Using an understanding of feedback processes to improve student learning

The main purpose of this paper is to give some novel insights into the creation and use of feedback within a learning environment. The literature commonly puts all the emphasis for feedback on what staff do, but this paper will demonstrate using analogies with classical control feedback loops that it is in fact not staff who create feedback, but students. Consequently, rather than pressurising staff to create more, faster, better ‘feedback’ the onus should be on educating students, and staff, on how to create effective feedback from the myriad of information available to them.