DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2018.v06i02.010

Pages: 345-349

Feedback plays a pivotal role in the teaching and learning situation. In ODL students write assignments as part of their formative assessment. Comments help students to identify their shortcomings and thus apply improvement. Admittedly, ODL students benefit from these comments which constitute part of tutoring. Cognisant of the pivotal role of assessment feedback in ODL and that, some students fail to respond to feedback comments accordingly, it became paramount for empirical evidence on the concerns of lectures and students which lead to that scenario. A qualitative research approach underpinned by an interpretative paradigm was employed in this study to explore the concerns of students and lectures on feedback practices in an ODL institution in Zimbabwe. Purposive sampling was employed to select students and lecturers who participated in this study until data reached a saturation point. Documents which included student’s assignment were interrogated on the comments made by lecturers. Transcribed data from individual interviews and focus groups was thematically analysed. It emerged from the study that students were more interested in marks at the expense of comments, some students received their assignments after the examination and comments were no longer meaningful, some comments were characterised by high academic language which made it difficult for the students to comprehend and some students did not collect their marked work. It also emerged that some lectures failed to write meaningful comments and some did not comment at all. Furthermore some comments were fraught of spelling and grammatical mistakes, and some comments lacked synchronisation with marks. Poor hand writing also emerged as an issue .The study recommends timely feedback of assignment marking, staff development of lecturers on writing of comments that effectively communicate areas of concern. It is also recommended that lecturers write legibly so that students are not discouraged from reading c