Exploring the impact of feedback on student performance in undergraduate civil engineering

Abstract

ABSTRACT A major focus of teaching and learning in undergraduate civil engineering is the enhancement of student performance. Feedback is vital for the improvement of students’ performance. However, relatively few studies were conducted specifically to establish the relationship between feedback and student performance in engineering education, especially in civil engineering. Also, the impact of feedback on performance has not been explicitly measured in engineering education. The context of two undergraduate civil engineering subjects at a University of Technology (UoT) in South Africa was used in this study to examine whether feedback to students on their work enhances performance, to what extent it improves performance and what kinds of feedback are more influential. Case-study analyses of the performance of students were conducted and a perception survey was administered to the students, followed by relevant statistical analyses. Findings suggested that students’ performance is likely to improve with structured and constructive feedback. Although both oral and structured written feedback were found independently statistically significant with enhanced students’ performance, the combination of both oral and structured written feedback is most influential. This study contributes to establishing the relationship between feedback and student performance and the comparative impact of different types of feedback on student performance.