Since the start of the EMA Programme we had been aware of student feeling surrounding online submission, feedback and grading but we wanted to carry out a piece of work to find out much more. We really wanted to know about student expectations before they came to Reading, their experiences of online assessment while they were here and how they feel that these experiences have impacted on their learning, engagement and overall levels of satisfaction. So we designed a short student evaluation and, with the help of our Academic Partners and other colleagues, distributed it in a number of teaching sessions across a range of schools.

What started off as a relatively small scale study quickly grew……and grew….. so that in total we received 407 completed evaluation forms from students in all years across most schools. Reading the student responses and comments has been fascinating and we’ve included some of the findings below:

  • 69% of responders had submitted work online or received feedback electronically before coming to the University
  • 74% of responders expected that most of their assessed work here would be submitted, graded and returned online before coming to the University
  • 94% were broadly in favour of the University’s move towards online submission, grading and the provision of feedback online
  • 96% found submitting work either ‘easy’ or ‘very easy’
  • 58% said that they were more likely to read their feedback if it was provided online compared to a paper copy
  • 89% of responders said that they were more satisfied with their experience of submitting assignments and receiving feedback online than if the process was done using paper

We will be writing a much more detailed report on the whole range of findings over the next few months but for now, we are very grateful to both colleagues and students who helped us to collect all of the information.