Feedback for web-based assignments

In the Faculty of Educational Science and Technology at the University of Twente an educational concept based on the ideas of increased flexibility in learning options and the active student, has been in place since 1998. In this approach, many courses have moved from a model of lectures and a final examination or single large project, to a model of six or seven assignments or subparts of a larger overall project, each submitted via a web-based course-management system and each worth a certain portion of the overall course grade. Feedback has become a key aspect of teaching as well as assessment. This paper gives an overview of feedback as part of the assessment process in learning settings making use of web-based environments. This is followed by some examples of feedback strategies supported by the web-based system in use in the faculty and a description of a web-based decision-support tool, currently under development, for instructors relating to feedback.