Benefits and challenges of feedback in formative assessment of distance learners

Abstract

Over time, formative assessment seems to be preferred to summative assessment. The reasoning behind this new trend is that assessment should not be primarily a means of grading students’ learning, but a means of enhancing learning. The benefit of formative assessment is the possibility of feedback, which enables students to keep abreast of their strengths and weaknesses, thereby facilitating and enhancing their learning. This study aimed to determine the benefits and challenges students and teachers experience in the feedback process. To achieve this aim, four research questions were raised. The descriptive survey method was adopted. Five students and two teachers were interviewed to obtain data; four-point forced-choice Likert-type questionnaires were used for data collection. The questionnaires were validated by experts, and the Cronbach alpha method of internal consistency reliability yielded .89 and .82 for the students’ and teachers’ questionnaires respectively. Data from a randomly selected sample of 148 students and 23 teachers was collected by well-briefed research assistants. Data collected was analysed using mean, standard deviation and mean per cent. Findings are that students perceive “knowing the content to be learned”, “guidance to improve performance” and “being encouraged to learn” as benefits of feedback, while teachers perceive “planning instructional strategy”, “help sustain student interest” and “understanding of students’ learning progress” as benefits of feedback. Students considered “being anxious about open scrutiny” and “difficulty interpreting feedback” as challenges, while teachers considered “time-consuming” and “maintaining objectivity in scoring” as challenges of feedback. The researcher recommends that in view of the benefits of feedback, it should be an integral part of formative assessment.