Assessment and Feedback

Assessment and Feedback Mark Russell and Helen Barefoot The Blended Learning Unit & The Learning and Teaching Institute

League tables shaping priority?

NSSq’s for assessment and feedback • The criteria used in marking have been clear in advance • Assessment arrangements and marking have been fair • Feedback on my work has been prompt • I have received detailed comments on my work • Feedback on my work has helped clarify things I did not know 1= Definitely Disagree; 2= Mostly Disagree; 3= Neither Agree nor Disagree; 4= Mostly Agree; 5= Definitely Agree • How would you rate the degree programme you are mainly tied to? • How do you think students rate that programme? • Discrepancy? • By yourself

Is assessment really that important? Assessment defines the curriculum (Snyder, Rowntree…) and yet … Students can, with difficulty, escape from the effects of poor teaching, they cannot (by definition if they want to graduate) escape the effects of poor assessment (Boud)

And so to learning • Assessment drives learning • Alignment – ADL • C&G • HPL • JiTT • Conversational Framework • Anchored Instruction / challenge based instruction • Learning is not a spectator sport

Effective assessment

Your thoughts

Assessment Experience Questionnaire Student learning is best supported when the following conditions are met: • Assessed tasks capture sufficient student time and effort • These tasks distribute student effort evenly across topics & weeks • These tasks engage students in productive learning activity • Assessment communicates clear and high expectations to students • Sufficient feedback is provided, often enough & in enough detail • The feedback is provided quickly enough to be useful to students • Feedback focuses on learning rather than on marks or students • Feedback is linked to the purpose of the assignment and to criteria • Feedback is understandable to students, given their sophistication • Feedback is received by students and attended to • Feedback is acted upon by students to improve their work or their learning (Gibbs & Simpson, 2004)

Rust et al • A positive focus • start off with a positive, encouraging comment, • balance negative with positive comments, • turn all criticism into positive suggestions, • Suggesting where next • make general suggestions on how to go about the next assignment, • suggest specific ways to improve the assignment, • suggest follow-up work and references, • ask questions which encourage reflection about the work, • Making connections with the student • be prompt, • use informal, conversational language, • offer help with specific problems, • offer the opportunity to discuss the assignment, and comments, • Offering justification • explain all your comments, • include a brief summary of your view of the assignment, • relate specifically to the learning outcomes and assessment criteria, • explain the mark or grade, and why it is not better (or worse!),

Good Feedback Practice 1. Help clarify what good performance is 2. Encourage ‘time and effort’ on challenging learning tasks. 3. Deliver high quality feedback information that helps learners self correct. 4. Encourage positive motivational beliefs and self-esteem. 5. Encourage interaction and dialogue around learning (peer and teacher). 6. Facilitate the development of self-assessment and reflection in learning. 7. Give learners choice in assessment – content and processes 8. Involve students in decision-making about assessment policy and practice. 9. Support the development of learning communities 10. Help teachers adapt teaching to student needs Based on Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick (2006)

NUS’ Principles of effective assessment Assessment… 1. Should be for learning, not simply of learning 2. Should be reliable, valid, fair and consistent 3. Should incorporate effective and constructive feedback 4. Should be innovative and have the capacity to inspire and motivate such as with the use of technology 5. Should measure understanding and application, rather than technique and memory 6. Should be conducted throughout the course, not simply positioned as a finale event 7. Should develop key skills such as peer and reflective assessment 8. Should be central to staff development and teaching strategies, and frequently reviewed 9. Should be of a manageable amount for both students and tutors 10. Should encourage dialogue between students and their tutors, and students and their peers

Overlapping master

Student opinions

Plotting effectiveness vs. efficiency Waste of time Efficiency (or 1/t) Effectiveness

Now vs. Now+ 12 months • Drawing on your case study • Think about where your assessment is located and identify this on the grid provided • Briefly write why you think it is located here and then refer to the principles • Identify gaps and repeated principles • Discuss in pairs where you are and get advice • Identify some practicable steps to move it along/up • Share with whole room • Assessment Guidance

Post workshop activity • Using your case study, identify Principles of good assessment and feedback practice via ‘track changes’ • Post your case study onto the StudyNet group site • Contribute to discussion on the Group site regarding other people’s case studies and offer thoughts and ideas • Following implementation of appropriate changes, please update the Group site with your improvements and any subsequent evaluations you may engage in • It is our intention to capture case studies and solutions to share with the UH community

And the students … • How do the students know(really know) assessment and feedback is important to us? • Can I challenge you and ask Where is your feedback campaign? • Where do the students see you said - we did? • Can you build on existing activity / ideas to plan a campaign?

And finally … • Identify a couple things that will you do as an individual to make things better • What three things will you do as a module team to make things better? • What three things do you want the School to do to make things better? • 200 yards…

Assessment and Feedback