What is it?

As part of their course, many students are required to take part in practical classes. Practical classes may include: skills sessions, action learning groups, laboratory sessions and clinical practice tasks. During these practical sessions, students regularly receive a wealth of feedback not only from teaching staff, but also their peers. This is an excellent opportunity for students to hear alternative perspectives on their work, which will allow them to make further progress.

For example, at the beginning of practical sessions, many departments provide feedback based on previous sessions, which in turn allows students to build on previous work and gives students greater awareness of the areas that they need to focus on in particular.

Many students also find that recording their assessments encourages them to reflect on their own performance at a later date, since it allows them to analyse their performance by identifying their strengths and weaknesses in order to make further progress.

How can students make the most of it?

It is important that students actively seek feedback in practical sessions as it is a great opportunity to receive focused and timely feedback. Receiving feedback in real time is an excellent opportunity for students to gain a greater awareness of their strengths and weaknesses, and be able to adapt their current performance straightaway with respect to the feedback they have received. However, if the feedback is given verbally, students should keep a written record of it so that they can refer back to it at a later date.

If students would like their assessments to be recorded in future, they should speak to their lecturer or tutor about it, as many will be open to the suggestion. Similarly, if students find that any feedback they receive is ambiguous or unclear, they must ask for further clarification or guidance to ensure that they make the most out of the feedback.