The Role of Feedback in the Bologna Process, According to Goal Setting Theory: An Exploratory Study of Students' Perceptions

Abstract

This study has been carried out while The Bologna Process was implemented in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). One of the main features of TBP is Lifelong Learning (LLL), introduced to improve student learning, by emphasizing the role of feedback. The Goal Setting Theory of Motivation (GST) considers feedback as a mechanism to enhance performance. Starting from this theoretical framework, our objective is to analyse whether, for those students with specific and challenging goals, feedback enhances student motivation to perform at a high level. Interviews have been conducted with students who have experienced both Bologna and non- Bologna learning. The main finding is that a small increase in feedback entails a slight or no increase in the average scores of those students with specific and challenging goals; whereas for students with much general goals or no goals, the average score greatly increases