6.2
Assessment and Feedback
We have already commented on the issue of assessment and feedback in relation to ensuring students are informed of what is expected of them; however, it also affects their learning experience.
6.2.1
The University’s Student Charter states that feedback should be returned to students within 3 weeks of the submission deadline. The Kent Union Satisfaction Survey (2007) suggests that only 73% of respondents actually do receive feedback within this time scale and 33% are not satisfied with the level of detail which they receive on assessed work. These results demonstrate that not all students receive timely and adequate feedback. Some student representatives have raised this issue in their department and several departments responded positively:
A representative from the History Department commented that “essay returns seem to have become faster for the majority of students”
Whilst individual departments do seem to be improving, there are still concerns that not all students receive sufficient support on their assessments and in relation to receiving constructive feedback.
6.2.2
The experience of Postgraduate Taught Students (taken from the postgraduate taught survey 2005, ‘06 and ‘07)
| Assessment and Feedback | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Methods used in the programme of study were appropriate | NDA | NDA | 3.4 |
| Feedback on assessed work has helped me clarify things that I did not understand | 3.7 | 3.3 | NDA |
| Feedback on assessed work has helped meto understand the quality of my work | NDA | NDA | 3.4 |
| Individual/class feedback on assessed work has been prompt | 3.7 | 3.1 | NDA |
| Feedback on assessed work has been given in an acceptable time | NDA | NDA | 3.4 |
It is hard to draw any firm conclusions regarding improvements in assessment and feedback for PGT because the questions asked in the PGT survey have not been consistent over time. Those questions which are comparable to the assessment and feedback section in the NSS would suggest that PGT students are not as satisfied with this area of learning support as their undergraduate counterparts. The scores are also lower than those which PGT students have awarded other areas of the university experience, such as programme information suggesting that this is an area of discontent amongst the PGT community.
This is the true at the Brussels campus as well as at Canterbury; only 50% of respondents in the 2007 PGT survey were satisfied that feedback on assessed work was given in an acceptable time and less than 50% thought that the feedback helped to clarify things that they did not understand*