“They don’t read my feedback!” Strategies to encourage reception and application of course feedback

Giving feedback in university courses allows for the provision of supportive ideas for improvement, elaboration, and/or heightened thinking as students prepare for job factors outside of their university preparation. Feedback (giving and receiving) includes a set of skills that is apparent in any job setting and that can engage people in supporting ongoing personal and professional development. However, in conversations with faculty, many discuss that although they take the time to write or discuss explicit feedback with their students, the students may not read it or if they do read it, they don’t apply the feedback given to future course assignments which can lead to frustration from faculty leading to a ‘what’s the point then?’ attitude. However, with a specific framework embedded into a course that is described, modeled, and then applied with students, feedback can become informative and transformative both during and post-university training.