Do Students Generate Better Self-Feedback by Comparing their Work Against Assessment Criteria or Exemplars?

Having students write their own feedback comments can positively impact their performance. To support these self-feedback productions, teachers usually provide students with information to compare their work against. Recent studies show that both assessment criteria, often in the form of a rubric, and exemplars promote grade improvements in draft-redraft situations. Yet little is known about the differential effects of these comparators on learning itself. The current study investigated this in a peer review setting. Students produced a written research report then one group compared it against information in the assessment criteria and another against information in exemplars. Both groups wrote self-feedback comments based on the comparisons they made. Results show that students produced more high-level process comments when comparing against exemplars while they produced more task-related feedback comments when comparing against assessment criteria. Students’ final grade performance was also better after exemplar comparisons. The implications of using different comparators to promote different kinds of self-feedback are discussed, as is the value of using instructional prompts to target different learning outcomes. By extending the range of comparators beyond the limited set currently in use and through appropriate prompting, teachers can help shift feedback agency to students and reduce their own workload.