Capturing student feedback literacy using reflective logs

Abstract

First-year university students are confronted with a different culture of feedback than they were used to in secondary education. Since the emphasis at university is mainly on independent learning, students need to fulfil the role of a self-regulated learner and need to develop feedback literacy to make use of the multitude of feedback opportunities. In this study, reflective logs were used to capture first-year engineering students’ most impactful feedback experiences. It was demonstrated that reflective logs are a valuable instrument to provide insight into students’ feedback literacy. Moreover, a significant association between the reflection level and the presence of the different feedback literacy characteristics was found. Although most of the students acknowledge the basic understandings of feedback, only about half of the reflective logs point to a more advanced use of feedback opportunities. The lack of some specific characteristics suggest that students behold a teacher-centred view of feedback. Therefore, it is important to explicitly introduce them to the contemporary learner-centred definitions of feedback so that they can recognise the variety of feedback opportunities. The study further endorses that developing reflective skills can be an important precursor to feedback literacy.