Feedback goes far beyond the usual insightful moments after exam periods and also applies to tasks and lectures. In addition to lecturers, you can also receive feedback from your fellow students or via online tools. Thanks to this input, the gap between where you stand in a learning process at a certain moment and where you need to go is narrowing. You learn to reflect better and gain insight into bottlenecks and opportunities for growth.

To become better at asking for, receiving and processing feedback, study supervisors at Ghent University have drawn up a Feedback Guide (in Dutch) together with some students.

Catherine Smets (Educational Master Behavioral Sciences - specialization Psychology) was one of the students who collaborated: "As a student I was part of the working group that created the Feedback Guide, and it was definitely an eye-opener for me to see the different facets of feedback clarified so concretely. As a student, you can make your feedback moments more meaningful by being prepared, actively listening, formulating actions,..."

Feedback is a continuous thread in your learning journey. It gives you input on progress in a particular task, in a specific process or in your (learning) behaviour.

Catherine Smets: "Students often don't know when they will receive feedback, which leads to the perception that they receive little feedback. But that's not actually the case. At Ghent University, feedback is much more than looking at your exam on an individual basis after the exam period. Giving feedback is sometimes contained in minimal efforts; it doesn't always have to be something big. For example, a discussion of common mistakes in class, or a self-test on Ufora. These too are forms of feedback that can make a big difference to students."