It is widely acknowledged that effective feedback is informative, constructive, specific, non-judgmental, and timely (e.g. Boud & Associates 2010). However, in a time were student numbers are increasing and study periods are shortened, the traditional routes of providing written feedback could affect the timeliness and accessibility of feedback to students. Consequently, it has been suggested that technology can play a role in addressing these concerns and facilitate effective and timely feedback which is easily accessible from any personal computer (Ball et al. 2009). This could potentially advantage students, facilitating their engagement and influencing future academic and professional performance.
This case study initiative was conducted as part of the multi-institutional Y1Feedback project (www.y1feedback.ie), which was funded by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning. We aimed to provide good quality feedback that is accessible to General Nursing students when they are off-campus on clinical placement. These students typically spend half of each semester in college and half on clinical placement. The challenge for lecturers is that by the time assignments are submitted students typically are heading off-campus on placement, making it difficult to access feedback and lecturers.
In this presentation, we will share our experiences and challenges of using Turnitin via Moodle for providing timely and accessible feedback to students. The feedback obtained from our students indicates that while they used a range of technologies to access their feedback, the difficulties they experienced in locating their feedback will be explored. This presentation concludes with recommendations and considerations for future directions.
Ball, E. C., Franks, H., Jenkins, J., McGrath, M., and Leigh, J. 2009. Annotation is a valuable tool to enhance learning and assessment in student essays. Nurse Education Today, 29(3), pp. 284–291.
Boud, D. and Associates 2010. Assessment 2020: Seven propositions for assessment reform in higher education. Sydney: Australian Learning and Teaching Council.