Technology-enhanced formative assessments (TEFAs) are widely used by educators to support formative learning and feedback, and are frequently associated with positive student perceptions of engagement and learning. However, less attention has been paid to the relationship between students’ perceived value of such assessments and their actual patterns of use over time. This paper examines this relationship through an empirical study of student engagement with TEFAs within the author’s own higher education teaching practice.

Informed by formative assessment literature (Black and Wiliam, 1998; Nicol and Macfarlane‐Dick, 2006; Carless, 2007) and drawing on participatory action research traditions (Elliott, 1991; Coughlan and Coghlan, 2002), the study combined quantitative learning analytics data with qualitative student feedback to explore how students engaged with TEFAs across a semester. While students consistently reported that TEFAs were useful for understanding content, identifying knowledge gaps and supporting exam preparation, engagement data revealed uneven and highly strategic patterns of use.

Findings indicate that students’ engagement with TEFAs was strongly shaped by summative assessment structures, with activity peaking in the period immediately preceding final examinations. Sustained or regular engagement was limited, despite positive perceptions of value. This disconnect highlights the influence of assessment culture and learner priorities in shaping engagement with formative assessment technologies. This challenges assumptions that positive feedback alone leads to consistent formative use.

The paper argues that student engagement with TEFAs is best understood as situated and conditional, rather than as a straightforward indicator of effectiveness. By highlighting the tension between perceived value and actual engagement behaviour, the study contributes a state of the actual (Selwyn, 2008) account of TEFA use that complicates dominant narratives of engagement in EdTech research. The paper concludes by discussing implications for educators designing and evaluating TEFAs, emphasising the need to align formative assessment intentions with the realities of summative-driven learning environments.