How Can University Tutors Comments Help to Improve Students Learning - Term Paper Example

How can university tutor’s comments help to improve students’ learning Name Institution Professor Course Date Introduction Constructive comments or feedback from tutors provide students with the inspiration to improve their learning. When students are informed about their performance, they feel inspired to perform much better in their academic work. However, both students and teachers at university level express disappointments and frustrations linked to the feedback process. Students may feel that tutors comments are unhelpful or unclear and they may feel that their tutors do not provide them with appropriate guidance on how to utilize the comments to improve their performance. Tutors, on the other hand, complain that students do not concern themselves with tutors’ comments and they are only interested in the marks they receive after assessments. In this regard, feedback from tutors promotes learning. Feedback is the most essential influence on achievements of students, but some students may feel dissatisfied with the quantity or quality of feedback they get after assessments. Feedback allows students to reflect on what they have learned and what they require to change to enhance their performance. In the absence of productive feedback, students depend in self-assessment which is not as productive as feedback from tutors. Aims and Objectives This reports aim to demonstrate constructive comments from tutors that provide a sense of proprietorship in the process of assessment. The report offers a conceptualisation of summative and formative feedback that considers socio-cultural learning theories. The report aims to demonstrate the significance of constructive comments from tutors and their role in performance enhancement. This report proposes some strategies aimed at perking up the performance of students besides making them accountable for their own learning, an aspect that makes them independent and autonomous learners. The report also recommends some practical techniques aimed at promoting learning and proper application of tutor’s comments to enhance performance. The aims of this report will be achieved through analysis of pertinent literature where secondary sources will be utilised. The report draws upon empirical studies conducted over the past fifteen years in educational events. The report does not seek to dogmatic, but rather provide a heuristic for additional elaboration and exploration. The discoveries realised in this report will help in promoting application of tutor’s comments at university level. The findings will help teachers in generating feasible strategies which will facilitate performance improvement, and create strategies that help students in recognising their personal actions plan obtained from tutor’s feedback. The strategies will support students’ involvement in planned application of feedback. Rationale and Context In the era of government targets and priorities, learning and teaching remain close to the hearts of higher education professionals. The rationale behind this report is to promote application of tutor’s comments at the university level to enhance performance. When providing feedback, it is not often possible to attain full students satisfaction as happiness of students generally appears to be linked to high scores and praise. However, tutors should inspire students to get involved in the learning process and use every assignment as a learning prospect to enhance performance (Alonzo, 2011). Notwithstanding the care taken by assessors to provide feedback, not all students read it and many students who require tutors’ feedbacks are those students who are least probable to learn from the feedback. To benefit from feedback, students must understand what entails good performance, how their present performance compares with excellent performance and how to close the gap amid good performance and present performance. Most tutors believe that their feedback is comprehensive, facilitates understanding and improves learning, but students often disagree (Coffey, Hammer & Daniel, 2011). Practical feedback must be provided in an understandable and clear format that students can appreciate, and a format that does not prevent students from applying it as a valuable learning tool. Background Within universities, particularly the more influential ones, conventional forms of evaluation have been extensively taken for ignored and development in formative evaluation most taken for granted. In this regard, much teaching at university level still employs an education model as knowledge acquisition and transmission, where formative evaluation conceptualises as an extensively important appendage to educational problems (Coffey, Hammer & Daniel, 2011). Discursive shift is essential as it allows a move from a concept of learning as mainly a procedure of storing and reproducing knowledge towards its wider conceptualisation as a procedure of coming to understand different situations. Learners seem to learn about their mistakes linked to tutor’s remarks regarding poor performance. The most significant aspect that learners understand is that their performance is always commented on. Such knowledge is a pivotal requirement for enhancement, but it seldom appears adequate to most students. In addition, their intricacies are compounded by the conviction that different lecturers hold divergent needs and personal preferences. This is disconcerting and as learners move from one course to another, it is usually quite discouraging as they believe that enhancing their performances is impossible. Instructors are not willing to offer time to help them and principles within different departments differ drastically. The actuality that so much written feedback from tutors seems to be principally judgemental to students instead of being developmental, and to mirror a deficit model for measuring their achievements and learning, may help in explaining why only few students speak of it as encouraging, confidence building and stimulating. Yet, however disheartening feedback is to students, most of them never lose faith in the potential value of feedback. Studies on the effect of feedback on the learning achievement of students confirm that feedback hold the potential to have crucial effect on students learning achievement. According to Hattie & Timperley (2007), this potential is powerfully link to the quality of tutor’s comments and most improvement in the learning of students occurs when students get information feedback regarding a task and how to do more productively. The effect of feedback on learning attainment is low when feedback from tutors is centred on punishment rewards and praise. Feedback is more productive when it tackles attainable goals and when it fails to carry high threats to students’ self-esteem. Students prefer to get involved with the marker to assist them in improving their comprehension of the tutor’s comments. Feedback appears to function better when it stimulates an open dialogue amid the students and the tutor (Booth & Hyland, 2000). There are disadvantages that a student encounters through getting access to feedback, including effort and time needed to read it. If the feedback is excessively critical, then this holds some effects on their self-esteem. Drawing on Theory and Research Social constructivism and Behaviourism With respect to constructivism theory, students construct their own knowledge and comprehension of their environment via experience and reflection on the experiences (Booth & Hyland, 2000). When people encounter something novel, they tend to reconcile it with their previous experience and ideas. According to DePryck (2009), constructivism is founded on the constructive nature of generating knowledge in the blueprint of a learning event. Constructivist perspective prefer open assignments such as essays, case studies or role-play, and this perspective depends on communication amongst learners and direct feedback to the learner from other students and teachers (Coffield, 2008). The core concept of constructionist is an emphasis on tests and thesis. Favourite techniques include stimulations or how to construct. Constructivism theory stresses on importance of direct feedback and open assignments (Hyland, 2001). Teachers utilise feedback to create programmatic decisions relating to diagnosis, remediation and readiness. On the other hand, students utilise feedback to monitor their weaknesses and strengths of their performances, so that factors linked with high quality or success can be realised and strengthened and unsatisfactory factors improved or modified. According to DePryck (2009), feedback is a crucial element of learning whether it is achieved through automatic feedback tests, self-evaluation formulas or tutor-assessed assignments to the learner. Feedback provides learners with the information on their progress and for the tutor; feedback demonstrates the success and underscores any pitfalls that need to be corrected. Feedback can either be summative where the process of learning culminates with assessment and formative where feedback is provided throughout the learning process. Formative assessment takes place when students and teachers seek to respond to the work of a student, making judgement on what entails good learning. Formative assessment entails allowing students o first engage with novel means of being and acting linked with inspirational, new identities. Vygotstkian social constructivism as an explanatory theory for the productiveness of learning claims that interactive learning allows learners to actively construct their own perspectives (Coffield, 2008). Constructivist theory claims that learning creates meaning via self-directed enquiry, community-based co-participation and guided activity. To apply these theories in tutor’s feedback, tutors should design a module set in a real-world setting that involves social mediation and negotiation with several paths for students to explore and with the tutors offering a facilitative as opposed to directive role (See Figure 1). Constructivist learning perspective point towards diverse teaching practices. Constructivist approach implies encouraging learners to apply active techniques such as experiments to generate more knowledge. The teacher makes sure that he/she comprehends the learners pre-existing conceptions and directs the actions to address. Figure1: Formative Assessment Source: Pryor and Crossouard (2008). A study carried out by Murtagh and Baker (2009) indicated that several feedback and assessment strategies are applicable university learning. These strategies include linear perspective to feedback and assessment, oral feedback and written feedback perspectives. In linear perspective to feedback and assessment, the engagement of students is minimal and it depends on an individual student. This model is teacher-driven and most higher learning institutions have moved from viewing learning as a mere acquisition, founded on teacher transmission to putting into consideration a procedure where students are actively involved in creating their own understanding. In the current learning institutions teachers transmit feedback to learners regarding their academic work concerning its weaknesses and strengths, and learners use the feedback information to make improvements. With respect to behaviourism learning theory, transmission of information from a tutor to learner is in essence the transmission of the response suitable to a given stimulus (Pritchard, 2013). Therefore, the point of learning or education is to offer students with suitable repertoire of behavioural reactions to specific stimuli besides reinforcing those reactions via a productive reinforcement schedule. A productive reinforcement schedule calls for consistent material repetition, small progressive tasks upshots and constant positive reinforcement. In absence of positive reinforcement, learned reaction will swiftly become extinct because students will constantly modify their conduct until they obtain some constructive reinforcement. Behaviourists explain inspiration with respect to schedules of negative and positive reinforcement. For instance, a learner who gets good grades and verbal praise for good wok is more expected to learn the answers productively compared to a student who gets little or no constructive feedback for similar answers (Jarvis, 2006). Students tend to evade reactions that are linked to negative reinforcements such as negative feedback and poor grades. Behaviourist teaching techniques depend on ‘drill and skill’ exercises to offer consistent repetition required for productive reinforcement of reaction blueprints. According to behaviourists, positive reinforcement such as prizes, good grades and verbal praise promotes good academic performance. However, behaviourist teaching techniques are more successful in areas where there is simply memorised material or correct response. The behaviourist perspective is effective in teaching scientific concepts, foreign language, formulae and facts. A developing research body aims to theorise processes and goals in realising the potential of formative assessment to engage and motivate learners. Some activities in formative assessment such as providing students with feedback regarding their progress and targets setting for improvement are categorised easily (Pryor & Crossouard, 2008). Others are linked to classroom questioning, tutorials, debriefing and feedback. Formative assessment is viewed as a moment of learning where students have to be active in their own evaluation and consider their own learning in light of comprehending what it means to improve in their academic work. From a constructivist view, formative assessment is inseparable from classroom actions. It calls for a belief in students’ active and potential discouragement of concepts concerning innate and fixed ability (Pryor & Crossouard, 2008). Tutors need to assist their students to attribute accomplishment to efforts besides encouraging participation in the practice community. Constructivist models of learning inspire teachers and expert peers amongst learners to operate more collaboratively with less expert students. Scaffolding questions and tasks centres in the gap amid the position of the learners, the work they can produce through the assistance of their teacher, and accomplishment of desired principles (Jarvis, 2006). The objective of constructivism approach is to assist learners to internalise the principal of work implied in the criteria and acknowledge what it implies to close the gap. Feedback moves from comprehensive support to more general questions or advice into new goals and improvements. It is therefore essential to utilise diagnostic assessment, followed by differentiated actions, feedback and remedial support. As part of their response to political injunctions to increase achievements, scores of colleges utilise strategies such as diagnostic tests on entry to learning programmes, tutor feedback and reviews. Commitment both to the concept of community practice and evaluation strategies is affected by social-cultural expectations of accomplishment and the wide context of assumptions concerning the self-perceptions and motivation of learners which model students’ dispositions towards assessment and learning activities (QAA, 2006) . Unless formative and diagnosis assessment are integrated into methods for encouraging forms of independence and motivation, then into pedagogy connected to subject content, support and feedback, such strategies are implausible to involve learners on a deep level. Promoting commitment and handling implicit expectations calls for attention to the stable influence of a behaviourist tradition that starts in primary learning institutions. One impact is that extrinsic motivation founded on rewards, punishments and performance goals is deeply entrenched in teachers’ evaluation practices and in their feedback to their learners (Jarvis, 2006). This tradition is aggravated through pressures on teachers to involve as many students as possible through external tests while lowering the demotivation of the successful students. This pressure percolates via the compulsory systems into post-compulsory training and education, and it may confirm reduced expectations of achievement. Teachers protect students they consider vulnerable from having to get involved in robust feedback and its implications regarding their achievement. Students differ greatly in their comprehension of their role in the social rituals that surround evaluation and their anticipated responses. Similar pressures are evident in universities where tutors often want to maximise learner’s accomplishment to provide them with best prospects in socio-economic conditions (Pritchard, 2013). This cultural disposition can strengthen low expectations of accomplishment and instigate unchallenging types of assessment. This aspect lowers expectations of the commitment and rigour required for critical autonomy particularly if students want to see themselves as embedded learners who are willing to capitalise on assessment feedback to improve their learning and not simply to obtain better grades. Conditioned and social dispositions affect students’ attitudes concerning whether feedback and questions are prospects to learn, simply an unjust hurdle or a potential threat to self-esteem (Pritchard, 2013). Sub-cultures and groups are essential in affecting a student’s ability and willingness to develop divergent forms of autonomy and motivation. Rationale for choice of strategy In higher education, formative feedback and assessment is essential as it empowers students and makes them self-regulated learners. This approach is appropriate in universities as it facilitates development of deep learning. Self-regulated learning is appropriate in higher educational institution because it stresses on the surfacing responsibility and autonomy of learners with respect to their learning (James & Biesta, 2007). Self-regulation entails self-evaluation, self-reaction and self-observation. In this regard, formative assessment holds significant effect on learning that students must relate to. A study carried out by Murtagh and Baker (2009), indicated that notwithstanding that tutors offer different feedback to learners, seventy-two percent of the participants in the study indicated that oral feedback after lesson observation is the most valuable feedback strategy. This strategy entails observing students during teaching placements with the hope that observation would generate a discourse concerning learning and teaching. Oral feedback allows tutors to discuss the major development areas and strengths in a student’s practice. The dialogue occurs after a taught lesson to allow students to start to create their targets (Coffield, 2008).During oral feedback, both teachers and students get the prospect to voice their concerns, and it provides them with prospect for focused dialogue concerning academic performance. Seventy percent of the participants in Murtagh and Baker study indicated that written feedback is informative and facilitate improvement of prospective work. However, students are often not satisfied with written feedback because of lack of specificity relating on how to make academic improvements. Written feedback may be complex for students and may hold negative impacts on the motivation and confidence of students. While students welcome written feedback which they can capitalise on, not all written response is rich, formative or useful to the learners. According to Ecclestone (2005), formative feedback and assessment encourage critical reflection and involvement with dilemmas in subject disciplines, occupationally and social linked issues. Written and oral critical conversations should motivate learners to evaluate their own work and link its quality to that of immediate superiors and peers (Kroll, 2001). Students need confidence to help them change feedback into a more sophisticated critical comprehension and understand how to employ tutors’ idiosyncratic comments concerning their work. In this perspective, students and teachers have to extend their knowledge of formative assessment as review and feedback to include understanding questions, climates when individuals feel capable to challenge or ask curriculum-linked questions, and strategic debriefing processes of learning Recommendations Students dislike tick boxes or pre-defined statements and they find them less applicable in learning. The feedback comments should be personal to a certain student. Feedback should be beneficial and should define not only what a student has done incorrectly but also how to enhance it. There should be a balance amid negative and positive comments, and students should be allowed to know where they performed well. Comments should not be damaging to a student’s self-esteem. This is because some students are very sensitive to criticism and once hurt these students will display avoidance conduct for any prospective feedback (Duncan, 2007). Students requires to hold a clear concept on what they perform well and what they require to improve , how to improve it after reading tutors comment. As a result, tutors should use clear language and shun from using acronyms and jargon. If something that is written is incorrect, it is probable that the students did not comprehend fundamental concepts and will require further explanations. Even the most excellent students are capable of improving their performance following tutors comments. Just because some students perform well, does not imply that they do not require feedback. Tutors should focus on the key learning messages linked to the learning upshots of the assignments without obtaining too side-tracked on less pertinent learning upshots such as spelling and grammar. Tutors should provide feedback soon after examination before students’ efforts and thoughts move elsewhere. Written feedbacks often run the danger of being more like a sermon that may not necessarily hit its target and attain the desired upshots. Tutors should offer their contact details when providing written feedback to allow students the prospect to respond and involve themselves in discourse regarding points in the feedback that may not be well comprehended. Tutors should make it clear that the point of dialogue is to enhance prospective performance and not to change grades to avoid the exchange developing at cross purposes. Given that most students only focus on improving their grades, tutors should integrate more than one feedback techniques in order to maximise students’ involvement. Assessment should be designed in a manner that students can view the direct benefits of focusing on the tutors’ comments (Black & William, 2009). This is achievable through portioning the assignment into levels and providing comments which are crucial for successful navigation to the next level of the assignments. Conclusion Effective feedback allow teachers to offer students information regarding their performance, their attitudes, skills or knowledge to allow them improve their performance. Effective feedback is an imperative element of the evaluation procedure and can prove to be an invaluable tool in summative and formative activities. The inspirational effect of well-constructed educationally sound feedback can function to enhance learning, promote self-belief and augment experimentation in the student (Stone, 2013). Tutors hold the responsibility to offer constructive, specific and clear feedback to allow students to become self-motivated and self-directed learners. University tutors must hold a balance amid praise and criticism as their integration prompts better results. Because numerous students are only interested in improving their grades as opposed to improving their learning process, integrating more than one feedback strategies is paramount as it helps in maximising student’s engagement. References Alonzo, A. C. (2011). Learning Progressions that Support Formative Assessment Practices in Measurement. Interdisciplinary Research and Perspectives, 9, 2/3, pp.124-129. Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (2009). Developing the theory of formative assessment in Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability. EDuc Asse Eval Acc, 21, pp.5-31. Carless, D. (2007).Conceptualizing pre-emptive formative assessment in Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 14, 2, pp.171-184. Coffey, E., Hammer, D., & Daniel M. (2011). The missing disciplinary substance of formative assessment. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 48, 10, pp.1109-1136. Pryor, J., & Crossouard, B. (2008). A Socio-Cultural Theorisation of Formative Assessment. 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