The purpose of the Framework is to set out the University’s expectations for the return of feedback to students on their work, which supplements and helps fulfil the relevant Institutional Principles for Assessment and Feedback.
See also: Institutional framework for the return of feedback to students on their work (PDF, 149kB)
1. Students will be provided with feedback on their work; however the nature of the feedback will depend upon the purpose of the assessment.
Feedback should always be provided on assessment that provides a developmental opportunity within a unit. An exception would be for those ‘final’ summative assessments of learning where feedback will not serve to inform or support future learning for the programme; however it is still considered good practice to provide feedback in order to help students understand their awarded mark.
2. Students must be informed at the beginning of the unit, the assessments they will receive feedback on, the associated date/s on which they will receive the feedback and the form it will take. This information should be provided in the relevant medium (e.g. Blackboard). Some forms of assessment for learning may be devised and set during the course of a unit.
3. Within a programme, staff are also encouraged to discuss with students the chosen approach to feedback, including the ways in which they can best engage with and utilise the feedback in order to develop their understanding of the subject and improve their future work.
4. The date will be set such that the feedback is returned both:
* The University is closed on public holidays, the working days between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day and the first working day following New Year’s Day, Easter Monday and the August public holiday.
The 15 working day limit need not apply for the provision of feedback on final summative assessments of learning, where it will not inform or support future learning within the programme.
5. If a stated deadline is not going to be met, students should be informed as soon as possible, and a new date set by which they will receive feedback on their work. Each school must have a process in place to ensure students are alerted in good time where this is the case and ensure all teaching staff are aware of their responsibilities if a deadline for feedback will not be met.
6. Unit Directors will work with the Programme Director to oversee the provision of feedback as set out above, including the setting of specified dates for returning feedback. Programme Directors are responsible for monitoring across a programme. The pedagogical aims of a unit and the balance of the students’ workload in relation to the delivery of the content should be taken into account, when considering the sequencing of both the assessment submission and feedback return dates.
7. Personal Tutors should consider feedback when they meet with their students as a basis of discussing Personal Development Planning (PDP), particularly at the start of an academic year or following an assessment period.
8. Each school must have a mechanism in place to monitor the operation of point 4 above, managed and updated by the School Office.
9. Heads of School will monitor compliance after each period of assessment and provide a report to the relevant Faculty Education Director, identifying reasons for non-compliance, for those units that are owned by the School. Where necessary, Faculty Education Directors will subsequently report to the Dean and the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Education and Students). The relevant report should also be reflected upon at the relevant review point within the School and followed up by the Faculty Quality Team.
10. Students should be provided the opportunity to raise and discuss the forms and timeliness of the feedback they have received on their work as part of their learning experience at the relevant point/s in the academic year via Student-Staff Liaison Committees or in teaching sessions in order to help refine the provision for future years.
Approved by Senate, February 2017
