Supporting learners’ agentic engagement with feedback:a systematic review and a taxonomy of recipience processes

Much has been written in the educational psychology literature about effective feedback and how to deliver it. However, it is equally important to understand how learners actively receive, engage with, and implement feedback. This article reports a systematic review of the research evidence pertaining to this issue. Through an analysis of 195 outputs published between 1985 and early 2014, we identified various factors that have been proposed to influence the likelihood of feedback being used. Furthermore, we identified diverse interventions with the common aim of supporting and promoting learners' agentic engagement with feedback processes. We outline the various components used in these interventions, and the reports of their successes and limitations. Moreover we propose a novel taxonomy of four recipience processes targeted by these interventions. This review and taxonomy provide a theoretical basis for conceptualizing learners' responsibility within feedback dialogues and for guiding the strategic design and evaluation of interventions. Receiving feedback on one's skills and understanding is an invaluable part of the learning process, benefiting learners far more than does simply receiving praise or punishment (Black & Wiliam, 1998 Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998). Assessment and classroom learning. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 5, 7–74. doi:10.1080/0969595980050102[Taylor & Francis Online]; Hattie & Timperley, 2007 Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77, 81–112. doi:10.3102/003465430298487[CrossRef], [Web of Science ®]). Inevitably, the benefits of receiving feedback are not uniform across all circumstances, and so it is imperative to understand how these gains can be maximized. There is increasing consensus that a critical determinant of feedback effectiveness is the quality of learners' engagement with, and use of, the feedback they receive. However, studies investigating this engagement are underrepresented in academic research (Bounds et al., 2013 Bounds, R., Bush, C., Aghera, A., Rodriguez, N., Stansfield, R. B., & Santeen, S. A. (2013). Emergency medicine residents' self-assessments play a critical role when receiving feedback. Academic Emergency Medicine, 20, 1055–1061. doi:10.1111/acem.12231[CrossRef], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®]), which leaves a “blind spot” in our understanding (Burke, 2009 Burke, D. (2009). Strategies for using feedback students bring to higher education. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 34, 41–50. doi:10.1080/02602930801895711[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®]). With this blind spot in mind, the present work sets out to systematically map the research literature concerning learners' proactive recipience of feedback. We use the term “proactive recipience” here to connote a state or activity of engaging actively with feedback processes, thus emphasizing the fundamental contribution and responsibility of the learner (Winstone, Nash, Rowntree, & Parker, in press Winstone, N. E., Nash, R. A., Rowntree, J., & Parker, M. (in press). ‘It'd be useful, but I wouldn't use it’: Barriers to university students' feedback seeking and recipience. Studies in Higher Education. doi: 10.1080/03075079.2015.1130032[Taylor & Francis Online]). In other words, just as Reeve and Tseng (2011 Reeve, J., & Tseng, M. (2011). Agency as a fourth aspect of student engagement during learning activities. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 36, 257–267. doi:10.1016/j.cedpsych.2011.05.002[CrossRef], [Web of Science ®]) defined “agentic engagement” as a “student's constructive contribution into the flow of the instruction they receive” (p. 258), likewise proactive recipience is a form of agentic engagement that involves the learner sharing responsibility for making feedback processes effective

Perceptions of HIV cure research among people living with HIV in Australia

Participation in HIV cure-related clinical trials that involve antiretroviral treatment (ART) interruption may pose substantial individual risks for people living with HIV (PLHIV) without any therapeutic benefit. As such, it is important that the views of PLHIV are considered in the design of HIV cure research trials. Examining the lived experience of PLHIV provides unique and valuable perspectives on the risks and benefits of HIV cure research. In this study, we interviewed 20 PLHIV in Australia about their knowledge and attitudes toward clinical HIV cure research and explored their views regarding participation in HIV cure clinical trials, including those that involve ART interruption. Data were analysed thematically, using both inductive and deductive coding techniques, to identity themes related to perceptions of HIV cure research and PLHIV’s assessment of the possible risks and benefits of trial participation. Study findings revealed interviewees were willing to consider participation in HIV cure research for social reasons, most notably the opportunity to help others. Concerns raised about ART interruption related to the social and emotional impact of viral rebound, including fear of onward HIV transmission and anxiety about losing control. These findings reveal the ways in which PLHIV perspectives deepen our understanding of HIV cure research, moving beyond a purely clinical assessment of risks and benefits in order to consider the social context

The historical context of Australia's oral health

AIHW cat. no. DEN 165. "Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health, The University of Adelaide Australia

Harm reduction and HIV-prevention among injecting drug users in Australia: an international comparison

In response to the threat of HIV transmission via drug injection with shared needles, Australia developed a needle and syringe exchange program that became one of the most comprehensive in the world. Originally health professionals and pharmacists were given the responsibility of implementing the program. However, community-based AIDS organizations were soon also funded to distribute sterile injecting equipment, alcohol swabs, puncture-proof disposable containers, condoms, and safe sex information. Nearly all of the programs operated on a no-need-for-exchange basis, during hours and from outlets (both fixed and mobile) that were convenient for users. Their success in preventing the widespread transmission of HIV among injecting drug users was demonstrated in international studies that found a large discrepancy between the rates of HIV infection in cities with, and without, needle and syringe exchange programs, and was reflected in the continued low level of HIV infection among injecting drug users in Australia. Australia’s success in preventing HIV transmission among drug users suggests the merits of the “harm reduction” approach to controlling drug use as well as funding community- based needle and syringe exchange programs

Bad Blood: The Contamination of Australia's Blood Supply and the Emergence of Gay Activism in the Age of AIDS

Paul Sendziu

The homosexual lifestyle hypothesis and the social construction of knowledge about AIDS

Paul Sendziu

If we build it, will they come? Saving the history tutorial and rethinking assessment

As teaching programs in university history departments strain under the pressure of increasing class sizes, diminished budgets and fewer staff, savings in time and money have been sought by reducing the number of tutorials offered to students. Charting the history of one university’s attempt to make cuts to the humanities tutorial program, this article critiques the arguments used to justify such measures, and mounts a defence of the tutorial system, although not of the way in which students have been traditionally assessed and taught. It argues that if tutorials are to be saved and they are to enliven student learning, teacher-historians need to rethink the way in which they assess students and organise their teaching activities.Paul Sendziu

Forgotten people and places: 'Stalin's Poles' in Persia, India and Africa, 1942-50

Often overlooked in histories of displaced persons (DPs) who came to Australia after the Second World War are those who suffered Soviet rather than Nazi aggression, and who found salvation in DP camps outside of Europe. This article addresses this relative neglect by exploring the fate of Polish citizens who were deported to the Soviet Union during the war and spent up to eight years in DP camps in the Middle East, India and Africa before arriving in Australia. These camps provided a level of security and physical, psychological, and moral rehabilitation that historians argue was largely absent from the European DP camps after the war.Paul Sendziu

No convicts here: reconsidering South Australia's foundation myth

Paul Sendziu