Feedback Café study reports useful conversations and barriers to attendance

Updated Sep 07, 2026

Updated, 7 September 2026: We checked the complete paper. The earlier briefing confused eligible cohort sizes with survey responses and overstated evidence for low workload and improved feedback use.

What the evaluation examined

Rebecca Pike, Sheila Amici-Dargan, Xintong Huang and Rose Murray describe a Feedback Café in Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences. Staff and student partners offered drop-in assessment discussions, initially for an hour every two weeks and later weekly.

The eligible undergraduate cohorts were 767 in 2021–22 and 729 in 2022–23. The surveys received 89 and 92 responses respectively, approximately 12% and 13%. Participation was voluntary and anonymous, with no controlled comparison or collection of attainment data.

Students described help interpreting comments and standards, but also vague conversations, unmet needs, timetable clashes and discomfort approaching staff. The authors combined survey analysis with practitioner reflections. Neither positive self-reports nor staff observations establish improved marks or measured workload savings.

Several published percentages do not reconcile with their printed counts. For example, the paper labels 28/38 as 81%; the fraction is approximately 74%. We have omitted those inconsistent outcome percentages. Wider representativeness and suitability for students uncomfortable in public drop-ins remain limits.

Questions for a local pilot

Our suggestion is to define what the session can resolve and where queries about marks or inaccurate feedback should go. Explain the format before attendance and provide an alternative route for students who cannot use a public discussion space.

Track staff and student-partner time alongside attendance and reported usefulness. Ask non-attendees about barriers, and distinguish perceived understanding from demonstrated use in later work. Those measures can inform a local decision without assuming that another department’s experience transfers unchanged.

Our governance checklist supports planning for evidence handling. The study does not test a comment-analysis product or prove that a particular delivery model reduces workload.

Reference

Pike, R., Amici-Dargan, S., Huang, X. and Murray, R. (2025). The Feedback Café – creating opportunities for dialogue between students and staff regarding assessment and feedback. Student Engagement in Higher Education Journal, 7(2). Open paper.