Open mentor: supporting tutors with their feedback to students

Assessment is one of the major challenges for higher education today. This is partly because it traditionally squares the desire for improved constructivist learning against the demand for institutional reliability and accountability. The call for a pedagogically-driven model for e-Assessment was acknowledged as part of a vision for teaching and learning in 2014 (Whitelock and Brasher 2006). Experts believe that such a model will allow students in Higher Education to take more control of their learning and hence become more reflective. These are indeed laudable aims but how can they be implemented in practice? One of the problems with tutor feedback to students is that a balanced combination of socio-emotive and cognitive support is required from the teaching staff, and the feedback needs to be relevant to the assigned grade. Is it possible to capitalise on technology to build training systems for tutors in Higher Education, that will support them with their feedback to students, and which will encourage their students to become more reflective learners?