Enhancing Assessment Feedback Practices in Accounting Education: issues, obstacles and reforms

[Extract] Good practice in assessment feedback is a process in which students are actively involved and where teacher/peer dialogue is encouraged (Juwah, Macfarlane & Nicol, 2004). Clear, constructive feedback reduces the gap between present and desired performance and is considered to be a jointly owned system that is reflexive, flexible and dynamic. Results of Course Experience Questionnaires show that Australian university accounting students are generally very dissatisfied with the feedback they receive in their courses. The findings of the present study reveal that many accounting students feel that they receive poor quality feedback on their assessment, as evidenced by the most typical form of feedback being only the mark. Moreover, this feedback is often provided too late to be useful to them. A lack of adequate feedback leads to students feeling disempowered. They consider feedback to sometimes be de-motivating and intimidating. These findings point to something of a crisis in feedback quality in the discipline that needs urgent attention.

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