Pedagogical dialogue and feedforward with large classes in a teacher education programme in Ireland

Improving the students’ learning experience is closely connected with the promotion and implementation of an assessment strategy whose effectiveness relies on the quality of the formative aspect. In some contexts, such as large cohort groups there may necessarily be greater reliance on written rather than in-person feedback and this may hinder dialogue (Nicol, 2010). Assessment can promote or hinder learning and it is therefore a powerful force to be reckoned with in education. The literature on assessment makes it quite clear that assessment shapes and drives learning in powerful, though not always helpful, ways (Ramsden, 1997). This paper echoes Trigwell and Prosser’s (2004) view that learning may not be hindered when teaching large classes if appropriate qualitative approaches are implemented. This challenges Cuseo’s (2007) view about surface and deep learning (Marton and Säljö (1976) when teaching larges classes.