Supporting students to generate self-feedback: Critical reflections on the special issue

Abstract

This article presents a commentary on articles in the special issue entitled “Instructional Tools and Curricular Structures to Facilitate Students’ Generation of Self-feedback.” The articles explored the value of a diverse range of potential sources of feedback from the student perspective. Collectively, these articles highlight the potential of instructional tools and assessment resources in supporting students to generate self-feedback. Studies in this special issue also contribute innovative solutions to enable sustainable and effective feedback practices at scale, capitalising on technological advances. Overall, the findings amplify the importance of explicitly providing appropriate frames of reference such as rubrics, exemplars, and annotated exemplars, to support the generation of meaningful self-feedback. However, further research that makes the nature of self-feedback visible is needed. To progress research on self-feedback, I highlight the need for a strategic research agenda, as well as more sophisticated theoretical frameworks and fit-for-purpose methods.