{"id":748,"date":"2024-03-13T08:54:11","date_gmt":"2024-03-13T08:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/learning-matters\/?p=748"},"modified":"2026-03-26T10:18:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T10:18:50","slug":"developing-a-feedback-policy-for-life-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/learning-matters\/2024\/03\/13\/developing-a-feedback-policy-for-life-science\/","title":{"rendered":"Developing a feedback policy for Life Science"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Dr Joanna Richardson<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Dr Joanna Richardson, Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry, explains how the School of Life Sciences developed and implemented its feedback policy.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we did: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the summer of 2021 I led a working group in the Life Sciences tasked with developing a new School assessment and feedback policy<\/a>. This was in response to student feedback, via module evaluations and NSS responses, that assessment and feedback needed improvement in the School. While the Unviersity of Sussex<\/a> has a marking, moderation and feedback policy, the principles set out within it are necessarily broad. Having a school policy would, we hoped, provide a for staff on how to effectively translate policy into action by providing more detailed principles for staff in Life Sciences and, therefore, help to improve feedback clarity and consistency for students and staff.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How we did it: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The School didn\u2019t have its own assessment and feedback policy so I had to start from scratch. Having brought together a working group,* I convened a few initial meetings to discuss and agree the purpose of the policy, i.e. that problems the policy sought to address, and what should be included within it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also looked at examples of practice in other schools and universities and teased out common themes. I also dipped into the pedagogic literature, notably the HEA feedback toolkit<\/a>, and the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher <\/a>Education. I took a lot of inspiration from the University of Sussex Business School<\/a> because they had worked with student Connectors to develop clear assessment criteria. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I then drafted a policy for discussion and further refinement with the working group, boards of study (department) meetings, the School education committee and, importantly, some of our students. Happily, the proposals were, bar a few suggestions for refinement, well received and the resulting policy articulates and supports three key principles: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Transparency: Clear communication of practices to staff and students <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    1. Consistency: Practices are applied consistently and fairly across the School <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
      1. Relevance: Students can use assessment and feedback for effective learning <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        The policy also clarifies the expectation that feedback should: refer to the assessment criteria qualitative adjectives (e.g. \u2018Good\u2019 etc), that it should be constructive. It also provided an indication of reasonable length for written feedback (100-200 words).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Finally, to help the translation of policy into action, the key points of the policy (including a link to the whole document) are articulated on our staff facing web page<\/a>. We also created student guidance<\/a>, which is linked to from all canvas sites via our School template. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Impact and feedback <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        One of the key action points for staff was to include a 3-point \u201cfeedback template\u201d in writing feedback for students, to standardise and simplify feedback. In response to staff comments, this was subsequently reduced to a 2-point template: <\/p>\n\n\n\n