Research Brief: Indirect Feedback: A Dialoguing Approach to Assessment

Although there is consensus in the current literature that feedback plays a fundamental role tostudent performance and learning, there is debate about what makes it effective. Particularly,some assessment instruments, like the National Student Survey in the United Kingdom, revealthat evaluation and feedback are systematically among the areas that students are less satisfiedwith. The aim of this article is to describe the indirect feedback technique, which was devised andused by the principle author in his previous tenure as a professor at the University of Cadiz inSpain and to reflect on how it can be applied to overcome some of the limitations presented in adifferent context of practice. It is argued that indirect feedback meets many of the principles ofgood practice (facilitation of self-assessment skills, delivery of quality information about thestudents’ learning, encouragement of dialogue, and improvement of teaching) identified by Nicoland McFarlane-Dick (2006).