you focus on the task • Take an analytical approach • Try different techniques such as mind mapping,

diagrams, sketches or cartoons. Use colour.• Review entries to find key themes & recognise what

longer-term action you might need to take• Remember that writing itself can be used as a learning

tool: you can use writing to explore ideas as a way of understanding them.

Before you submit your TMA• How did you feel about doing this TMA?• What do you think you did well?• Which elements did you struggle with?• Which elements would you appreciate feedback on?• What sort of feedback would you find most helpful?

When your TMA comes back . . .

• Read your essay again• Read your tutor’s comments!• Do you understand them all? If not, contact your tutor

for clarification.• Consider how you would re-write in view of your tutor’s

feedback.

Marking exercise: TMA02• Read the original answer and my comments• Write a bulleted list of the top 5 things that you would

address if you were the student• Look at the re-write• Mark it – consider how closely it responds to feedback

and how this fits the assessment criteria.• Consider the critical commentary.

Grading Criteria• 85 – 100 – Pass 1 - Distinction• 70 – 84 – Pass 2• 55 – 69 – Pass 3• 40 – 54 – Pass 4• 15–39 - Fail• 0–14 – Bad Fail

Questions?

Jennie Osborn

Email: Jennie.Osborn@open.ac.uk