Effective feedback in medical education: how are

we doing? Professor David Carless

Faculty of Education University of Hong Kong

5th November, 2016

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Overview

1. Aims

2. Feedback in educational research

3. Feedback in medical education

4. Conclusions

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Aims of paper - Synthesize literature

- Raise key feedback issues

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3 KEY EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH ARTICLES

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Conceptual paper• Call for dialogues of different kinds even

within written feedback

• Peer feedback, inner dialogue (internal feedback)

(Nicol, 2010)

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Interview studySustainable feedback: learners generating and using feedback from peers, self or teachers as part of self-regulated learning

(Carless et al. 2011)

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Conceptual paper• If there is no action, then feedback has not

occurred

• Importance of curriculum & feedback design in developing student judgment

(Boud & Molloy, 2013)

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3 KEY MEDICAL EDUCATION ARTICLES

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Review article• Need to develop a feedback culture

• Feedback embedded implicitly or explicitly within all activities

(Archer, 2010)

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GT study• 25 early career academics in Canada

• Learning from role models

• Negative feedback accepted when source is credible

(Watling, Driessen, van der Vleuten & Lingard, 2012)

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Conceptual paper• Desire for feedback, conflicts with fears of

critical appraisal

• Feedback not a product but a process of negotiation within a supportive relationship

(Telio, Ajjawi & Regehr, 2015)

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CONCLUSIONS

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Feedback as dialogue• Dialogic aspirations

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Key aim of feedback

To enhance learner ability to self-monitor during performance

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Closing feedback loops

It’s only feedback if learners take some action

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Feedback literacyThe further development of staff (and learner) feedback literacy

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THANK YOU

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Defining feedback

“A dialogic process in which learners make sense of information from varied sources and use it to enhance the quality of their work or learning strategies”.

Carless (2015, p.192) building on Boud & Molloy (2013)

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