ABSTRACT
The primary purpose of tutor feedback in higher education is to assist students in their learning. That is the overriding aim. It is an aim that many tutors hope to achieve by spending time writing carefully constructed feedback on course-work and examination scripts. This particular tutor practice is one that has been carried out for many years in a relatively unchanging fashion. It is a practice that is handed down from experienced members of staff to new recruits and intuitively it seems the right thing to do. The tutor, the expert, feeds back aspects of that expertise to students. Students then, in theory, assimilate that feedback and their understanding develops. However, little is known as to the process by which learning from tutor feedback occurs and the purpose of this chapter is to explore more closely that student learner process focusing on:
the role of social learning; and
the importance of self-assessment.
