In this blog Dr Andrew Maclaren, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, introduces the Heriot-Watt Action Feedback Procotol designed in collaboration with the Student Representative Bodies and the Learning and Teaching Academy. 

Feedback is tricky. It’s probably the trickiest issue in assessment. We know that students really benefit from individual, detailed, actionable feedback. But at the same time, it is a challenge to find the time to provide that kind of rich feedback. The answer, at least in part, is to stop thinking about just the feedback information itself – the comments we provide to students – and to think as well about the wider system: how are students supported to act on the feedback? The Action Feedback Protocol (AFP) is a new approach developed within Heriot-Watt University, designed to make it easier for staff to provide feedback, and to make it more likely that students will take action on it.  

Improving how we do feedback is like solving a 3D puzzle, it requires alignment between us as staff in marking teams and it requires alignment between our collective approach and the students’ expectations. The AFP tackles this puzzle through its own 3 dimensions: 

  • Tuning the Ear: This involves focusing on students’ ‘feedback literacy’, through resources that help students to understand the purpose and value of feedback 
  • Simplifying the Message: This involves providing feedback comments in a way that is structured, concise, targeted and actionable 
  • Encouraging Action: This involves signposting students to resources that will help them reflect and act on the feedback, and encouraging them to make use of the feedback as part of learning and improving 

The AFP is designed to be as simple as possible for everyone: it is parsimonious and efficient for staff and it is clear and supportive to students. 

At the centre of the AFP system is the ‘three comments approach’. In addition to commenting on a rubric or marking scheme, marking teams then deliver their more general feedback in a clearly signposted way, in an evidence-informed order, using content that is Specific, Substantive and Supportive. This structure is designed to: motivate, inform and feed-forward to the student. 

  • Comment 1 is Motivational: a comment that identifies the main area (or areas) done well in the work and encourages the student to keep up that good practice in the future. 
  • Comment 2 is Informational: Identify the main area (or areas) not done so well that were specific to the assessment and explain how they could have been done better. In written work, it may be helpful to highlight an example from the submission by pasting-in a quote and explaining where it could be improved; in calculation-based work, there may be an alternative formula or a more efficient approach to the calculations that could be highlighted. 
  • Comment 3 is ‘Feed-forward’: identify a point of process that is generally applicable to assessed work on the programme (or later in a specific course), suggest ways in which that could be performed better in the future. For example, if several errors relate to a foundational principle or law in the subject, directing a student to revisit that will help them in future work. Or, it may be a specific technique that is applicable to multiple assessment types, such as referencing or notation. 

The idea behind the AFP is to take a ‘less is more approach’ to marking – the literature tells us that students overwhelmed with copious feedback that is hard to penetrate and follow will not take action on their feedback, which renders it useless. The AFP does significant heavy-lifting on the part of markers and course leaders by increasing student feedback literacy and setting their expectations around what good feedback looks like, this allows students to meet us halfway as engaged learners. It gives markers a template to follow which helps them manage their workload within a marking team. It also gives helpful and supportive signposting to students about where to go and what to do next when they receive their feedback.  

Heriot-Watt staff are encouraged to visit the Action Feedback Protocol SharePoint page (sign-in required), where they can find guidance, download the templates and import the Feedback Literacy resources for your students into Canvas.