Is Feedback a Waste of Time? The Students’ Perspective

Abstract

While it is commonly recognised that tutor feedback is central to student learning, a number of scholars and practitioners in higher education hold that tutor feedback is a waste of time because students are only interested in grades. Based on the results of a survey on 206 students at Aston University, this study finds that students are receptive to tutor feedback and act on it. It also discovers that the quality of tutor feedback and the guidance on how to use tutor feedback students have received significantly encourages them to act on it and enhances their learning in general. These findings have two significant implications. First, instead of assuming that students are indifferent to their feedback and, consequently, failing to give them sufficient feedback, tutors should take time and make the effort to offer them useful feedback. Second, to increase student reactions to their feedback, they should give students advice on how to use it.