LAUSR

We do not do feedback well, although we know it affects learning. Feedback has traditionally been considered unidirectional with the student expecting the teacher to give feedback (and tell them what they have done wrong). Dismayed at medical students’ low rating for feedback, despite high ratings for Child and Adolescent Health teaching overall, University of Sydney academics introduced a brief (30 min) feedback training workshop immediately before the paediatric rotation. The workshop aimed to broaden students’ understanding of the feedback process and improve their capacity to seek, recognise, evaluate and utilise feedback. Participation was initially voluntary, but the 11 students who volunteered in the first cohort reported more feedback seeking behaviours than their 19 peers so the workshop was implemented for all of cohort 2 (n = 58) and cohort 3 (n = 68). The workshop improved student satisfaction with end-of-term feedback significantly in participating students (P = 0.003), but not in non-participating students from cohort 1. Participating students felt the workshop enabled them to have a more active role in the feedback process, and their expectations changed to seeking more feedback and to more selffacilitated self-appraisal. Student agency in the feedback was modified by teacher factors, such as perceived level of engagement, and by contextual constraints, such as time and availability. This study has potential implications for all teachers and all students. Reference