Type of feedback that is most valuable | How feedback is used by students | Effectiveness of current feedback systems | Trial an alternative feedback system |

"Thought back to my essay writing process. Kicked myself for missing on some fairly obvious mistakes."

"I sat down and analysed what was said about my essay. I then went and read over my work seeing where I went wrong, and what I can possibly change in future essays."

"I don't actually remember. I was probably working on another assessment."

"Breathed a sigh of relief, and made a note of what I need to pay more attention to in future essays."

"Good to receive comments on how I performed without a mark as it gave me an idea as to how I would go overall."

"I thought the comments weren’t as important as the mark. I didn’t read through them until days later
I wanted to know my mark straight away."

"I began to think what the mark would be in line with the feedback. Forced me to read the feedback and not just look at the mark."

"Thought about how true the statements were. Wondered how this would reflect in a mark."

"I read over the feedback a couple of times to ensure I fully understood what the marker was saying."

"I quickly looked at my essay, and then filled out this survey."

"I absolutely hated it. For me, I read the comments anyway and use them to better write future essays. Just being able to see the comments was frustrating because the comments and the grade are linked. Seeing one and not the other just stressed me out because I wasn't sure how the comments justified the grade because I didn't know what my grade was. This whole process was very frustrating and added an entire element of stress that is not necessary in giving feedback."

"I was quite discouraged, although I did realise the essay wasn't great. However, I thought the comments were helpful."

"I was extremely pleased with the overall, positive vibe of the comments I received. However, they were not very indicative of how I went overall. The comments were brief so it was difficult to get an accurate idea of how I went."
"I thought it was incredibly thorough. I could see that my writing could do with a lot of improvement. I was disappointed with the errors I made but in the same light, I wouldn't notice them if it wasn't for the feedback. This kind of feedback is actually very beneficial."

"I felt stressed and nervous after reading the comments and not knowing what I got."

"It was good to see in writing what I needed to improve on."

"Happy to receive at least comments so quickly. The longer between submission and comments/marks the less I will look at comments and am more likely to lose interest/care factor."

"I am someone who likes constructive criticism, so I felt good especially knowing my lecturer thoroughly read it."

"Continued life as normal."

"Formulated a quantitative mark in my head."

"Reviewed the marking rubric to estimate a mark."

"Worked out whether any of the comments will help me improve on my next assignment … they didn’t really."

"Went and talked to friends about our comments."

"I completely agreed with the comments that my essay lacked depth. I felt exposed as I realised that the marker really read my essay in great depth to provide these specific comments. I immediately new that my marks for the essay would be less than what I originally thought."

"Discouraged - overall comments were quite negative. I wondered what my mark was. I thought I had adequately covered the topic within the word count."

"A little angry, but it may be correct."

"Focus less on the journey and planning of the essay, and spend more time being critical of the finish product because that is what is being pulled apart, not my work along the way."

"I want to keep a copy of my assignment in order to refer back to these comments when I come to do a similar assignment. I also plan to do a self-evaluation based on these comments in order to see where I can improve in the future (i.e. strengths and weaknesses)."

"Although the feedback was valuable to determine what was done adequately or poorly, I felt there isn't a lot of value in applying this to other assessments because of the specificity of this particular essay. I believe more value would be gained if there was a second essay where this learning could be applied."

"I plan to use the qualitative feedback more because it’s there to help us get better grades and understand assessment."

"The rubric told me which areas are my weakness. Not necessarily the comments. Feedback that guides you on how to improve on the next task would be beneficial."

"To reflect and use for other assignments."

"Although it takes longer to give qualitative feedback, I think it is more effective to give us comments instead of just a number as it allows us to understand where we went wrong and how to improve."

"I didn't find the feedback very helpful for future learning."

"I know by this stage in my educational journey what a good essay requires and I know that I couldn't put the required work into this essay for great marks. So I already know how to improve on this essay for next time, and the qualitative feedback confirmed this accurately."

"Re-read through qualitative feedback and assessed how the two corresponded."

"I read the feedback, sat there for a bit and then carried on with my life. If I sat there too long it would have gotten to me."

"A bit relieved, as the marks were better than I thought."

"That it didn’t match my qualitative feedback."

"Appreciated the fact that I now had a final mark and that it reflected the comments received previously."

"It was nice to see exactly what I received however I like the comments to be there as well."

"I thought that I did better than I was expecting as the comments on my essay were not very positive."

"Re-read the comments made."

"I felt very happy and satisfied with the mark I was given as a reflection of how I went, which was MUCH better than I thought I did."

"I was happy. It matched up with the qualitative feedback and I got the mark I was hoping for and the mark I felt I deserved."

"I was happy with what I received. I did find that the time difference between receiving the qualitative and quantitative feedback was too long. Having received the qualitative feedback I was comfortable with the grade I would receive and felt that waiting for the actual mark ended up being counter productive. I ended up wasting time procrastinating while anxiously waiting and almost hourly refreshing Moodle and my mail in the hope that my feedback would arrive. Please don't subject people to this in future. If you do insist on repeating this process in future assessments please provide the quantitative feedback a day or two later at most."

"I was a bit disappointed but I wasn’t too surprised."

"I felt relieved to pass, and the worry and stress was over, waiting for the mark."

"I felt normal as I already had an idea of the mark from the comments."

"Annoyed, I was not sure why I got that mark.

"I felt pretty upset. I still passed, however I thought I did quite well."

"I read through my assessment again and try to understand my mark."

"I put my mark into my phone and turned it into a percentage then worked out whether it was a credit, distinction etc."

"I went back to the qualitative feedback and read through the feedback. I don’t care about the qualitative feedback at first, I always just want to see the mark, then read the qualitative feedback."

"I went and watched an episode of my favourite TV show, I was happy the assignment was over and celebrated!"

"Pleasantly surprised on the mark. Based on the qualitative feedback, I thought the mark would be lower."

The comments seemed to focus on the top 3 criteria, not the bottom 4 at all."

"Happy with that. Felt it was similar enough to what I thought."

"I want to aim to achieve similar grades in future assessments. For me, this quantitative feedback will become a benchmark."

"I plan to take this on board. The mark I received made me align the comments with my work and all the mistakes I made. I know what to look out for and I am aware of significant and repetitive mistakes that I make."

"I don't know. The quantitative doesn't necessarily help you in any way except giving you a tangible scale as to how well you performed."

"Double check making rubric."

"I don’t find a number grade really effective when it comes to helping me apply and improve. It’s good to know but it gives me no idea what I could do better or what I did well."

NB: Many students interpreted this statement to mean how they would use these strategies as a teacher in a classroom.

"Ensure that I take more care when proof reading assignments. I may need to read them out loud."

"Gives me confidence in my referencing abilities."