The present proposal focuses on identifying the Romanian higher education teachers’ and students’ perceptions regarding the means and modes of providing and receiving feedback during the online academic assessment in the specific period of the Covid-19 pandemic. The research data are collected as part of a larger research focused on the identification of good practices in the use of digital resources in higher education, in the light of the goal for a future hybrid academic teaching. The research is focused on highlighting the pandemic period good practices that can be capitalized in the use of the online learning platforms and of the digital resources. The views and perspectives of the Romanian students and teachers regarding the potential and experiences on the particular issue of feedback providing are questioned. The field literature is unanimous on the importance of the constant and individualized feedback for supporting effective academic study and learning. The relevance of personalized and prompt feedback increased in the period of remote teaching as students tended to feel increasingly disconnected to the academic life and communities. The very recent literature in the field states the issue of online evaluation and assessment as a topical and very critical one. The case of Romania is particularly relevant as prior to the Covid -19 pandemic the university students’ and teachers’ connection via digital means was very limited. Moreover, given certain limitations and traditions specific to the Romanian higher education system and programmes of study, such as the large number of students that usually enroll for a course, the constant, applied and personalized feedback was not very common. Very often students were in the position of using only the academic grades as an indicator for a possible qualitative feedback. During the remote teaching period, new means and ways of connecting and working in the academic teaching and learning had to be identified, tested and selected. The cognitions and attitudes of participants to the present survey have been influenced by the new experience of online teaching and learning, in a very specific way. We specifically focused on identifying teachers’ and students ‘perceptions on the means and ways academic feedback was provided in the evaluative situations and on the perceived role feedback has o supporting qualitative learning and students’ wellbeing.  The collected results were compared with the international experiences reported in other European surveys. 

In order to examine how feedback was offered by university teachers during the Covid-19 pandemic and ow it was perceived by students, we collected data through online questionnaires administered to both teachers and students, that focused on different components of the remote teaching, learning and evaluation. The variable of feedback providing/ receiving was present in both questionnaires. The data were analysed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The researchers were particularly focused on subjective perspectives students and teachers and on the perceived impact of feedback provided/ received, as traditionally, academic qualitative feedback is not common in Romanian universities. The sample of teachers and students involved was a convenience one and included 142 university teachers and 1098 students enrolled in all the three academic levels of bachelor, masters and doctoral studies. The questionnaires were anonymous and distributed throughout the Romanian higher education institution from all the country and the collecting of data was initiated at the moment onsite academic teaching was reinstalled, at the first part of year 2022. Excepting the demographic questions, the survey included open questions that were specifically coded by the researchers. The data were collected and could be processed according to students’ level of study and specialty, and according to teachers’ academic position. The results suggest that during the online academic teaching more attention was paid to enhancing feedback practices and connecting with students. Teachers were increasingly aware on the role and impact feedback that is provided in time, applied and personalized has on quality of students’ involvement and results. During the remote teaching, several means of feedback providing were tested and the facilities of the online teaching platforms were used to connect with students during the continuing and final evaluation.

Generally, students were appreciative on the increased amount of feedback messages received and on its qualitative and personalized aspect. Feedback was appreciated as a solution for creating and maintaining a connection with teachers and university in general and as a mediator for building a sense of belonging. Results were generally consistent with the feedback experiences reported in the similar European literature, as identifying new means of evaluation and supporting connections during the remote teaching was an issue a lot of academic systems shared during the pandemic period. The data and conclusions highlight the relevance of personalized and qualitative feedback in academic evaluation and stress the importance of enhancing feedback providing and using habits by transferring good practices tested during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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