Investigating chemical engineering students’ perceptions of feedback: A glimpse into current problems and a platform for improvement

Abstract

Effective and quality academic feedback is essential for student success in engineering education. However, chemical engineering students consistently report lower satisfaction with the feedback they receive based on the results of the UK National Student Survey (NSS) published in recent years. Despite this, there is limited research on students' perceptions of feedback in chemical engineering education. This study investigates the views of chemical engineering students on four key dimensions: knowledge and understanding of feedback, perceptions of effective and quality feedback, preferences for the modes and format of feedback, and experience with the feedback received. To draw meaningful and useful conclusions, this investigation was conducted on a small scale targeting 37 participants from undergraduate (UG) students in years one to four of the Chemical Engineering programmes at the University of Sheffield. The findings confirm that most of the UG students who participated in the study demanded to receive targeted and personalised feedback. Students considered that feedback on how to improve skills, identify mistakes and give specific examples to solve problems were more effective than a simply stated grade. The focused approach in this study allowed for an in-depth analysis of the perceptions of feedback among targeted UG students, leading to an improved definition of feedback for engineering education. It is proposed that feedback can be characterised as the process of communicating the learner's current and expected accomplishments, pointing out areas for improvement, and suggesting possible steps to address them while also requiring the learner to engage with and reflect on the provided comments.