Feedback is the most important feature of assessment as it provides students with a statement of their learning and advice about how to improve. In the on-line environment, the provision of effective assignment feedback is particularly important because online students generally receive far less informal feedback from teachers than students in face-to-face classes. However, the provision of extensive formal written feedback to on-line students can be a very time consuming for teachers. This paper examines a pilot study to provide group feedback to on-line students that reduces teacher workload while improving the quality of feedback to students.

Keywords: formative assessment, student centred assessment, online student assessment