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Research in higher education has revealed that only a small proportion of students complete assigned reading during semester. The current studies examined students' reading practices, and sought to explore potential factors underlying these practices. Three studies were conducted. Study 1 utilised a questionnaire to examine how long students spend reading academic material. Students reported spending an average of 14.1 hours per week reading a range of sources, including textbooks and journal articles for both guided and independent reading. The number of hours spent reading was lower than university expectations. Study 2 involved conducting focus groups to explore potential factors underlying students' reading practices. Six main themes emerged in the data; Expectations, Perceived benefits, Course structure, Lack of time, Practicalities, and Confidence. Study 3 further examined students' perceptions of a lack of time and a lack of confidence with reading using a diary exercise and a further questionnaire. The diary exercise revealed that students spent an average of 6.5 hours per day engaged in academic activities. In addition, students were generally confident with reading, although more so with reading textbooks than journal articles. The findings are discussed in terms of implications for staff teaching in higher education.

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Student frustration with the level and content of feedback is well-noted, especially in relation to new or unfamiliar assessment types. At the same time, students are often unlikely to engage with marking and feedback processes, including the use of rubrics or marking criteria before submission. The aim of this project was to build students' assessment and feedback literacy through engagement sessions both before and after submission in two departments at a UK university. Following discussions with students on their perceptions of feedback, assessment-specific marking criteria were developed. Students were provided with an opportunity to discuss these criteria and assess exemplars before submission and then, after return of marks, discussed the helpfulness of the feedback provided. Feedback Studio® was used to provide electronic feedback via comment libraries, general comments and qualitative rubrics. Both staff and students found that the combination of engagement sessions and online feedback was a positive improvement, although questions were raised about the timing and frequency of engagement sessions and students' ability to apply marking criteria to their own work. The conclusions summarise recommendations for the use of timetabled engagement sessions to support students in the use of assessment-specific marking criteria.