180 likes | 297 Views
Engaging Students in Formative Assessment: Strategies and Outcomes. Nicola Billam, Guinevere Glasfurd-Brown & Martin Sellens CAA Conference 2006. Overview of the Project. S tudent P ortal R esources for I n novative T argeted A ssessment
E N D
Engaging Students in Formative Assessment: Strategies and Outcomes Nicola Billam, Guinevere Glasfurd-Brown & Martin Sellens CAA Conference 2006
Overview of the Project • Student Portal Resources for Innovative Targeted Assessment • Funded through the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) • FDTL-5 • November 2004 – October 2006 • Dr Martin Sellens (Director) • Nicola Billam (Project Officer)
What is SPRInTA? • Unfavourable staff/student ratios-affecting support on assessment and feedback given • Sports Science 8 staff; 75 undergraduates per year-9.4 students per member of staff • Large classes • Lots of “marking” • National Student Satisfaction Survey: Essex-low score on quality and time for turnaround of feedback
What is SPRInTA? • Support student assessment by providing formative, targeted and personalised online support for assessment • Facilitate independent study and self assessment • On completion-15 Sports Science/Biological Science courses will be able to access a suite of online self assessment exercises and tutorial guidance • All of these resources will be linked through the myEssex student portal
How? • SPRInTA will design and develop online self-assessment and tutorial guidance for five types of assessment common to Sports Science students: • Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) • Short answer and essay style practice examinations • Data Analysis & Interpretation • Practical Coursework (worksheets) • Reporting in Scientific Paper Format
Progress to Date • The MCQ section is now complete • Currently working on the other sections (tutorial guidance) • MCQs • Provided online MCQ formative assessments for 8 Level 1 modules • 300-600 formative Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)-using QuestionMark Perception, linked into the portal • Split course material into week blocks and release after final lecture of the week • Tiered difficulty of questions • Summative Exam Online (end of module MCQ exam)
Progress cont…. • 94% of students recommend online self-assessments for all level 1 modules • 76% of students agree that SPRInTA assessments have aided their learning • Significant improvement in summative MCQ exam results from previous year (p<0.01, t-test) • Significant positive correlation between the number of formative assessments a student completes and their summative MCQ exam score (p<0.05, t-test) • Significant improvement seen in the summer essay based exam (p<0.05, t-test)
Student Engagement-Pilot Fig 1: Number of formative assessments completed per week in the BS155 pilot
Strategies for Engagement • Publicity: Key rings, alerts • Feedback: Removal of correct answer • Release dates: Weekly • Release pattern: • Module A-Questions closed after two weeks • Module B-Open for the duration of the term
Results • Engagement still high 81.4% • Significant improvement in exam results when compared to previous years (p<0.01) • Survey demonstrated 97% of thought the questions were well publicised (previously 73%) • 76% of students found the PowerPoint slide useful
Results cont…… • No change in engagement • Completed assessments in week leading up to exam: • Pilot- 88.6% • Module A- 68.2% (2 week release pattern) • Module B- 56% • The change in scheduling was not popular with the students
Conclusion • Students like freedom of choice with regards to study time • Students appear to take a strategic approach to learning/revision • Further work is needed with regard to engaging students throughout the term: • Summative component • Ranking • Just in time Teaching
QUESTIONS? Contact: E-mail: sprinta@essex.ac.uk Tel: (87)4369 Web: http://www.essex.ac.uk/sprinta/ Presentation can be found at: http://www.essex.ac.uk/sprinta/publications.htm