Haydn Blackey and Alice Lau 3 March 2011

1. Putting Assessment at the Heart of Learning at the University of Glamorgan Haydn Blackey and Alice Lau 3 March 2011

2. Context – The University of Glamorgan

3. The Assessment situation at Glamorgan • Review of assessment across the Institution 06/07 • assessment methods being used are still largely traditional • Use of essays, closed book exams and lab reports are the most common! • Little and slow uptake to innovative forms of assessment despite strong support from the University • Review of assessment loadings for 15 first year awards • Significant variations on the loading of assessment across the same year ( from 6 pieces to 29 pieces of assignment) • The poor student experience on assessment and feedback identified by the NSS and our internal student survey • Senior management commitment to change in learning, teaching and assessment – Assessment for Learning

4. Assessment for Learning and Blended Learning at Glamorgan Assessment for learning - seeks to develop a learning environment which promotes dialogues between staff and students; amongst staff and amongst students that would lead to increased learner autonomy to evaluate and improve thereby contributes to improving student achievement.

5. Linking A4L with BL E-assessment must not simply invent new technologies which recycle our current ineffective practices (Ripley, 2004) (Ripley, 2004) It is not about promoting new technology to the Glamorgan academic staff but tools to empower them to make more efficient, redesign and transform assessment-related activities

6. To nurture the growth… Senior Management Policies and Procedures on both A4L and BL Consultation and feedback Faculties Seminars, workshops, case studies and good practice, ELTA awards, and innovation grants

7. Initial challenges… “I worry about the ‘centralisation’ of decision making in areas such as this [assessment]. There are different expectations and academic traditions that are associated with particular groups of staff and scope for local modification is therefore needed” • These policies and procedures can be seen as top-down ‘control’; therefore some resistance to changing their current practices • Staff debate about the understanding of the concept and the surrounding principles of assessment for learning. • Some lecturers perceive assessment for learning as just ‘ideal thinking’ that would not work in practice • Some lecturers perceive that such policies are ‘dumbing down’ assessment and giving weak students ‘the advantage’

8. How can we embed Change? • We need to give faculties more ownership. • Create a bottom-up approach to complement the top-down approach. • Provide time and resources for faculties to experiment. The answer? Work directly with staff and STUDENTS

9. What our students said – Good Practice Providing students with past assignment examples Some lecturers set aside lecture time/tutorial to discuss what is required from a specific assessment Formative feedback (support) on summative work Feedback sessions – students especially value the opportunity to gain feedback from both tutors and their peers “…In one module, our lecturers actually organised a set time in tutorial to go over our work in progress and highlight areas of improvement along with the marking criteria. Giving students choices in 1) assessment questions/themes 2) agreeing a deadline with students via in-class discussions at the start of term The use of Bb, email to communicate/remind students about assessment information and deadlines.

10. What our students said – Assessment and Learning? • Generally positive about the role assessment has on their learning. • 81% of the respondents felt that all or most of their assessments have challenged their current understanding and knowledge of the subject. • 74%of respondents stated that all or most of assessments given to them helped them to consolidate knowledge from the course. • 76% of the respondents felt that their assessments were relevant to their course of study.

11. What did our students said – Assessment and Learning? •  “I think we need more information in the module handbook about what we need to put in the essay... The word “evaluation” can be anything...” • “I have difficulties drawing that line in the sand, what do they expect for me to get a first?” • 64% of the respondents noted that all or most of their assessments provided them with very clear instructions on what they are expected to do. • 67% of respondents noted that all or most of their assessments criteria helped them understand what they need to do to achieve a positive outcome. E.g. Submission process: “…there are many options to hand it [assignment] in … it can be confusing, it’d be helpful if they [lecturers] just give one option so you know where it will be.” “A lot of the time you don’t know where your lecture notes fit into the coursework, you can’t quite see where the questions come from and you’ve got to teach yourself…”

12. What our student said in terms of assessment design? • 56% of respondents stated that their assignments deadlines are spread out appropriately through the term. • Do we give our students choice? “All our deadlines are in one, it would be nice to spread it out, you have a week to perfect something, think about it, when all the work is due in at the same time, I don’t know what I have done, or what I have learnt. “…knowing where to hand in and when to hand in is difficult, this year we had hardly any warning right up to the assignments, all my three modules are asking for your first assignments in the second term, I have five modules starting in January and these are all part of my degree. It is very unfair…why not spread it out? “…if there are different ways of assessing, rather than just all coursework and exams at the end, I think it will help our learning a bit more. You do get quite enthusiastic about your first one or two assessments, but when it get to the fourth one and you are still doing an essay, it does become so mundane and dull. You just feel that you are simply churning them out…perhaps more interactive assessment would be good.”

13. What our students said - feedback? How feedback is currently provided to our students

14. What students said? - feedback “Because we have lots of assessments [deadlines] that are close together. You need the feedback soon, if it’s too late you have no time to use it, and you can’t work on it and by the time you receive your feedback, most of your coursework is out of the way!” “…To date, I have not received feedback on my first two assessments, and [I] don’t know when [I will receive feedback]. It would be appreciated if in addition to a deadline for submission, some indication of the date of feedback/grades can be provided.”

15. What students said? - Feedback “When you get it [the assignment] back and got a 2:1 say, all the feedback is positive, but if it’s that good, why didn’t I get 100%. I find that a real struggle, I’ve had that with a few [assignments]. Some are good, but it would be nice to know what I need to do to get a 1st.” “…Sometimes you just get comments such as – ‘ you write well’. I want to know, how do I write well! Tell me if I write well why don’t I write excellently, what do I need to do to improve even more?” “…The comments I got did not validate the mark. I had 45%, and to get a mark that low, nearly a fail, I expected much more feedback than a few lines at the end of my essay! ”

16. Outcomes For example: We thought providing students with multiple methods of communicating and submitting assessment would give students more flexibility but students actually found that confusing. • For example: Students would like: • choice in how they can present their work. • Diverse assessment methods • Collaboration with other students outside their course (especially for CCI students) • Captured and enabled us to share with colleagues, students’ views on what they considered as good practice and challenged our beliefs in what we think students want. • Assessment process • Learning experience • Feedback For example: Students are not overly concerned with the ‘20 days rules’, as long as they are given a date when they can expect feedback and as long as it is before their next piece of work.

17. Activity – Responding to the student voice (15 minutes) • In your pack, there are some student comments emerged from institutional research at the University of Glamorgan. • What approach would you use to address the issue(s) or idea(s) raised by the student?

18. In practice – some examples Example 1: Providing students with clear, specific and consistent communications from tutors on assessment information. • Creating a single e-submission point for our students across the University

19. Example 2: Avoid assessment overload and bunching • The assessment diary • is a list of module codes and titles, dates for when assessments are submitted and dates by which they are to be returned.  • Developed the diary in consultation with colleagues teaching on the same course in order to avoid bunching of assessment deadlines. • The diary was posted on the VLE for students

21. In practice – some examples Example 3: Innovative assessment • Raise awareness of the choice of technologies for lecturers and students to Use in the Assessment Process • Provide training, fundings and uses students as change agents. • The use of wiki and blogs • Introduced group work via a creation of wiki and blogs • Link to example

22. In practice – some examples • Example 4: Provide timely, appropriate, stimulating feedback and feedforward in order to engage students in learning • The use of Turnitin and Grademark • The use of audio feedback e.g. Audacity, example • The use of video feedback in a first year Calculus module Link to examples • Group feedback session • Explain to student what feedback is and what they can expect e.g. Feedback leaflet • Ask students to explain how they will use the feedback before they get a mark

23. Lessons learnt • Assessment is a process! – more than changing the assessment method. • Reviewing the entire process identified that even simple steps such as the assessment diary can make a huge difference to both staff and student • Important to engage students, administrative teams in each faculty as well as academic staff • Bottom up approach, time and resources!