Supervising Students in Projects and Labs

As you read Chapter 5 - Providing feedback on students’ practical work, go through the 4 sets of case study analysis questions (5.1.A+B+C and 5.2) and think about them in terms of your supervision approach. 

Research on learning suggests that the feedback students get from teachers can have a powerful impact on their learning. However, there is also considerable dissatisfaction from students and teachers with feedback in higher education. This chapter focuses on the practical skills involved in giving good feedback to students in labs, projects, studios, and field experiences. Drawing on contemporary research evidence it highlights that good feedback includes three dimensions: (i) it clarifies for the student what a great answer/result looks like, (ii) it makes explicit how well the student has done, and (iii) it identifies how the student can improve. The importance of the distinction between task and process feedback is also discussed. The chapter also looks at the importance of communicating high expectations to all students and at how to approach interactions with students when providing feedback to maximise the chances that the student will actually learn from the feedback provided. Drawing on numerous examples from practice and research, the chapter is underpinned by application activities and an action summary that will allow teachers to apply these ideas to their own practice and to test their own understandings of effective feedback.

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