For a number of years, students and course reps have often said that the feedback they receive on their work isn't good enough.
Because feedback is such a contentious issue, the first discussion we will be having will be ‘Is your feedback good enough? Join the debate on facebook now.
Feedback facts:
- One third of students across the UK are unhappy with assessment and feedback. The National Student Survey (NSS) 2007 shows students who defined their ethnicity as ‘Asian’ or ‘other’ are 6 per cent less satisfied with feedback and assessment than their peers who defined themselves as ‘white’;
- a recent NUS/HSBC Student Experience Survey revealed that only 25 per cent of students said they received verbal feedback, while 72 per cent expressed a preference for this mode;
- 55 per cent receive feedback within three to four weeks; however 25 per cent of respondents said that it takes five weeks or more to receive feedback from coursework. In addition, variability appears to be a significant issue, as 18 per cent of respondents answered that it was impossible to say as it varies so much.
Should you take action?
It’s clear that feedback is a national problem, but is it a problem for students on your course? You can work this out by thinking about the following:
- Have students raised any issues recently to do with the feedback on their assessed work – have look at the past committee reports;
- read through the NUS Feedback Amnesty Briefing on what NUS thinks good feedback should be. Would you say that the feedback on your course consistently reflects these criteria? For example, would students like feedback on their exam papers, or does feedback take a long time to be given to students on your course? Is the feedback clear, concise and unambiguous?
- look at what final year students thought on your course of study last year on the NSS. You can search for this information on unistats;
- ask for access to module or course evaluation questionnaires to help you get an idea of what students are thinking about this issue;
- set up a thread on facebook, design a survey, poll or petition or send an email out to other students to gauge their feelings on this subject.
How you can help improve feedback
NUS has talked with students, reps and students’ unions officers nationally to find out exactly what students want and should reasonably expect in terms of feedback, including 10 principles of good feedback. Read the NUS Feedback Amnesty Briefing to find out more.