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Rubrics are an assessment framework commonly employed in higher education settings; however, students can engage with and perceive them to be used in a variety of ways and with varying degrees of success. The aim of this research project was to explore these perceptions, to better understand how rubrics might be used to support students more effectively to successful academic outcomes. Fourteen interviews were conducted over a period of fourteen months, and four themes were identified: rubric introductions; rubric content (including language and format); student rubric use and the role of rubrics in how work is assessed. Findings were considered from thematic perspectives of the student participants. Conclusions drawn focus on the quality of classroom discussion when rubrics are introduced, the practical application of rubrics as a writing or planning tool, the need for detail and clarity in language use and explicit links between feedback and rubrics. Overall, effective engagement with rubrics appears to reduce student anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article critically examines current conceptualisations of learner feedback agency (LFA) by juxtaposing them against debates and origins of agency to uncover their existing limitations. This examination found three limitations, portraying LFA as a static construct, overemphasising behavioural enactments over underlying deliberations, and presenting a unidirectional influence of structures on LFA. Responding to these limitations, the article proposes a three-fold re-conceptualisation of LFA as (1) situational, highlighting the adaptability of learners in dynamic learning environments, urging a shift from static to situation-specific considerations; (2) deliberative, underscoring the significance of examining learners' thought processes beyond behavioural actions, and (3) entangled, recognising the co-constructive relationship between learners' actions and existing structures, emphasising that learners not only respond to, but also influence structures in feedback. Implications of these perspectives are discussed, challenging prevailing assumptions and advocating for a more robust understanding of LFA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the impact of gradeless assessment on student holistic development in higher education. By examining its influence on learning, motivation and engagement, the research addressed a gap in the literature and aligned with holistic education principles encompassing intellectual, emotional, social and physical well-being. Data from six students and four lecturers in focus groups informed the study, revealing that gradeless assessment could enhance student motivation, engagement, and learning by prioritizing feedback and growth. This highlighted how such an approach fosters deeper learning, risk-taking, innovation, ownership, reflection, collaboration, and creativity. The study proposed strategies for integrating gradeless assessment into current educational systems and practices, offering insights to improve educational practice and policy in higher education and support student learning outcomes and holistic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite their widespread adoption and recognised benefits, rubrics have been critiqued for their potential misalignment with student needs. The voices of international students, who constitute a substantial portion of the higher education population, remain underrepresented. This study examines the perspectives of international undergraduate students on assessment rubrics in a UK business school. Employing a participatory research approach and focus groups, the findings reveal challenges students face related to rubric design, rubric use during and post-assessment, and prior experience with rubrics. This study concludes that enhancing the accessibility of rubrics for international students – via thoughtful design, timely introduction, focused discussions, pertinent activities and seamless integration throughout the assessment cycle – is paramount. The article advocate for more inclusive and effective rubric practices tailored to the diverse needs of the international student body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dialogic peer feedback has been recommended and increasingly used in English as a foreign language writing context, yet the specific effects of peer-to-peer written dialogue about feedback remain under-researched. Using a quasi-experimental design, this empirical study investigated the effects of the presence/absence of written dialogue between the peer feedback provider and receiver on students' provision of feedback, adoption of received feedback, improvements in writing quality, and attitudes towards feedback dialogue across a four-week writing program. The study drew on several data sources including feedback texts, revision texts, a questionnaire survey and monthly reflection journals of forty-one students. Results showed that students involved in the written dialogue demonstrated a generally positive attitude towards it and outperformed those without such a process by generating more accurate adoption, focusing comments to a greater extent on higher-order dimensions of writing (unity, support and coherence), and implementing better revisions. The dialogic process enhanced students' feedback literacy and engagement by improving their understanding of feedback, their linguistic and subject knowledge, and their agentic clarification and negotiation of revisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Responding to calls for partnership among students and teachers in feedback and assessment, this study explores the question: What do students and teaching staff talk about when they talk together about feedback and assessment? We used reflexive thematic analysis to interpret 15 hours of conversation involving 14 students and 22 staff members as they collaborated to redesign feedback practices in eight courses by co-creating a plan for change. The results revealed that participants largely focused on the challenges of feedback and assessment, such as university policy, lack of time and student disengagement. However, when they dug deeper into challenges within their sphere of control, conversations opened spaces for students to actively participate and contribute their knowledge. Students displayed intellectual candour and expanded notions of what counts as feedback to them, disentangling feedback from assessment to advance continuous feedback practices in supportive classroom environments. We argue that both student and teacher feedback literacy can be developed when teaching staff are willing to listen to students but that partnership processes that build and enhance feedback literacies are neither automatic nor straightforward. Further research to understand the conditions that enable partnership to build staff and student feedback literacy would advance collective knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adopting a mixed methods approach, this study examined the relationships between undergraduate students' motivation, engagement and learning outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online questionnaire survey was administered to collect quantitative and qualitative data. A sample of 10,060 undergraduates from 23 universities in China participated in the survey. The results of quantitative analyses largely confirmed the hypothesised relationships between students' motivation, engagement and the two learning outcome indicators (i.e. mastery of generic skills and overall satisfaction). The qualitative analyses not only supported the quantitative findings, but also identified four types of learning outcomes of online learning emerging from the data. The results indicated that emergent online learning had a favourable influence on students' learning strategies, but had mixed or negative effects on their learning effectiveness, attitudes and emotions. The qualitative results revealed eight major factors that facilitated or hindered students' engagement in online learning during the pandemic. These findings contribute to the conceptualisation and measurement of student engagement in online learning, and emphasise the need to conduct mixed methods research in different learning contexts. The implications for improving online learning and teaching in higher education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various studies investigate the effects of learning strategies on students' performance. However, one can see a mixed pattern of the impact of learning strategies on performance. One reason might be that studies often overlook the relationships between learning strategy use and engagement factors. Using panel data and a sample of 299 undergraduate students enrolled in economics and business administration at a midsized German university, this study investigates the role of engagement constructs between students' strategy use and performance in mathematics. The results suggest that memorizing and elaboration strategies drive the students' learning engagement differently, and learning engagement fully mediates the link between learning strategy use and (mathematics) performance. Therefore, it does not matter how students learn but whether students learn regularly and persistently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This systematic review aims to explore how student partnership is enacted in higher education assessment using community of practice and liminality of student roles as the conceptual framework. Forty-three empirical studies were selected, and extracted data were synthesised using thematic analysis. The results show that student partnership occurs in four main areas of assessment – assessment and feedback design, execution and implementation, quality assurance, policy establishment – and that students adopt the role of co-designers, assessors, consultants and decision-makers in assessment partnerships. The analysis also reveals four types of support university staff can provide to facilitate partnerships: essential knowledge, training and coaching, accuracy and quality check and partnership management. Based on the findings, a framework is proposed to elucidate student partnership in assessment as situated learning in a community of practice. The findings of this review have theoretical and practical implications for policy makers, researchers and practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a surge of research interest in feedback engagement in higher education, postgraduate students' engagement with multiple sources of feedback in the context of academic writing is understudied. Informed by the notion of feedback literacy, we explore how Chinese postgraduate students perceive and engage with automated, peer and teacher feedback, as well as the feedback process as a whole, in academic writing. The analysis of 120 students' diaries and ten students' interviews shows that multiple sources of feedback and related activities complement each other in feedback areas (e.g. grammar, content, structure), perspectives (e.g. reader, expert) and depth of improvement to the writing (e.g. from correction to polishing or refinement). We conclude that engaging with multiple sources of feedback supports students' writing and learning. This study adds to the literature by revealing the social, co-constructed, complementary and enabling nature of feedback engagement. The students engage with multiple sources of feedback and related activities internally, externally, proactively, critically and collaboratively in the intrapersonal, interpersonal and human-material spheres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modes of feedback such as audio or video are thought to foster relationality because they humanise feedback encounters. Few studies have examined teacher feedback literacies for relationality. This knowledge gap is significant as students want to be seen by their teachers and for their teachers to express care within the feedback encounter. Teacher feedback literacies are the knowledges, skills and dispositions needed to enhance and sustain a student-centred feedback process. Using a qualitative approach, our research question centred on what teacher feedback literacies and strategies are required to implement relational technology-enhanced feedback. We interviewed 10 higher education teachers with diverse characteristics and identified three teacher literacies for relational technology-enhanced feedback: socio-affective facilitates an awareness to student attitudes toward feedback and teacher self-expression; design empowers a consciousness of the logical arrangement and purpose of feedback to better prepare and engage students; and communication reflects the construction of a deliberate, empathetic message. The implications are for higher education institutions and teachers to consider how the relational can enable the strengths of feedback that can better support and encourage students' engagement with feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National student surveys reveal that feedback is an aspect of the education experience with which students are less satisfied. One method to increase student engagement with their written feedback and to improve feedback literacy is promotion of critical self-reflection on the feedback content. We describe two interventions aimed at improving students' reflective practices with their feedback. In a School of Psychology at a UK research-intensive university, we designed, implemented and evaluated two interventions to improve students' reflection on, and engagement with, their feedback. The first intervention was a feedback seminar, which comprised a modified version of the Developing Engagement with Feedback Toolkit, adapted for our context and online delivery. The second intervention was an interactive assessment coversheet that was designed to promote self-reflection and dialogical feedback practices between student and marker. We provide a summary of the development of these interventions and share evaluations of both components. Overall, our evaluation demonstrated that these interventions can be a useful opportunity for students to engage with their feedback practices and develop feedback literacy. However, variability in student experiences and inconsistencies across markers, despite these interventions, were barriers to success. We contextualise this with our own reflections and end with recommendations for educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conceptualising peer assessment as a dialogue is expected to bring many benefits for learners. However, open-ended dialogue still faces many challenges in learning effectiveness because superficial feedback contents, resistance to critical thinking and distrust of peers' assessments may negatively affect learners' performance in their interactions. This study created regulation scripts for dialogic peer assessment, which not only engaged learners in meaningful dialogues through prompt questions, but also guided them to establish shared goals and monitor their collaboration processes. To verify their effectiveness, a quasi-experimental study was performed with 34 undergraduate students in an authentic learning environment. Learners in the experimental groups were required to exchange feedback information in stages involving case evaluation, group dialogic feedback and individual reflection with the support of regulation scripts, while learners in the control groups completed the same experimental process with general scripts. The quantitative data showed that the experimental groups achieved better development in climate of trust and critical thinking. In terms of feedback quality, however, there was no significant difference between the two groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With a sample of 4,646 undergraduate students from four universities in China, this study examined the psychometric qualities of a newly-adapted measurement, namely, the Online Motivation and Engagement Scale for university and college students, and investigated the characteristics of and differences in Chinese students' motivation and engagement in emergent online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results supported the reliability and construct validity of the measurement, and identified four types of learners with distinctive features of student engagement. The research revealed a complex picture with promising and worrying messages about student engagement in emergency online learning during the pandemic. These findings contribute to the conceptualisation and measurement of student engagement in online learning, and provide insights for improving online learning and teaching during and beyond the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although research on the efficacy of written corrective feedback has received considerable attention in recent years, there is a dearth of research on learner engagement with written corrective feedback. Understanding how language learners engage with written corrective feedback is high on the agenda of feedback research because it provides a broadened perspective that feedback uptake is only one form of engagement, and that engagement with written corrective feedback is influenced by myriad contextual and individual factors. To narrow the research gap, this qualitative research synthesis examines learner engagement with written corrective feedback in English writing contexts through the lens of ecological systems theory and a perception-based framework. Focusing on 14 articles, relevant information was extracted and synthesised following three iterative stages informed by grounded theory to identify common engagement patterns and clarify relationships between factors affecting how learners engage with written corrective feedback. The results reveal the dynamic, contextualised and individualised nature of learner engagement with written corrective feedback. Pedagogical implications for practitioners are discussed to address the lingering issues around learner engagement with written corrective feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers' feedback literacy is a focus of increasing attention in higher education. It may be framed through intentional design decisions, inter-relational aspects of engagement and pragmatic considerations of enacted curricula. Thus, teachers' feedback literacy is connected to both the enacted curriculum and students' relationship to feedback. How these connections take shape in particular approaches to the curriculum, affecting students' roles in feedback and evaluation is not as well-understood. This paper presents findings from an intervention aimed at developing students' peer feedback and self-evaluation skills in an undergraduate business course. Peer feedback and self-evaluation are increasingly common modes of engaging students as active participants in feedback and evaluation processes. It is therefore worthwhile to understand the ways in which these processes affect and link teacher and student feedback literacy. Data was analysed from a 14-week course aimed at developing students' competencies in self-evaluation, peer feedback and teamwork. Results are presented and discussed according to three major areas: how teacher's feedback on student engagement with feedback served as affective 'meta' scaffolding, the trajectory of students' growth in feedback literate self-evaluation, and the relationship of feedback literacy to trajectory of growth in teamwork competencies. The paper concludes with suggestions for further, crossdisciplinarity research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pandemic forced many education providers to pivot rapidly their models of education to increased online provision, raising concerns that this may accentuate effects of digital poverty on education. Digital footprints created by learning analytics systems contain a wealth of information about student engagement. Combining these data with student demographics can provide significant insights into the behaviours of different groups. Here we present a comparison of students' data from disadvantaged versus non-disadvantaged backgrounds on four different engagement measures. Our results showed some indications of effects of disadvantage on student engagement in a UK university, but with differential effects for asynchronously versus synchronously delivered digital material. Pre-pandemic, students from disadvantaged backgrounds attended more live teaching, watched more pre-recorded lectures, and checked out more library books than students from non-disadvantaged backgrounds. Peri-pandemic, where teaching was almost entirely online, these differences either disappeared (attendance and library book checkouts), or even reversed such that disadvantaged students viewed significantly fewer pre-recorded lectures. These findings have important implications for future research on student engagement and for institutions wishing to provide equitable opportunities to their students, both peri- and post-pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the proactive roles of receivers in peer feedback processes is crucial because proactive recipience carries great potential in enhancing the effectiveness of feedback and supporting self-regulated (SRL) and co-regulated learning (CoRL). However, receiver's proactivity has been insufficiently explored and the field lacks a clear understanding of how peer feedback receivers could aid academic self-regulation and co-regulation. This study unpacks the black box through examining different receiver roles in peer feedback dialogue and receiver-triggered SRL and CoRL behaviours in an undergraduate writing course for first-year English majors in China. Data were collected through audio-taped peer feedback dialogue, stimulated recall interviews and journals. Findings revealed a variety of increasingly active receiver roles: respondent, verifier, explicator, negotiator, seeker and generator. Assuming these roles, receivers not only regulated their own learning by self-monitoring works, evaluating the quality of received comments and co-producing feedback but also improved feedback providers' writing and evaluative skills. The study challenges the stereotypical image of passive receivers and argues that receiver proactivity could turn peer feedback into a mutually beneficial learning activity for receivers and providers. Implications for developing receiver proactivity are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engaging students in the creation of learning resources is an effective way of developing a repository of revision items. However, a selection process is needed to separate high- from low-quality resources as some of the materials created by students can be ineffective, inappropriate or incorrect. In this study, we share our experiences and findings in incorporating three approaches for peer evaluation of student-generated content, using an educational technology called RiPPLE which supports learner sourcing of study materials. All approaches asked students to score peer-developed resources, rate their confidence in that judgment and to provide written feedback or justification of their evaluation to the resource's author. The first approach provided no guidance to scoring. The second supplied a simple instructor-developed rubric for scoring. The third utilised a simple data-informed rubric incorporating criteria derived from thematic analysis of students' comments provided in the first two conditions. The analysis of 8,213 evaluations of student-generated content from 813 students shows that the data-informed rubric produced more rigorous evaluations, higher agreement in scores but lower student confidence in the accuracy of their assessments. The analysis of comments shows that students went beyond the criteria supplied in the rubrics and applied their own understanding of resource quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student frustration with the level and content of feedback is well-noted, especially in relation to new or unfamiliar assessment types. At the same time, students are often unlikely to engage with marking and feedback processes, including the use of rubrics or marking criteria before submission. The aim of this project was to build students' assessment and feedback literacy through engagement sessions both before and after submission in two departments at a UK university. Following discussions with students on their perceptions of feedback, assessment-specific marking criteria were developed. Students were provided with an opportunity to discuss these criteria and assess exemplars before submission and then, after return of marks, discussed the helpfulness of the feedback provided. Feedback Studio® was used to provide electronic feedback via comment libraries, general comments and qualitative rubrics. Both staff and students found that the combination of engagement sessions and online feedback was a positive improvement, although questions were raised about the timing and frequency of engagement sessions and students' ability to apply marking criteria to their own work. The conclusions summarise recommendations for the use of timetabled engagement sessions to support students in the use of assessment-specific marking criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The higher education sector is under increasing pressure to deliver more and to evidence the fruits of its contribution to society. There is a particular focus on the enhanced engagement of students in order to maximise success, and for this engagement to be achieved equitably across the student body, regardless of demographic backgrounds. This calls for the sector to increase its capability to enhance student engagement in a targeted manner, and to be able to evidence success. The purpose of this article is to critically review, as a result of trialling, frameworks which offer guidance on the structuring of student engagement activity and/or encouraging behaviours associated with student engagement whether at student, teacher or institutional level. We assess the value of these frameworks in practice by identifying opportunities provided by them, reveal gaps in how they support effective student engagement activity, and identify further work for the sector in plugging the guidance gaps that lead to sub-optimal evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing trend for massification in higher education delivery has contributed to challenges in student engagement and experience. This has been further compounded by the global pandemic, with the sector experiencing reduced financial, staffing and resourcing budgets. The authors identified the delivery of meaningful feedback at scale as a critical emerging challenge. Although models of feedback exist within education, there are few discipline-agnostic frameworks for providing feedback that accounts for first-year education in the context of massification. With a focus on feedback within large-scale teaching and the first-year experience, and drawing on the authors' lived experiences, the paper proposes a conceptual non-disciplinary framework to scaffold the delivery of timely feedback in three stages. The proposed 'strategic framework for feedback at scale' promotes deeper first-year undergraduate students' learning and engagement across multiple teaching contexts through the feed-forward assessment design of automated ongoing feedback, peer-led staged feedback and teacher-led staged feedback. Examples of activities are discussed as well as steps for implementation applicable to tailoring to any discipline setting. Limitations and areas for future research are then discussed, calling for empirical research into the practice and effectiveness of the conceptual framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In two-stage exams, students complete some academic work individually then immediately complete the same work again in small groups. Prior research shows that students perceive the dialogue they engage in at the group stage aids their individual learning. Outcome studies also suggest that engaging in dialogue benefits individual student learning. This investigation takes a different perspective. Learning during two-stage exams is conceptualised as deriving from internal feedback processes, with comparison seen as the mechanism that fuels these processes. To investigate this interpretation, students were asked to write a feedback commentary on their own learning during a two-stage exam. The intention was to make explicit the internal feedback that would naturally occur during the group stage, as students compare their earlier individual performance against the group dialogue and the unfolding group output. Analysis showed that students not only generated content and process feedback but also self-regulatory feedback, and that this feedback was of a higher quality than, and went beyond, the comments the teacher provided. This investigation yields new insights into the nature, scope and power of internal feedback processes, and into how to improve students' learning during such two-stage sequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While much attention has been paid to student engagement in feedback research in academic writing across higher education, few studies have investigated the role of the teacher in promoting student engagement with feedback. This exploratory study examines the impact of teacher pedagogical approach and feedback practices on student engagement with feedback. The study was conducted at a Chinese university over a 16-week semester and analysed students' written assignments, teacher feedback, and semi-structured interviews with the teacher and students. It is found that the teacher adopted a collaborative approach in his class that involved group writing and revising in response to detailed teacher feedback. Through this collaborative approach, the students were able to conduct a wide range of revision operations beyond the word level in their writing. The study shows that the majority of students espoused this collaborative approach because it effectively tapped into multiple dimensions of student engagement, increasing active behavioural engagement, promoting positive affective engagement, and encouraging deep cognitive engagement in the writing and revision process. The study concludes with pedagogical implications for academic writing and teacher feedback practices in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the benefits of peer review on feedback literacy are widely recognised, peer marking tends to be associated with summative assessment, and often dismissed as a legacy from outdated approaches where assessment was used for measuring learning rather than as a means of achieving it. This paper repositions peer marking as a means of developing feedback literacy within a sustainable model of assessment. It presents an illustrative study where formative peer marking was integrated in a first-year distance learning undergraduate module in language studies, using digital asynchronous tools. Student engagement among the cohort (N = 939), as well as students' learning behaviours and attitudes to peer marking, were evaluated through a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. Patterns of student engagement varied, with 41% of the cohort engaging in some way, but only 17% completing all task components. Thematic analysis of student forum discussions reveals that the process of marking and comparing marks did elicit an array of critical evaluation strategies among the latter group. Comments voiced by those students as to the value of peer marking were also positive, though it is also noted that this was a self-selected group. A roadmap for the graded integration of peer assessment across the curriculum is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on contract cheating usually considers most forms of outsourcing combined, although studies have found that students more commonly obtain work from those known to them, rather than from commercial sites; yet little research exists which explores which variables and motivators may be associated with this type of outsourcing. Strategies employed to reduce student interaction with essay mills are unlikely to have an impact on reducing outsourcing from friends or family. Implementation of practical responses requires knowledge unique to the different methods of outsourcing. This paper presents statistical analysis undertaken on an international research population to consider which variables were statistically able to predict university student's engagement in assignment outsourcing from either friends, family or other students. Situational factors, such as knowledge of other student's cheating, and believing cheating is acceptable, were found to have a correlation to self-reported outsourcing behaviours. Individual factors did not show statistical significance in predicting student engagement with outsourcing from those known to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first study year is very decisive in terms of a smooth transition into and engagement with university education. The main goal of this study is to develop a multidimensional model for assessing student engagement and use it with first-year students in a research-intensive university in Finland. Based on theoretical modelling and three-step piloting, an online Nexus self-assessment questionnaire was designed and used to conduct an annual survey of first-year students from 2013 to 2018 in the target university. A total of 1936 first-year students from different disciplinary fields responded. Three different engagement clusters were observed, with each representing a very different student relationship with engagement and learning. Academically engaged students showed a very balanced relationship with academic orientation in terms of their studies and study-related communities, whereas non-academically engaged students revealed tendencies towards certain knowledge-seeking and task-avoidance behaviours. Loosely engaged students seemed to also have a shallower academic orientation and, in addition, a weaker relationship with study-related communities. The three identified engagement clusters were also distributed differently within disciplinary fields. As an implication of the study, the way in which academic teaching and learning communities at the studied institution can benefit from the engagement assessment results and offer more focused support to students is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A successful first year is of vital importance to academic achievement in higher education. How can we identify those students at risk at a very early stage, i.e. even before they have entered university? This study focuses on three pre-university factors, namely academic self-efficacy, self-regulated learning, in terms of autonomous motivation and time-management, and beyond classroom engagement. 2355 Dutch prospective first-year students in the fields of science, humanities and social sciences filled in our survey. Data on first year academic achievement in terms of grade point average (GPA) was obtained at the end of the first year. Prospective first-year students scored high on all of the variables; we found gender-related differences, favouring female students, as well as discipline-related differences. Time management and autonomous motivation were found to be positive predictors of achievement; beyond classroom engagement was a negative predictor of achievement. This paper contributes to the research on first-year academic achievement and emphasises the importance of providing students with personalised trajectories from the moment they enter university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wealth of evidence about the place and value of student evaluations of teaching (SET) exists. Issues highlight often unspoken assumptions about the separation of evaluation from core teaching-learning processes. Despite the research presenting the teacher/institutional viewpoint, few studies address student perceptions of, and engagement with, SET. To examine the converse side of the arguments about SET, this study looked at SET from the perspective of the student. Experiences and perceptions about evaluations were invited from students from two New Zealand tertiary institutions through a questionnaire. The majority of students said that they were happy to provide feedback on teaching and courses, but systems of expectation, imposition on time, lack of knowledge about consequences of the SET system and the way their responses are used are barriers to their engagement. Shifting focus of research from the SET system to the effectiveness of partnerships between students, teachers and institution is suggested as a way to take future SET research in a different direction. This may foreground the positive contribution of SET to learning and teaching rather than repeated exploration of its inherent limitations and weaknesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective use of learning analytics systems has been purported to confer various benefits to learners in terms of both attainment and retention. There is, however, little agreement on which data are meaningful or useful. Whilst measures of engagement might correlate with outcomes, thereby retrospectively 'predicting' them, there are fewer studies which attempt to predict using 'live' system data in a face-to-face teaching environment. This study reports an analysis of week by week data from a learning analytics system which monitored 1,602 first year UK undergraduates. Uniquely, although students could view their own data, no formal interventions took place. Results showed that students who obtained the highest end-of-year marks were more likely to be in a higher engagement quintile as early as the first 3–4 weeks, and that early engagement was highly predictive of future engagement. Students who started in a higher engagement quintile, but their engagement decreased, were more likely to have higher marks than those that started in a lower quintile and then increased their engagement. Early measures of engagement are therefore predictive of future behaviour and of future outcomes, a finding which has important implications for universities wishing to improve student outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing recognition that socio-constructivist representations of feedback processes, where students build their own understanding through engaging with and discussing feedback information, are more appropriate than cognitivist transmission-oriented models. In parallel, practice has developed away from hard-copy handwritten or typed feedback comments, towards the provision of e-feedback in learning management systems (LMS). Through thematic analysis of activity-oriented focus groups with 33 undergraduate students, the present study aimed to explore 1) students' experience of engaging with feedback in the LMS; 2) barriers to students' engagement; and 3) students' perceptions of the potential for technology to ameliorate these barriers. The data reveal particular barriers to engagement created by the LMS environment; grades and feedback are commonly separated spatially, limiting attention to the latter. Additionally, the distributed location of feedback from different tasks limits synthesis of feedback. Nevertheless, students perceived that the LMS environment affords opportunities for addressing such challenges, particularly in relation to the potential for a tool to synthesise feedback information across modules, and to direct students to resources to develop their skills. The findings are discussed in the context of cycles of engagement with feedback, and implications for the principled use of technology in feedback processes are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feedback has a powerful influence on learning. However, feedback practices in higher education often fail to produce the expected impact on learning. This is mainly because of its implementation as a one-way transmission of diagnostic information where students play a passive role as the information receivers. Dialogue around feedback can enhance students' sense making from feedback and capacities to act on it. Yet, dialogic feedback has been mostly implemented as an instructor-led activity, which is hardly affordable in large classrooms. Dialogic peer feedback can offer a scalable solution; however, current practices lack a systematic design, resulting in low learning gains. Attending to this gap, this paper presents a theoretical framework that structures dialogic feedback as a three-phase collaborative activity, involving different levels of regulation: first, planning and coordination of feedback activities (involving socially shared regulation), second, feedback discussion to support its uptake (involving co-regulation), and last, translation of feedback into task engagement and progress (involving self-regulation). Based on the framework, design guidelines are provided to help practitioners shape their feedback practices. The application of the principles is illustrated through an example scenario. The framework holds great potential to promote student-centred approaches to feedback practices in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does attendance matter? This question has still not been answered conclusively. In general, studies find positive but mostly weak correlations between attendance and performance. However, due to technological changes in learning, attendance in higher education seems to lose its importance since students do not have to attend class to get access to course material. The question that arises is whether information on purely descriptive attendance is sufficient to prove the positive effects of attendance on performance. This study takes a closer look at the link between attendance and performance, examining classroom engagement dimensions as mediating factors. The results suggest that it does not matter if but rather how students attend class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Master's students are expected to be self-regulating and independent learners. Dialogic feedback has been identified as one way of promoting such independence. There continues to be concern about the extent to which master's students are achieving this level of functioning. This study aimed to identify feedback practices and contexts which facilitated student engagement and independence. Working with students as co-researchers, interviews were conducted with 27 master's students from three programmes. Activity theory was used as an analytical tool to generate understanding of feedback in the social context of each programme. Findings indicate there can be tension between factors which promote dialogical feedback and those which promote independence, and that active dialogic feedback with staff may limit student engagement with peer feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to determine the mediating effect of learning engagement on the relationship between perceived teacher feedback and college students' academic performance, and the moderating effect of assessment characteristics on the relationship between perceived teacher feedback and learning engagement. A sample of 2,458 students in a university in mainland China was studied. Results indicated that perceived teacher feedback had a positive impact on students' academic performance; learning engagement had a mediating effect on the relationship between perceived teacher feedback and students' academic performance; and assessment frequency, difficulty and diversity had moderating effects between perceived teacher feedback and learning engagement. With the three factors of high frequency, difficulty and diversity assessment, perceived teacher feedback was more likely to improve students' learning engagement. In contrast, feedback without these three factors could decrease or have no impact on students' learning engagement. This indicates that teacher feedback indirectly affects college students' academic performance by promoting their learning engagement, and is more effective when the frequency, difficulty or diversity of assessments is high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The selection of career paths and making of academic choices is a difficult and often confusing task for young people. The impact on their lives, however, is enormous as it can determine entire future career possibilities. In India, a general remedy to this stress is that instead of choosing a field of study tailored to individual preferences and strengths, topics are chosen that align with the choices of the students' families or their friends. This can have the effect of entrenching patterns of intergenerational inequity. The aim of this research is to give students greater access to the knowledge capital which will help them make better choices. This is achieved by engaging students in the career planning process, in order to convey information in a likeable and credible way. The COMPCAT (Competency and Career Assessment Tool) game engine combines the use of learning analytics and real time, interactive computer simulations designed to gain insights into the students' engagement in the making of these complex decisions. This paper presents the conceptual architecture of the game and demonstrates its role in enhancing the learning effectiveness of the students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic self-efficacy, the belief that one can achieve desired academic goals plays an important role in learning. This study aimed to determine the extent to which academic self-efficacy mediates relationships between students' perceptions of feedback and their academic attainment. An opportunity sample of 232 students (123 female) in their first year of higher education reported their academic self-efficacy and evaluated their assessment experience, including the perceived quantity and quality of feedback and the extent to which this feedback elicited an active response. Positive associations were observed between academic attainment and students' confidence that they could achieve their desired grades and adopt appropriate study behaviours. A negative association was identified between attainment and confidence to talk about their studies. Attainment was not related to the perceived quantity or quality of feedback, but did bear a significant association with the reported use to which feedback was put. Positive associations were generally identified between academic self-efficacy and perceptions of feedback. Path models revealed that inter-relationships were best represented by a model wherein academic self-efficacy mediated links between students' perceptions of feedback and academic attainment. The findings highlight the need to incorporate characteristics of the individual into an understanding of student engagement with feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on improving student engagement with assessment and feedback has a tendency to treat all students as if they are the same. Students with lower levels of attainment are generally under-represented within empirical studies and their feedback behaviours are less well understood. The recent drive to improve student assessment and feedback literacy and the move from 'feedback' being information about a task to being a process of understanding and using performance information is a larger conceptual leap for some students than others. In this paper, we consider issues surrounding the transition to new modes of feedback, focussing on what is needed for those who find study difficult and persistently are disappointed by their levels of attainment, to benefit from and take advantage of our feedback pedagogies. We examine literature advocating strategies such as increasing agency, using praise, developing feedback literacy and cultivating a growth mind-set. We argue that students who underachieve may benefit from strong relationships with educators and peers, exposure to feedback rich, low stakes environments, which permit repeated integrations of practice and feedback, and building feedback literacy through peer assessment activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of assessment rubrics in the higher education sector is now widespread in a number of disciplines. Typically, these rubrics are constructed by teachers who also tend to be the main users of the rubrics throughout the grading process. In recent years, questions have been raised about this teacher-directed approach and some educators have begun to explore an alternate approach to rubric construction; that is, engaging students in collaboration with their teachers to co-construct assessment rubrics. This paper outlines the processes employed in a project that investigated the co-construction of rubrics within six different contexts. The project aimed to engage students in collaboration with their teachers to co-construct rubrics which are co-owned by teacher and student. A mixed methods approach was utilized to explore the effectiveness of the strategy. Questionnaires, interviews and focus groups were utilized to gather data from both the teacher-participants and student-participants regarding their experiences of being involved in the study. Findings are presented from the perspectives of both students and teachers, relating their views of rubrics and the activity of rubric co-construction. The paper concludes with recommendations for practical approaches to rubric co-construction and future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To advance the discussion on the validity of student evaluations of university teaching, student ratings of two teaching dimensions - student involvement and rapport - were compared with corresponding observer ratings. Seven potential bias variables were tested with regard to their impact on the students' teaching assessment: three teacher characteristics (first impression, enthusiasm, humour) and four student characteristics (prior interest, expected grades, study experience, class attendance). Bias was defined as an impediment of the students' assessment of teaching on course level. By means of bivariate correlations with course averages and two-level latent moderated structural equations, data of 1,716 students in 80 courses were analysed. Results showed that all three teacher characteristics were genuinely connected to rapport, and even explained variance of the student-rated variable when controlling for observer-rated rapport. The assessment of student involvement was not modified by the teacher characteristics except for teacher enthusiasm, which affected the student evaluation when controlling for observed involvement and, moreover, moderated the relation between the observed and the student-rated variable. For the examined student characteristics, no biasing effects were found - neither on rapport nor on student involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key challenge for feedback practice involves promoting student uptake through the closing of feedback loops. This paper investigates feedback loops by using the concepts of single and double-loop learning to interrogate student responses to feedback. Single-loop learning tackles an identified problem or task, whereas double-loop learning additionally re-evaluates how the problem or task is approached. Evidence from a five-year longitudinal enquiry into four undergraduate students' experiences of feedback is used to analyse feedback loops. Students reported a variety of experiences: failing to engage significantly with end-of-semester comments; short-term uptake within modules which had two assignments; and longer-term efforts at improving their learning strategies. A model of long-term student engagement with feedback is proposed, including single-loop feedback processes, double-loop feedback processes and unresolved learning puzzles. Whereas feedback loops are mainly focused on the shorter-term, it is suggested that feedback spirals represent an alternative way of analysing complex, iterative longer-term learning processes. Implications for practice focus on student self-regulation and the development of student feedback literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on findings from a large Australian research project that explored the relationship between contract cheating and assessment design. Using survey responses from 14,086 students and 1147 educators at eight universities, a multivariate analysis examined the influence of a range of factors on the likelihood that different assessment types would prompt considerations of contract cheating in students. Perceptions of likelihood were highest among students who speak a language other than English at home. Perceptions of likelihood were also higher among students who reported there to be lots of opportunities to cheat, and amongst students who were dissatisfied with the teaching and learning environment. Perceptions of likelihood for certain assessment types were also higher in commerce and engineering than in any other discipline. Overall, four assessment types were perceived by students to be the least likely to be outsourced, however these are also the least likely to be set by educators. The analysis indicates that educators are more likely to use these assessment tasks when they report positively on organisational support for teaching and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quality in feedback processes rests on students' engagement with them. A crucial question is therefore why students do not always engage. Scholars have defined engagement as a social practice, pointing to the influence of context but without explaining its nature. The purpose of this article is to argue that existing approaches without a theory of the social cannot fully explain non-engagement and that a practice theoretical approach may fill this gap. It introduces Stephen Kemmis' practice ontology and demonstrates how a feedback practice can be analysed to explain a weak engagement. The article's contribution to research in engagement with feedback is a new ontology of practice and its methodological apparatus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When response rates on student evaluations of teaching (SETs) are low, inability to properly interpret and use responses from the students who do participate is a big problem. Where does the motivation to participate break down, and where and how does it make sense to invest efforts in rectifying that? In this study, we examined 641 university students' reported behaviours and motivation related to their SET participation. In terms of behaviour, students who seldom or never participate in online SET tools reported a willingness to invest, at most, five minutes in the process, though the majority never even open the online evaluation links when they receive them. In terms of motivation, they significantly differed from students who always participate with distinctly lower levels of: (1) willingness to participate at all, (2) perception of autonomy and competence, (3) meaningfulness, (4) personal value, (5) engagement in others' participation, and (6) understanding of the value of their own participation for others' benefit. Based on these findings, we propose a strategy for increasing future response rates, particularly among recalcitrant students, in order to be able to gather sufficient and reliable results for the work of improving teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While research on peer feedback in second language (L2) writing at university/college level has proliferated, scholars have conducted less research on peer feedback in L2 academic and scholarly writing. Drawing upon multiple sources of data including semi-structured interviews, stimulated recalls, online interviews via WeChat, first and revised drafts of master's theses, peer written feedback, audio-recordings of oral peer feedback conferences and the finalised master's theses, this case study examines how three master's students affectively, behaviourally and cognitively engaged with peer feedback on drafts of their thesis in a Master of Education programme at a Macau university. The findings show that the relationship between sub-constructs within each dimension and the relationships between the three dimensions of student engagement were interconnected in a dynamic and complex way. While there were individual differences among the three students' engagement, their affective engagement could promote or negatively influence their behavioural and cognitive engagement. This study builds our understanding of the multifaceted nature of master's students' engagement with peer feedback. It provides pedagogical implications about how peer feedback can enhance the quality of master's students' academic writing and sheds light on how to guide students to establish scholarly learning communities in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on feedback has focused more on generating feedback rather than on how students use it and implement it; that is, what type of cognitive, metacognitive or affective activity students engage in once they have received feedback. In order to visualize feedback use and implementation, a quasi-experimental study was carried out. Students were randomly assigned to four conditions, in respect of the type of feedback (corrective, epistemic-questioning, suggestive and epistemic + suggestive). This research provides evidence of how students use and implement feedback in online collaborative writing. Findings show that when students received epistemic + suggestive feedback, they engaged in more cognitive and metacognitive activities. With regard to implementation, students who received epistemic + suggestive feedback obtained better final marks. This study highlights the importance of metacognitive activities in online learning, as they play a key role in the implementation of feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feedback is important for student learning; however, research shows that students can have a number of difficulties when attempting to learn from feedback. Based on an in-depth analysis of undergraduate students' self-reported reflection logs, we present findings about students' experiences with oral and written feedback and how they act upon this feedback when a portfolio is the main assessment and learning tool. Our findings indicate that, within our context, students' overall experiences with receiving feedback are positive. Oral feedback was perceived as particularly valuable to the students while written feedback challenged their understanding. We identified four specific actions the students engaged in to create meaning from the feedback: internal feedback, using oral feedback, initiating dialogue and interacting with peers. The findings indicate that the students take responsibility in the feedback process. The findings are discussed in relation to current perspectives on feedback in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student feedback literacy denotes the understandings, capacities and dispositions needed to make sense of information and use it to enhance work or learning strategies. In this conceptual paper, student responses to feedback are reviewed and a number of barriers to student uptake of feedback are discussed. Four inter-related features are proposed as a framework underpinning students' feedback literacy: appreciating feedback; making judgments; managing affect; and taking action. Two well-established learning activities, peer feedback and analysing exemplars, are discussed to illustrate how this framework can be operationalized. Some ways in which these two enabling activities can be re-focused more explicitly towards developing students' feedback literacy are elaborated. Teachers are identified as playing important facilitating roles in promoting student feedback literacy through curriculum design, guidance and coaching. The implications and conclusion summarise recommendations for teaching and set out an agenda for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Answering a call put forth decades ago by the higher education community and the federal government, we investigated the impact of US college coursework on student learning gains. Students gained, on average, 3.72 points on a 66-item test of quantitative and scientific reasoning after experiencing 1.5 years of college. Gain scores were unrelated to the number of quantitative and scientific reasoning courses completed when controlling and not controlling for students' personal characteristics. Unexpectedly, yet fortunately, gain scores showed no discernable difference when corrected for low test-taking effort, which indicated test-taking effort did not compromise the validity of the test scores. When gain scores were disaggregated by amount of completed coursework, the estimated gain scores of students with quantitative and scientific reasoning coursework were smaller than what quantitative and scientific reasoning faculty expected or desired. In sum, although students appear on average to be making gains in quantitative and scientific reasoning, there is not a strong relationship between learning gains and students' quantitative and scientific reasoning coursework, and the gains are less than desired by faculty. We discuss implications of these findings for student learning assessment and learning improvement processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most research on feedback has paid limited attention to the role of disciplines and their relational dynamics. This article addresses this limitation by offering a conceptualisation of feedback as a relational process that emerges through feedback encounters shaped by the educational and professional practices of the discipline. Using data from a qualitative case study of an undergraduate software engineering course unit, it explores the relational dynamics between different elements of the course and how these dynamics matter for the emergence of productive feedback encounters. The findings show that a wide range of productive feedback encounters occurred between students and both human and material sources throughout the course. Feedback encounters were productive when students had the opportunity to navigate the tools and conventions necessary to participate in the educational practices of the course and, by extension, the discipline's professional practices. Different learning activities were characterised by distinctive relational dynamics that provided various opportunities and constraints for productive feedback encounters to emerge. The findings demonstrate the importance of accounting for disciplinary practices and their relational aspects when designing for learning activities that aim to enable students to productively seek out and engage with feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]