Feedback in STEM Higher Education: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Feedback is widely recognised as a critical component of learning in higher education, yet its effectiveness in STEM contexts remains uneven in practice. This paper presents a systematic review of feedback research in STEM higher education, examining how students engage with feedback, the conditions that shape feedback literacy, and the role of emotional, cultural, and relational factors. The review identified 52 studies from 1999 to July 2025 through the databases IEEE Xplore, Scopus, ERIC, and EBSCOhost. The findings indicate that engagement with feedback is not a direct outcome of feedback provision, but a mediated process requiring interpretation, evaluation, and enactment. This process is shaped by interacting cognitive, structural, technological, and socio-cultural influences. Feedback literacy emerges as a central mechanism linking instructional design, learner capabilities, and learning outcomes, yet it is often assumed rather than explicitly developed. The findings further highlight a persistent gap between dialogic, learner-centred feedback models and their implementation in large-scale STEM environments. Structural pressures, assessment practices, and technological systems influence how feedback is experienced, often reinforcing evaluative rather than developmental use. Emotional, cultural, and identity-related factors further shape how feedback is interpreted and acted upon. This review contributes an integrated understanding of feedback engagement as a multi-layered and context-dependent process in STEM higher education, emphasising the need to support how feedback is interpreted, discussed, and applied within coherent learning environments.