SDU Universitetspædagogik

Actors: Peer assessment and lecturer
Type: Student presentations, project work 

Hans Lund, Associate professor Institute of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics Faculty of Health Sciences, SDU

The feedback activity in brief
Five-day residential course with peer and teacher feedback in plenum on two topics: on a thesis and on a full project plan.

Application
On the master programme in rehabilitation there is a five-day residential course in August, which is called “Summer University”. The purpose of the residential course is to practice formulating research questions for a project, selecting methods and drawing up a project plan (synopsis). Furthermore, the students practice their academic and scientific formulating capacity, oral defence and the role of opponent. Each class had approximately 30 students, who were divided in 3-4 groups to make sure everyone that there was time enough to give feedback to everyone.

The actual activity and its extent
This activity began with a number of video podcasts for the students, which gave a point of departure for choosing a scientific method and various information skills (e.g. information retrieval). Additionally, the students were introduced to the process of giving feedback and act as opponents: for instance, the students were told to give a summary of the presentation and then provide feedback. They should provide feedback on the chosen method, the academic content and the actual presentation, however with the main focus on the chosen method.

A plenum session was arranged for the second day, where each group provided another group with feedback on their description and account of the problem. The plenum had a fixed sequence of feedback: the first ones to give feedback was the group who had prepared feedback, then the rest of the class and finally the teacher. 

On the fourth day the project plan was finished, and on the fifth day another plenum session was arranged with the same approach as on the second day, only now on the full project plan. The students also received supervision and feedback from the two teachers, especially after each plenum session. At the end, the students were assessed in groups based on their performance as opponents and their oral defence of the project draft.

Experiences and assessment
The teacher has to allow plenty of time for supervision. It is also very important that the teacher explains to the students what it means to act as an opponent and give critique. It is a good idea to produce podcasts that can introduce some topics to the students. All of this takes some time but it brings a high level of commitment and seriousness from the students when they know what to do. 

It is important to create a good atmosphere when the students act as opponents, because the students provide more constructive feedback and engage in the critique. The teacher believes that the students’ commitment and presentations speak for themselves: the students performed very well.

Evaluation: in which contexts will you recommend this feedback activity?

For more information about VUF please contact:
SDU Centre for Teaching and Learning - Rie Troelsen - riet@sdu.dk

For more information about this feedback activity please contact: 
Hans Lund - hlund@health.sdu.dk