The Feedback Illusion: with visiting speaker Naomi Winstone

Naomi Winstone, University of Surrey, joins the LITE Feedback Incubator to give a talk about the 'feedback illusion' followed by an informal roundtable discussion workshop.

Click here to book your place.

11:00-12:30. Talk. The Feedback Illusion: Why more feedback, returned more quickly, isn’t the answer

This talk will be delivered in a hybrid format (online and in person).

Naomi Winstone, University of Surrey

Across higher education, improving feedback is often framed as a problem of quantity and speed: give more feedback and return it more quickly. Yet despite decades of effort, students still report struggling to use feedback to improve their learning. In this talk I will discuss the feedback illusion: the mistaken belief that feedback works simply by being delivered. Drawing on research into feedback as a process, I will argue for the need to shift attention from what teachers write to what students actually do with feedback. I will argue for the value of designing feedback processes that support student engagement, response, and learning, and reflect on how generative AI might be integrated into these processes in ethical and care-full ways.

12:30-13:30. Lunch and networking

Lunch and network is provided for in person attendees only.

14:00-15:30. Workshop. Meet the expert! Investigating feedback processes: Exploring methods and designing research in practice

This workshop is in person only,  for University of Leeds colleagues and students.

Join Professor Naomi Winstone for a practical workshop tailored for colleagues developing pedagogical research on feedback. As a leading expert in the field, Professor Winstone will open the session by identifying the essential foundations of feedback research and the critical gaps currently facing pedagogical study.

The workshop will take the form of an informal roundtable discussion. This is a direct opportunity to pitch your project ideas, seek advice on your methodology, and troubleshoot your research design in a small-group setting.

About Naomi

Naomi Winstone is Professor of Educational Psychology in the Surrey Institute of Education at the University of Surrey. She is also an Honorary Professor in the Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE) at Deakin University, Australia. She is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a UK National Teaching Fellow. Naomi is a cognitive psychologist specialising in the processing and impact of instructional feedback, and the influence of dominant discourses of assessment and feedback in policy and practice on the positioning of educators and students in feedback processes. Her 2019 book co-authored with David Carless, Designing Effective Feedback Processes in Higher Education: A Learning-focused approach set the agenda for new approaches to feedback policy and practice. Using her research and institutional leadership experience, Naomi works with schools, universities and organisations across the world to embed learning-focused approaches to feedback into practice.