TY - JOUR
T1 - Undergraduate student perceptions of assessment and feedback practice: fostering agency and dialogue
AU - Francis, Robert A.
AU - Millington, James D. A.
AU - Cederlof, Gustav
PY - 2019/10/2
Y1 - 2019/10/2
N2 - Assessment and feedback practices sit at the heart of education and the student experience. This paper reports on undergraduate perceptions of assessment and feedback in the Department of Geography at King’s College London, UK. Twenty-eight first and second year students across six focus groups provided comments on their understanding of feedback, their feedback experiences, and what they felt could be improved. It was clear that students desired feedback that would help them improve summative performance, but were unsure of how best to use it and consequently had high expectations that led to dissatisfaction. Particular concern was expressed about marking and feedback consistency, and the inherent variation in practice they experienced. Many comments indicated a lack of student agency, which may reflect the power relations that students find themselves in within their community of practice. Finding ways of fostering agency and improving dialogue over perceptions and expectations are suggested to be important steps in improving assessment and feedback practice, and student satisfaction.
AB - Assessment and feedback practices sit at the heart of education and the student experience. This paper reports on undergraduate perceptions of assessment and feedback in the Department of Geography at King’s College London, UK. Twenty-eight first and second year students across six focus groups provided comments on their understanding of feedback, their feedback experiences, and what they felt could be improved. It was clear that students desired feedback that would help them improve summative performance, but were unsure of how best to use it and consequently had high expectations that led to dissatisfaction. Particular concern was expressed about marking and feedback consistency, and the inherent variation in practice they experienced. Many comments indicated a lack of student agency, which may reflect the power relations that students find themselves in within their community of practice. Finding ways of fostering agency and improving dialogue over perceptions and expectations are suggested to be important steps in improving assessment and feedback practice, and student satisfaction.
KW - Assessment
KW - agency
KW - feedback
KW - focus groups
KW - mark inconsistency
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85071486361&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/03098265.2019.1660867
DO - 10.1080/03098265.2019.1660867
M3 - Article
SN - 0309-8265
VL - 43
SP - 468
EP - 485
JO - JOURNAL OF GEOGRAPHY IN HIGHER EDUCATION
JF - JOURNAL OF GEOGRAPHY IN HIGHER EDUCATION
IS - 4
ER -