Satisfying students needs for timely, informative feedback with the constraints and issues of time, quality and consistency

The role of technology in Assessment, Feedback and Faculty Affordances This poster is a retrospective look at the challenges of providing consistent feedback to students and the role that technology can play in supporting this. The UK’s National Student Survey reports feedback to be a problem area within Business Management programmes and the introduction of £9,000 fees for students has placed further pressure on Academic staff to enhance the quality of feedback on assessments. One pragmatic approach taken is the introduction of electronic marking, to provide quality feedback and create another useful learning tool. Giving consideration to four categories of the management of assessment and reviewing the available options, the use of Turnitin Assignments became the preferred choice of electronic marking software. The use of the Turnitin system including rubric and quick marks allowed for consistency of standards in marking, ensuring integrity in the process and enhancing the quality of results. This was designed to provide specific feedback both positive and developmental and focussed on being student centred whilst being an efficient, easy to use software with a faster method of marking. Feedback from the students about this process was overwhelmingly positive, evidenced in the Module Evaluation Questionnaires (MEQ) with such comments as “useful”, “personal”, “helped me improve”, “quicker (return) and more detailed”. The student response also highlighted advantages of such feedback as being available online and accessible in the student’s own time and being able to re-read and refer to at a later date (e.g. when the next assignment was due), as many students downloaded the report for future reference. Additionally, a small number of students commented on the helpfulness for dyslexic students. A further advantage of this system is the ability to see whom has observed their feedback. This functionality enabled a teacher to direct students to their feedback and use this for more meaningful student reflection through face to face dialogue, building on student learning and reflective practice through a coaching approach. Notwithstanding the student advantages and learning benefits through the use of online assessment marking and feedback through the Turnitin system, it also created affordances for Academic staff and Faculty to gain efficiencies, enabling more focus on pedagogy and transformation of learning. Overall, the use of Turnitin as a system for online assessment provides students and the module leader with a positive experience; in the quality of the formative or summative feedback given, managing multiple markers and ensuring the consistency of feedback and finally Faculty with efficiency and pedagogy benefits. Keywords: feedback, technology, electronic feedback, quality, quality assurance, marking consistency, students, student learning, Higher Education, multiple markers