The academic writing/feedback cycle: an exploration through

collaborative staff/student research

Rosemary Allen, Kate Lundie Hill, Joy Jarvis, Ellie Lawrence, Amanda Roberts, Dianne Solly, Jen Woodward

School of Education

UH Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 5th May 2011

The project

The academic writing/feedback cycle

• Built on a 2009-10 Faculty staff/student research project : Feedback for Learning

• Academic Writing Spiral produced

• 2010-11: Trialling , evaluation and further development of Academic Writing Spiral through student/staff

collaborative research in a number of modules spanning levels 4-7

• Production of resources to support its use

The academic writing/feedback cycle

An interactive version

The academic writing/feedback cycle

We aimed to use the Academic Writing Spiral and supporting resources to help students to:

The academic writing/feedback cycle

• understand assignment briefs

• understand the vocabulary associated with academic writing

• develop their skills in different types of writing

• understand the feedback they were given

• clarify the link between academic reading and writing

How might these aims be achieved?

The academic writing/feedback cycle

• through making visible the constituents of academic writing at the various levels

• through clarifying what students need to do to progress from one level to the next level

• through supporting students and staff in identifying areas of difficulty in academic writing and in developing resources and approaches to help overcome them

The production of resources

The academic writing/feedback cycle

• 39 resources available to support writing development at Levels 4-7 (and beyond?)

• PowerPoint presentations to explore, for example:

- What is the purpose of writing? - How can I develop my academic voice? - How can I move from Level 4 to Level 5? - How can I develop as a critical reader?

• Word documents - student activities

Ease of use

The academic writing/feedback cycle

• as the basis of a lecture (narrated/teachers’ notes)• in seminars• independent learning: - step-by-step activities - narrated power points - StudyNet

Student and staff researchers:

• kept notes on their use of the spiral and their learning from it

• gathered feedback from students within and outside of taught sessions to help us all to understand the process of writing development and how to best support it

The staff/student research dimension

The academic writing/feedback cycle

• met as partner researchers to discuss insights• attended a staff/student researcher day – April 2011

What did we learn about academic writing/feedback?

The academic writing/feedback cycle

Students who achieved the higher grades often found their feedback less informative about how they had fulfilled the criteria or how they could improve their work furtherMany module leaders now make a

effort to ensure that feedback comments are unambiguous, consistent and match the final grade

Students seem to be developing a more positive response to their feedback

Student researchers discovered ...

Students found the Spiral useful, and would like to see this referenced more widely, i.e. used in lectures when setting assignments

The academic writing/feedback cycle

I was a bit nervous when I started writing. The

Spiral did help a bit. I liked the fact it was

coloured and very visual

Students commented ...

It was good to have the Spiral for reference when I started my assignment

I don’t find the Spiral particularly helpful as the

colours and small font make it hard to readI went over the

assignment with the Spiral in my hand to see if

I could find evidence of what level I was at

The academic writing/feedback cycle

One student’s story ...

13 October 2010

The academic writing/feedback cycle

19 October 2010

The academic writing/feedback cycle

9 November 2010

The academic writing/feedback cycle

We have become much more aware of the need to support writing – particularly the need to be more explicit about both the process and about what needs to be produced

Students see the benefit of further developments to the Writing Spiral to support their decisions about what level they want to submit their work at

We need to make everything much more explicit , particularly how students can use our feedback to move their writing on at whatever level

Staff commented ...

We need to offer students more small-group support to develop their writing

What did we learn about collaborative staff/student research?

The academic writing/feedback cycle

The possibilities for students to impact on curriculum development are endless, providing they are given appropriate direction and support

Students involved in the project commented ...

My perception of staff / student relationships changed during this project

I felt that my feedback and research was valued and respected by various

members of the team

I felt empowered as a student to impact on my own learning at UH and

on the learning of others

The academic writing/feedback cycle

Staff and student commitment to developing practice together has led to improvements in academic writing and in our ability to work collaboratively in developing learning and teaching

Engaging with students as researchers has given us a partnership approach to developing practice which has been really effective

I tried not to lead the students too much but this meant they did not always collect relevant data

Staff commented ...

It was not always easy to find time to meet with students particularly when they were out on teaching placement

The academic writing/feedback cycle

The bigger picture?

The academic writing/feedback cycle

“There is a separation shown here between students and staff. The long road shows the long way we have to go in our communication between one another.”

The academic writing/feedback cycle

“There is not much connection between staff and students. Everything is quite closed off.”

The academic writing/feedback cycle

“ This is how I see it at the moment, with all the staff on one side of the film and all the students on the other side. This is starting to be broken down now but still the nuts and bolts of the university’s policies are getting in the way.”

The academic writing/feedback cycle

“ This is how I see the future. There are still barriers there but there are ways over this with staff and students communicating professionally with each other.”

“ The feathers symbolise creativity and difference. I think we should embrace creativity and that could help us to develop the curriculum.”

The academic writing/feedback cycle

The academic writing/feedback cycle

And so now ....

• development of Writing Spiral resources, following student feedback

• new research and development project, looking at how students use the resources and the impact on their learning

• agenda to explore further the student viewpoint

• other things not yet imagined

Questions and comments?