Analysis and Appraisal
Role of feedback
Feedback is an indispensable tool for improvement in quality of medical education and clinical practice. It helps learners to reach their potential by making them self-aware of personal strengths and weaknesses, and encourages them to identify steps that could be taken to improve performance through self-reflection (McKimm, 2009; Ramani and Krackov, 2012).
The main purpose of feedback is to give students an insight into their abilities with the intention of bridging the gap between their actual and desired performance (Cantillon and Sargeant, 2008; Ramani and Krackov, 2012). Research has shown that learners prefer feedback that encourages them to reflect on what they are doing and that they are more likely to act on and benefit from this (Hattie and Timperley, 2007). There is strong evidence to suggest that feedback enhances learner performance and learning (Black and Williams, 1998; Hattie and Timperley, 2007).
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The behavioural theory standpoint states that feedback can be instrumental in reinforcing or modifying behaviours (Cantillon and Sargeant, 2008; Ertmer and Newby, 2013). Emphasis is placed on the use of reinforcement as a tool to impact performance. Therefore, informative feedback has a crucial role in learning according to this theory. However, feedback can also have an unfavourable effect if it is not carefully regulated and delivered, resulting in demotivation and a decline in learner performance (Cantillon and Sargeant, 2008). From a cognitive theory perspective, feedback is thought to help learners to restructure their knowledge, alter their performance and to increase their motivation for future learning tasks. According to this theory, emphasis is placed on the role of practice with corrective feedback in learning (Ertmer and Newby, 2013; Hesketh and Laidlaw,