Student agency in feedback: beyond the individual

Abstract

Student agency is often mentioned as a key feature of feedback practices. Commonly, the concept of agency is used to refer to students' active role in the process of seeking, receiving, generating and acting upon feedback information. However, the notion of what student agency means is often taken for granted and rarely elaborated. The feedback literature has also mainly focussed on agency within individualised and psychological paradigms of feedback. In this paper we argue that a more sophisticated view of students' role in feedback processes is needed. We identify four theoretical frameworks of student agency that reach beyond the individual -ecological, authorial, sociomaterial and discursive -as well as the implications of each of these frameworks for feedback. We further argue that a deeper understanding of student agency is vital in the 'new paradigm' of learner-centred feedback. The paper serves as a basis for future empirical studies on feedback practices to adopt a more nuanced understanding of student agency.

Developing feedback literacy in physiotherapy students: a pilot study

“…In fact, this observation is described by Nieminen et al (25) as the ecological perspective of the theoretical framework of student agency of feedback literacy. The framework describes four perspectives that in uence students' active role in seeking, obtaining, creating and acting on feedback.…”

“…The participants mentioned a number of times in the focus group that trustworthiness, credibility and competence of the teacher encourage their practices of feedback. Rapport is another element stated in the ecological perspective of the theoretical framework of student agency of feedback literacy, in particular, the judgement on contextual appropriateness in terms of the relational aspect (25). The participants might have subconsciously evaluated their relationship with the workshop facilitator throughout the workshop.…”

What affordances do open-ended real-life tasks offer for sharing student agency in collaborative problem-solving?

“…As "agency" is not a universal concept but should be defined situationally (Matusov et al, 2016), we conceptualise the term in relation to mathematical CPS. In recent years, there have been multiple calls for applying sociocultural frameworks to examine student agency to challenge the dominant individualistic approaches (Arnold & Clarke, 2014;Nieminen et al, 2021;Nieminen & Tuohilampi, 2020). Following these suggestions, agency in this study is understood as a situationally constructed phenomenon, not as a student attribute but as a social phenomenon constructed through language and practices; this is a widely shared understanding in the field of mathematics education (Boaler & Greeno, 2000;Gresalfi et al, 2009;Mueller et al, 2012;Wagner, 2004Wagner, , 2007.…”

“…Broadly, agency is demonstrated when students take initiatives and make contributions during mathematical collaboration (Gresalfi et al, 2009;Mueller et al, 2012). Student agency is widely advocated in current educational research (Matusov et al, 2016), yet the paradoxical nature of "promoting someone's agency" (Nieminen et al, 2021) in mathematical CPS remains understudied (Nieminen & Tuohilampi, 2020). Enactments of agency are complex; students might exert agency by resisting teachers' intentions by, for example, choosing to disengage from the task at hand (Alrø & Skovsmose, 2003;Emirbayer & Mische, 1998).…”

Digital student agency: Approaching agency in digital contexts from a critical perspective

“…Defining student agency is by no means straightforward because student agency has been conceptualised in various ways within higher education literature (Nieminen et al, 2021). In constructing the outset of this research, this paper draws on the frameworks typically adopted in higher education research (Jääskelä et al, 2016;Klemenčič, 2015).…”