What do students think of feedback at university?
Providing students with good feedback is at the top of any lecturers list and it is important to ensure that the feedback given to students is useful and of good quality. ‘Assessment and Feedback’ is an area where students are consistently unsatisfied. In 2016, ‘Assessment and Feedback’ was scored as one of the lowest categories at 74% in the National Student Survey for the UK.
Whilst universities strive towards giving their students better feedback, it seems they are yet to find an efficient and productive way of doing so which is having an effect on student’s overall experience with their education.
So why is it that satisfaction with feedback is rated so low by students? Delivering feedback without a digital system is time consuming and it can be hard to know if the feedback you are giving is useful to your students. But, by using a digital exam system this process becomes easier, quicker and much more efficient as well as personalised to the individual learner.
Providing personalised feedback with digital exam management software
With digital exam software like Maxexam you can determine what type of feedback you want to give. You can choose to map questions in an exam to the particular learning outcomes which means that each student can see exactly which areas of the curriculum they are performing well in and know which knowledge and skills areas they need to improve on.
Providing timely feedback
We all know the pain of waiting to get results; some students have to wait months for feedback and are left worrying and agonising over their potential grades. With a digital exam system, this time can be reduced significantly because the feedback is automated. This means that students can start putting that feedback into action straight away so are better prepared for their next exam or assignment.
What feedback is important to your students?
A digital exam system like Maxexam offers a wide range of feedback so it is important to recognise what type of feedback will encourage your students to further their knowledge and skills as well as helping to reveal any misconceptions they have. Giving the wrong type of feedback to a student can be just as bad as giving no feedback at all. To understand what type of feedback is most important for students Gibbs and Simpson identified 11 areas or ‘conditions’ of feedback that worked to promote student learning, of which 7 were pinpointed as being most effective in ensuring students continued the learning process.
Providing these types of conditions is much easier with a digital exam system, and the management of feedback becomes a much smoother process through the ability to see what kind of feedback has been given and when it has been delivered.
Make giving feedback quicker and easier for yourself
With a digital exam management system like Maxexam you and your students can benefit from the ease and speed at which feedback is processed. If you would like to learn more about providing quick and simple personalised feedback for your students get in contact with us at info@maxinity.co.uk or alternatively fill in our contact form.
To find out how Maxexam has improved feedback at the University of Nottingham, take a look at our case study here.
