It has been suggested that the prevalence of SET systems is indicative of the universal recognition of student contribution within Higher Education (Kember, Leung, & Kwan, 2002). Feedback on teaching is a crucial part of professional development and feedback from students, as the recipient/co-participant in the teaching and learning process, is an invaluable part of reflective practice (Huxman, Laybourn, Cairncross, Gray, Brown, Goldfinch, & Earl, 2008).

In the evaluation process however, often so much attention is focused on the methods used, and on the distribution and collection of data the consideration of feedback and subsequent changes is often neglected. Development is only possible when the information gathered is reflected upon, and consciously used as part of an aligned set of strategies (Edström, 2008).

Making use of the feedback has a positive impact, not only on the lecturer and the module, but also on the students engaged in the learning process (Theall & Franklin, 2001).

Although there is a documented schism between feedback used for summative or formative purposes (Avdor, 2006; Nasser & Fresko, 2001) information in this section relates primarily to more formative SET, though may equally apply to open-ended items on more summative SET.

Back To Section 5 Continue to Section 5.2