The Conscientious Consumer: Reconsidering the role of assessment feedback in student learning

This article reports the initial findings of a 3-year research project investigating the meaning and impact of assessment feedback for students in higher education. Adopting aspects of a constructivist theory of learning, it is seen that formative assessment feedback is essential to encourage the kind of 'deep' learning desired by tutors. There are a number of barriers to the utility of feedback outside the sphere of control of individual...