FROM HERE TO THERE: STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS ON FEEDBACK GOALS, BARRIERS AND EFFECTIVENESS BY TURNITIN.COM

The process of teaching students how to write is centered around feedback that can guide student understanding of how their writing was received and interpreted. Feedback is essential to writing instruction. In order to provide more effective and engaging feedback, we need to ask: how well do students comprehend and act upon the feedback we deliver to them?

Turnitin conducted a survey with over 1,000 students in the effort of trying to answer this question. This white paper reports out on the results of that survey.

1. What are students’ goals with feedback? (What do they expect to gain from it?)
2. How important do they think it is to their learning?
3. How much do they understand and use feedback? And, what hinders their understanding and use?
4. What types and dimensions of feedback do students find effective?

1. A strong majority (85%) of students “often” or “always” think of teachers as good sources of feedback.
2. 80% of students “often” or “always” expect feedback to help them receive good grades.
3. Over 70% believe it is “very” or “extremely” helpful if feedback identifies their mistakes and uses examples.
4. 60% of students say they are “very” or “extremely” likely to use their feedback if they receive it in the midst of working on their task or immediately after they have completed their task.