ABSTRACT
If assessment is the ‘engine that drives learning’, as Phil Race (2006: 74) wrote, then ‘feedback is the oil that lubricates the cogs of understanding’. Both aspects of this epigram can be seen in numerous studies and in the daily experience of lecturers. It seems clear that assessment can hold students’ attention and help them focus on their studies (Solomonides and Swannell 1996; Gibbs and Simpson 2004). Allied to this, feedback appears to play a crucial role in helping students to reflect on the work they have done and to learn from the experience of doing so (Sadler 1989; Black and Wiliam 1998; Juwah et al. 2004).
