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STUDENT ATTITUDES TO FEEDBACK ON CONTINUOUS

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT

By Claire McCann

Ulster University Business School

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Aim and Objectives

•The aim of this study is to consider the underlying reasoning for weak rating results in the National Student Survey on feedbacko Relating this reasoning to the Institutional contexto Gaining a better understanding to help encourage quality

enhancement

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Central Research Questions

•What do students perceive to be good feedback?

•What is important to students in relation to assessment and feedback and are they satisfied in relation to these aspects?

•What is the underlying reasoning for the National Student Survey (NSS) ‘Assessment and feedback’ rating results?

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The National Student Survey (NSS)

•The NSS is a survey which has been conducted annually since 2005oAt HEIs in England, Wales and Northern Ireland

and some, but not all, HEIs in Scotland

•It gathers opinions from mostly final-year undergraduates on the quality of their courses

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NSS Contd.•Final-year students, in final semester of study, are asked to respond to 23 core questions on the student learning experience

A five-item satisfaction/dissatisfaction scaleEight areas:

1. Teaching on my course 2. Assessment and feedback

3. Academic support 4. Organisation and management

5. Learning resources 6. Personal Development

7. Overall Satisfaction 8. The Students’ Union

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One Trend Identified

•The HE sector needs to move from national league tables and key performance indicators towards getting to the root causes of trends identified

•Since the inception of the National Student Survey in 2005 the weakest area for Universities has been in ‘Assessment and Feedback’

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National Student Survey Summary

Scale 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

UU UK UU UK UU UK UU UK UU UK UU UK UU UK UU UK

Assessment and feedback (Q5-9)

61 64 63 65 61 66 62 68 69 70 72 72 73 72 76 73

Overall satisfaction (Q 22)

81 82 84 82 82 82 82 83 86 85 88 85 88 85 89 86

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‘Assessment and feedback’ questions of National Student Survey

Q5 - The criteria used in marking have been clear in advance

Q6 - Assessment arrangements and marking have been fair

Q7 - Feedback on my work has been prompt

Q8 - I have received detailed comments on my work

Q9 - Feedback on my work has helped me clarify things I did not understand

‘

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‘Assessment and feedback’ questions of National Student Survey

Scale 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015UU UK UU UK UU UK UU UK UU UK UU UK UU UK UU UK

Q5 74 69 75 70 72 71 73 72 77 74 81 76 80 77 81 78

Q6 74 74 74 74 71 73 71 73 77 76 79 77 78 78 81 79

Q7 52 53 55 55 53 56 53 58 63 62 65 64 68 69 71 70

Q8 53 56 56 59 56 59 57 62 66 65 69 67 71 72 76 69

Q9 52 53 55 55 55 56 56 58 64 62 68 64 69 67 73 67

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Phases of Study

•Phase one: student focus groups •Phase two: pilot survey•Phase three: revised survey•Final phase: analysis

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Focus Groups

•Assessmento ‘Tell you how badly you are doing … or well’

Student Ao ‘Yes and no, yes in way it shows you your grades

but it doesn’t actually tell you … are you coping like it umm it is hard to explain, it is like yes you got a good grade but does it actually mean that you are gonna do well eventually?’Student A

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Focus Groups Contd.

•Assessmento ‘Yeah, … checking that everyone is in attendance for the

different classes and checking that everyone is at least submitting the work, it’s not necessarily checking that everyone understands what they are submitting’ Student B

o ‘When comes to the actual coursework elements, the weekly homeworks or any groupwork projects that we do those just seem to disappear into the ether and you never really hear anything about them then until the end when you are given a mark.’ Student B

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Focus Groups Contd.

•Formative assessmento ‘Yeah, if it’s to be a little bit more structured, …, just to make

sure what we are learning is, is actually valid and fed-back’ Student C

• A recurring theme has been the relationship between students and lecturers

• The feedback and grade can demotivate studentso ‘We were told at the start of semester 2 that everyone that

failed Managerial Accounting will fail Managerial Finance’ Student C

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Focus Groups Contd.

•Students being clear on lecturer expectations was also importanto Lecturers explaining well, verbally and in written form,

assessments helpedo Prior experiences can impact on expectations of

feedbacko ‘I didn’t understand the assessment and asked, I was

told to read the description’ Student C

•Size of class does matter

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Focus Groups Contd.

•Feedback has got more important as students have progressedo ‘In first-year and second-year you just get your 40%

and you’re in. In final-year you suddenly realise that it was all important’ Student D

•The time management of lecturers can get in way of feedback and it was suggested that the university could give lecturers more time by scheduling less meetings

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Focus Groups Contd.

•NSS questions on feedbacko ‘Same questions we get asked all the time. Feel

like answer questions and nothing changes’o ‘Feedback for the sake of having feedback’o ‘Not the right questions, lecturer oriented’o ‘You could see questions 7 and 9 getting low

scores’

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The Survey Developed

•Themes identified from these focus groups related to:

Assessment and learning; form of feedback; effects of feedback; motivation; and relationships

•A questionnaire was developed around the following areas:

Amount and distribution of study effort; coursework and learning; examination and learning; form of feedback; quantity and timing of feedback; use of feedback on coursework; motivation; and lecturer and student relationships

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The Survey Developed Contd.

•The pilot questionnaire used a Likert scale and a satisfaction & importance scale and contained 118 questions (plus demographic questions)

To ensure a high completion rate the survey was completed via paper copies in teaching sessions

The questionnaire was piloted and completed by 122 accounting and finance students

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The Survey Developed Contd.

•After analysis of the pilot survey data the number of questions was reduced to 102 (taking 15 minutes to complete)

•The questionnaire was completed by 1,788 students across twenty Schools/Departments (all six faculties and four campuses)

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Hypotheses Generated• Students’ perceptions of learning is influenced by level of study,

gender, age, subject, expectations of the assessment process, use of feedback on coursework and classroom activity

• Use of feedback on coursework is influenced by students’ perceptions of learning

• Motivation to learn is influenced by students’ perceptions of learning, classroom activity, use of feedback on coursework and staff-student relationship

• Student satisfaction and importance placed on: coursework and learning, form of feedback, use of feedback on coursework and lecturer and student relationships

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Variables• Level of study• Subject• Gender• Age• Students’ perceptions of learning• Expectations of the assessment process • Classroom activity • Motivation to learn• Use of feedback on coursework• Staff-student relationship • National Student Survey

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Descriptive Statistics

Subject Grouping Frequency Percent

Social Sciences 270 14.1

Professions 958 50.2

Humanities 110 5.8

Sciences 572 29.9

Total 1910 100.0

Level Frequency Percent

4 652 34.1

5 686 35.9

6 572 29.9

Total 1910 100.0

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Descriptive Statistics Contd.

Mean Standard Deviation

Students’ perceptions of learning 4.9994 .84164Expectations of the assessment process 4.9825 .92082Classroom activity 4.9443 .93542Motivation to learn 4.9624 .84817Use of feedback on coursework 5.0741 .86829Staff-student relationship 4.8978 .75084National Student Survey 4.6457 1.24611

Gender Frequency Percent

Female 1,035 54.2

Male 875 45.6

Total 1910 100.0

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Correlations•All the following variables were positively correlated with each other:oStudents’ perceptions of learningoExpectations of the assessment process oClassroom activity oMotivation to learnoUse of feedback on courseworkoStaff-student relationship oNational Student Survey

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Gender Differences•The following variables displayed gender differences:o Students’ perceptions of learningo Expectations of the assessment process o Classroom activity o Motivation to learno Use of feedback on courseworko Staff-student relationship

•No gender difference displayed:o National Student Survey

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Subject Differences•No significant differences between subjects for:o Students’ perceptions of learningo Expectations of the assessment process o Classroom activity o Motivation to learno Staff-student relationship

•Significant difference displayed between subjects for:o Use of feedback on courseworko National Student Survey

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Level Differences

•No significant differences between levels for:o Students’ perceptions of learningo Expectations of the assessment process o Classroom activity o Use of feedback on courseworko Staff-student relationship o National Student Survey

•Significant difference displayed between levels for:o Motivation to learn

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Hypotheses Testing

•Significant contribution made to the prediction of students’ perceptions of learning:oLevel 6oExpectations of the assessment process oClassroom activity oUse of feedback on coursework

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Hypotheses Testing Contd.•Use of feedback on coursework is influenced by:oLevel 6oAgeoSciencesoStudents’ perceptions of learning

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Hypotheses Testing Contd.•Motivation to learn is influenced by:oStudents’ perceptions of learningoClassroom activity oUse of feedback on courseworkoStaff-student relationship

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Satisfaction vs. Importance

•Satisfaction scores for these variables were significantly lower than the importance attached to them:oCoursework and LearningoForm of FeedbackoUse of FeedbackoLecturer-Student Relationships

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Concluding Thoughts

•The relationships we have with students are important to the assessment and feedback process

•Our expectations of what is feedback may not always match to a student’s