Abstract
ABSTRACTStudent dissatisfaction with assessment and feedback is a significant challenge for most UK Higher Education Institutions according to a key national survey. This paper explores the meaning, challenges and potential opportunities for enhancement in assessment and feedback within the authors' own institution as illustrative of approaches that can be taken elsewhere. Using a qualitative design, a review of assessment and feedback, which included an exploration of students' perceptions, was made in one College of the University. The findings highlighted variations in assessment and feedback practice across the College with dissatisfaction typically being due to misunderstanding or miscommunication between staff and students. Drawing on the review, we assert in this paper that students' dissatisfaction with assessment and feedback is not a 'tame' problem for which a straightforward solution exists. Instead, it is a 'wicked' problem that requires a complex approach with multiple interventions.
Highlights
Widespread student dissatisfaction with assessment and feedback practices in higher education, as evidenced by the National Student Survey (NSS), presents a complex and multi-faceted, ‘wicked’ problem (Grint, 2008)
We report on our findings and recommend several strategic and holistic approaches to alleviating student dissatisfaction with assessment and feedback from the viewpoint that this is a ‘wicked’ problem
Are the results reported nationally, but they contribute to a range of league tables, and more recently to the new Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) and as such, are a key focus for most universities
Summary
Widespread student dissatisfaction with assessment and feedback practices in higher education, as evidenced by the National Student Survey (NSS), presents a complex and multi-faceted, ‘wicked’ problem (Grint, 2008). This reflects a phenomenon occurring in research-intensive universities, and more widely in the UK and internationally. The focus was on the College of Social Sciences, which is one of the four Colleges at the University and comprises five Schools and approximately 9,000 students, of whom 5,000 are undergraduates. The College offers twelve main undergraduate degree programmes, the largest of which is.
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