Using Systems Thinking to Evaluate Formative Feedback in UK Higher Education: The Case of Classroom Response Technology.

Providing high quality formative feedback to large and very diverse cohorts of students taking short intensive blocks of teaching (block release) has become crucial in management education provision. The paper proposes the exploitation of classroom response technology (CRT) to evaluate learning activities of students taking block release modules. Adopting a systemic approach, we explore and test key observable and controllable dimensions of the feedback system. Using results of a pilot study, we provide evidence that learning activities, using CRT, address the simultaneous requirements of timing, frequency, combined with scope, focus and clarity, in education provision. These requirements are identified as crucial elements for quality feedback in a constrained environment.