Feedback: learning it as a skill and method: an interview study with PhD students

Abstract

In their doctoral journey, PhD students gain a deeper understanding of their discipline. At the same time, they develop themselves with the ultimate goal of becoming independent researchers. However, by stepping into the academic world, PhD students also face other duties, which commonly involve teaching and supervising students in higher education. Tasks connected to teaching involve giving feedback with the aim to improve students’ learning. Previous research has mainly focused on how PhD students incorporate the feedback they receive from supervisors and their peers in their educational process, whereas the feedback PhD students give to their students has been overlooked. Therefore, this study aims to contribute with knowledge concerning the experiences of doctoral students in learning to provide assessment feedback to their students in higher education. This study applies a qualitative research approach based on data from eleven in-depth interviews with PhD students enrolled at different stages of their doctoral education. The empirical data shows that PhD students try to connect the feedback they give to their students with improvement of the student’s work and critical thinking on their learning. Yet, in many cases, PhD students also learn how to give feedback by doing it rather than having a formal process to learn it. This study suggests that structured ways of developing feedback skills could be of interest, as well as further investigation about feedback in higher education.