Self–assessment: assessing less, assessing better

1. Self–assessment: assessing less, assessing better Sandra Shaffi – Centre for Childhood & Youth Studies Keith Savage – HE Mentor Stockport College May 2011

2. Phil Race – HE staff development workshops Argues that all the evidence and all our experience tells us that: • We spend too much time on assessment • Assessment doesn’t always aid learning • Our assessment tools are too limited • Our marks and grades are unreliable • Students want ‘fresh’ feedback

3. David Boud et al – Assessment 2020 • http://www.iml.uts.edu.au/assessment-futures/Assessment-2020_propositions_final.pdf Seven key features of good, effective assessment: • Should engage students in productive learning • Feedback should actively improve learning • Students and teachers should be partners in learning • Students should be inducted into HE practices/cultures • Assessment for Learning should be at centre of course design • AfL should be focus for staff development • Assessment should provide inclusive, reliable evidence of achievement

4. Graham Gibbs (2010) – Using assessment to support student learning • Assessment must be purposeful; must actively engage students; feedback must be attended to • If we provide formative feedback on drafts we need provide little summative feedback in addition to grade • Do we need to mark all work – just a sample? • Students prefer formative feedback (lots), oral feedback, timely feedback • Students don’t like summative assessments with highly explicit criteria and standards

5. Gordon Joughin (2010) – A short guide to oral assessment • Historically oral assessment has been the norm in HE • Oral assessment does not mean just presentations – can be interrogative • Can be more personal, active, combative, ‘real’ • Authentic – deals with plagiarism issues • Not a substitute for written assessment but an important complement that draws on other communication skills

6. Fresh, Instant Feedback • Prepare feedback sheet to give to students immediately on submission of work • Students complete sheet straightaway (see sample) – immediate self-feedback • Tutors focus on issues identified by students and return with assignment within 3 weeks

7. Advantages of self-assessment • Most students approach this task seriously and it helps identify what worries them (or what they feel comfortable about) • Can be used as basis for oral summative feedback • Students felt valued because we were interested in their feelings

8. Problems we have encountered • Students (especially at Levels 5 and 6) don’t like the new system • Students (especially at Level 4) don’t understand HE practice well enough to do this • Students think that their predicted mark becomes their maximum mark • More paperwork – adds to already high anxiety levels!

9. What have we learned? • We need to introduce this more carefully – so that students understand the purpose as well as they can • We need to use self-assessment selectively – it works better for some assignments than for others • It might make sense to use this formatively