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The personal dimension in teaching: why students value feedback

Anna Rowe (Faculty of Business and Economics, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia)

International Journal of Educational Management

ISSN: 0951-354X

Article publication date: 17 May 2011

5133

Abstract

Purpose

Feedback is a central element of the learning experience yet, until recently, few studies have focused directly on what students think about feedback. This paper seeks to address this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

Data collected as part of a larger study investigating reasons for consistently low ratings of feedback across the higher education sector are reported. The larger study includes Rowe and Wood's Student Feedback Questionnaire (SFQ), which gathers quantitative data on student perceptions and preferences for feedback, but also includes two open‐ended questions inviting students to give written comments on why they believe feedback is important, and how the feedback they are getting could be improved.

Findings

Focusing on responses to the first open‐ended question and viewing comments in the context of the larger study and its findings, an analysis is offered of the students' responses, extracting seven different student conceptions of the function of feedback.

Research limitations/implications

Feedback serves a wide variety of functions in the lives of students, not limited to the implication of feedback for learning. Students are most likely to succeed in an environment where their broader social needs are met.

Originality/value

The findings reported in this paper contribute to an area of educational research previously neglected, drawing attention to: the importance which students attach to feedback as a teacher's personal response to them as individuals; and the need to take into account students' perceptions – both positive and negative – of the emotional aspects of feedback.

Keywords

Citation

Rowe, A. (2011), "The personal dimension in teaching: why students value feedback", International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 25 No. 4, pp. 343-360. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513541111136630

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2011, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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