There will almost always be a number of students who are reluctant to actively contribute in face-to-face learning situations because they are shy or are culturally concerned about potential loss of face. Audience Response Systems (ARS) are part of a technology that, principally through its feature of anonymity, offers the opportunity for all students to safely contribute in face-to-face learning situations via individual keypads. Greater feedback from a group of learners poses benefits for both learner and teacher. For the teacher it can help identify areas where student understanding may be weak or incorrect and thus allow appropriate feedback to be applied. For the learner it allows them to see how fellow students are coping and to gauge their own relative performance. This paper reports on the use of an ARS with a group of students in Hong Kong studying a second year undergraduate decision support course. The ARS was used to provide process support for a revision session that explored decision support systems (DSS) and decision making and also to gather some details about the students as a population of learners.
[Copyright of Australian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ascilite) at http://www.ascilite.org.au]

This study describes the use of a metacognitive approach for self-assessment of teacher education students. The design of the study was guided by the principles of learning-oriented assessment and the centrality of reflection for teachers. The study comprised five case studies undertaken in five teacher education programmes. In each programme, students self-assessed at the beginning, middle and end of learning. Subgroups of students were invited to represent their learning using concept maps and were interviewed on their progression in self-assessment. Analysis indicated that students found the metacognitive approach supportive of their learning and self-assessment. Students were more aware of their learning and thinking processes at the end of the study. Further, teachers involved in the project found the method demanding yet generating useful feedback which enhanced their teaching.
[Copyright of Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02602930600679100]

Interaction and feedback on performance are essential elements of the language learning process. On a distance-learning course, since opportunities for interaction may be limited, feedback plays a crucial role in opening and maintaining a dialogue between tutors and students. Using text analysis, questionnaire and interview data, this study explores both tutor and student perspectives on the feedback offered on a distance language course. It finds that there are considerable individual differences in the feedback offered by tutors and there is also variation in the type of feedback the students want and their reported uses of it. The article suggests that more training for both tutors and students is necessary to adequately exploit feedback's potential in a distance-learning context.
[Copyright of Open Learning is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02680510120084959]

Grading, feedback, and reporting of student achievement are key elements that support learning. This article reports an interview study on a range of English as a Second or Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) teachers' classroom assessment practices at the tertiary level in Canada, Hong Kong, and China. The interviews focused on teachers' use of marking criteria, student involvement in classroom assessment decisions and activities, and reporting procedures. The results demonstrate how these teachers make day-to-day decisions in these three contexts, thus adding to our understanding of ESL/EFL classroom assessment practices.
[Copyright of Language Assessment Quarterly is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15434300701348409]

Feedback is central to the development of effective learning, yet is comparatively underresearched. This article seeks to examine the notion of written feedback on assignments and argue that this feedback process is more complex than is sometimes acknowledged. The author illustrates the problematic nature of assignment feedback by drawing on a large-scale questionnaire survey conducted across eight universities, and then analysing the issue in more depth though fine-grained data collected from students in a teacher education institute. The article is framed by the concepts of discourse, power and emotion. It highlights a number of different perceptions of students and tutors towards the assessment, marking and feedback process. The author concludes by arguing that 'assessment dialogues' are a way forward to mitigate some of the mistrust or misconceptions that may be unwanted outcomes of the assessment process.
[Copyright of Studies in Higher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03075070600572132]

There are many forms of information and feedback collected from students in Hong Kong. Most of these tend to concentrate on one particular aspect of the student experience. 'Evaluating the Student Experience Project (ESEP)' is a Hong Kong-wide initiative aiming to develop ways of evaluating students' experience, including the 'total student experience'. This paper discusses one of the projects funded through ESEP, a study at City University of Hong Kong exploring the expectations and experiences of first-year students. The project is designed to collect information from the student perspective to help management plan improvements. Feedback from students is analysed and then reported in a way that is accessible and that identifies areas for potential action. The internet has been used as a medium for questionnaire completion. This first-year project aims to involve students in the feedback process, including the use of focus group discussions prior to questionnaire design. This approach to collecting student feedback will be adopted across the university and potentially in other Hong Kong tertiary education institutions.
[Copyright of Quality in Higher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13538320050001081]