Feedback on assessment: students’ perceptions of quality and effectiveness

Abstract

This paper investigated students’ perceptions of written assignment feedback. In the first study students (n = 57) reflected on the feedback they had received on a range of assessment tasks and described aspects of helpful and unhelpful assessor comments. A content analysis of student descriptions was undertaken to identify the domain of criteria students reported using to evaluate the quality of written feedback provided on assessment. In the second study a questionnaire was developed to reflect the aspects of students’ evaluation of assessment feedback. Factor analysis of students’ (n = 277) ratings revealed three dimensions in the structure of their perceptions of marker feedback: developmental, encouraging and fair feedback. While all feedback dimensions were positively correlated with ratings of effectiveness, developmental feedback was most strongly associated with students’ evaluations of effective assessment feedback.