Referents: Also called comparators are critical
There are many possible referents that can be deployed for comparison activities. The common lecturer-generated feedback comments on students’ work is one such referent, but there are
many others.
Drawing from the literature and from the range of practice cases included in this project, here is a non-exhaustive list of possiblereferents that can be used as comparison materials:
• Task instructions/briefing material
• Grading guidelines or rubrics
• Module readings
• Dialogue with peers
• Dialogue with lecturers
• Written or verbal peer feedback comments
• Written or verbal lecturer feedback comments
• Exemplars from the literature
• Exemplars provided by the lecturer
• Observations of performances (live or on video)
• Case studies
• In-class discussion and debate contributions from peers
• Expert accounts/Guest lecturer comments
• Etc.
As multiple sequential comparison enhance the learning benefit,
it is useful to consider how learning designs can deploy multiple
referents, combining appropriate mixtures of close and analogical
comparisons, with referents of different types and different
quality levels (see Nicol, 2020, for some suggestions). In this
context the instructions provided to learners also need attention.
Explicit invitations to compare are important, as are instructions
to explicate the insights that are generated from the comparison
(i.e., the inner feedback).
many others.
Drawing from the literature and from the range of practice cases included in this project, here is a non-exhaustive list of possiblereferents that can be used as comparison materials:
• Task instructions/briefing material
• Grading guidelines or rubrics
• Module readings
• Dialogue with peers
• Dialogue with lecturers
• Written or verbal peer feedback comments
• Written or verbal lecturer feedback comments
• Exemplars from the literature
• Exemplars provided by the lecturer
• Observations of performances (live or on video)
• Case studies
• In-class discussion and debate contributions from peers
• Expert accounts/Guest lecturer comments
• Etc.
As multiple sequential comparison enhance the learning benefit,
it is useful to consider how learning designs can deploy multiple
referents, combining appropriate mixtures of close and analogical
comparisons, with referents of different types and different
quality levels (see Nicol, 2020, for some suggestions). In this
context the instructions provided to learners also need attention.
Explicit invitations to compare are important, as are instructions
to explicate the insights that are generated from the comparison
(i.e., the inner feedback).