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University of Surrey Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences 14 January 2011

‘Key Issues in Assessment and Feedback: The only feedback I received was two ticks and a question mark!’. Professor Brenda Smith. University of Surrey Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences 14 January 2011. Key aims are to. Help students to LEARN through assessment

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University of Surrey Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences 14 January 2011

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  1. ‘Key Issues in Assessment and Feedback: The only feedback I received was two ticks and a question mark!’ Professor Brenda Smith University of Surrey Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences 14 January 2011

  2. Key aims are to... • Help students to LEARN through assessment • EMBED FEEDBACK as an integral part of the learning & teaching process • Encourage THE ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT OF STUDENTS in the whole process of assessment and feedback to enhance their learning

  3. Why do we assess? 2.Quality Assurance 1.Certification 3. Learning 4. Sustainability

  4. Key Issues with assessment? • Students are often not given the ‘Big Picture’ - students want an ‘e-bay’ or ‘Amazon’ experience • Students are not actively involved in the whole process • Insufficient feedback that comes too late - & not integral to the learning process • Limited assessment methods that may not be aligned to LOs • Assessed work bunched towards the end of a semester • Unclear or no specific criteria • Feedback rather than feed-forward • Little value placed on self or peer assessment as a graduate skill • Too much emphasis on marks at the expense of assessment for learning

  5. CONSTRUCTIVE ALIGNMENT Skills & Knowledge – Learning Outcomes Methods Active engagementof students Timing Clear Criteria Feedback/forward

  6. Skills Audit

  7. Methods of AssessmentAssignments and the learning opportunity they offer Communicate information & ideas in other than the written word Become more adept at writing in different forms, formats & ‘genres’ To understand the benefits & challenges of working collaboratively

  8. Methods of AssessmentAssignments and the learning opportunity they offer Seminar, poster, video, video conferencing, pod or vodcasts or other multimedia Communicate information & ideas in other than the written word Become more adept at writing in different forms, formats & ‘genres’ Designs; proposals; book reviews; case reports; web pages; journal articles To understand the benefits & challenges of working collaboratively Group problem solving; joint book reviews; team presentations; role plays; group exhibition

  9. Methods of Assessment • Essay, essay plan, journal article, book review, exhibition, poster, video, case study, In-tray exercise, dissertation, podcast, vodcast, radio broadcast, lab report, fieldwork report • Exam – unseen, seen, open, take home • Portfolio, reflective journal, individual or group presentation, web design, MCQs, Spreadsheets, project plan, case report, questionnaire, draft and review Do you give students a choice of assignments – i.e. say a choice of essay titles to choice from? Or, could they choose to give a presentation or produce a report that would still fulfill the LOs?

  10. Being Inclusive Do you ensure your assessment modes, content and delivery allow for cultural and learning differences that enable all your students to contribute to society effectively and inclusively?

  11. Providing learning opportunities Do you give your students opportunities to practise a skill or write a draft with feedback (this feedback could come from their peers) before being summatively assessed?

  12. Timing of Assessments Are they spread throughout the semester? Student DiariesWhat could go in them?Is the schedule of assignments and the feedback on these assignments made clear to students across the year?Do you provide multiple opportunities for small low stake assessments with feedback? University Of Surrey 2010 2011 2009

  13. Are your students always clear about your criteria? How can we help to ensure a common understanding? Criteria

  14. Do you check that students really understand your criteria?

  15. Key issues in feedback • Students can’t read our writing • Students only think it is feedback when it is written down • The feedback given is often not very useful & comes too late • Little or no use is made of peer/self assessment and feedback • Students have little opportunity to collate feedback over time and act upon it • Very little use is made of feedback as a normal part of the learning & teaching process • Different ways of giving feedback are limited

  16. All I get is a grade next to my matriculation number without any indication on how I am actually doing

  17. I got an essay back where the only comment was ‘use a bigger text size’, there was nothing on how to improve my grade

  18. For a rather lengthy scientific report, the feedback I received consisted of a mere two ticks and a question mark

  19. I have never received feedback for any of my exams and this means I don’t know how to improve for the third year when the marks really count

  20. Don’t use bullet points!

  21. Why did I get 37% ? Students want more useful feedback. The also want more verbal and face-to-face feedback. What can we stop doing to enable this to happen? PODCAST/VODCAST lectures?

  22. When I get to sit down with my tutor and discuss my work – that’s probably the best form of feedback I can get

  23. We need to explore students’ expectations of assessment and feedback

  24. Inducting studentsGet students confident with assessing • Give students in groups a selection of essays - Excellent, Good, Average & Fail • Students decide individually which essay fits into which category and then compares notes in small groups • Then get students to tease out the differences & express these differences as criteria • Students then provide feedback on each piece of work in their groups • Students then provide guidelines for effective essay writing • What has each student/group learned?

  25. Get students actively involvedUse feedback as an integral part of the curriculum • In small groups get students to exchange an assessed piece of their work and compare the feedback comments with group members • Do they understand the comments? • How would they respond to the comments? • What would they do differently next time if: a) They re-did the same assignment b) Applied the learning to a new and different piece of work?

  26. Quick ways of giving feedback • Generic feedback within 24 hours on the VLE • Face-to-face feedback with the whole group or small groups • Peer feedback in groups • Use technology - Audacity, Dragon, Statement Banks • Self-feedback - help students develop the skills of self reflection Students want more face-to-face feedback – what can we stop doing to enable this to happen?

  27. Understanding...? • This report is not logically structured • This essay is not sufficiently analytical • We need to develop the skills of self- assessment & encourage students to be active in this process Should we stress self and peer assessment as a graduate skill?

  28. Involve the students

  29. USING FEEDBACK TO LEARN LEARNING Most significant feedback comments What did you understand these to mean? ANALYZISING Things that I did that attracted positive comments Things that I did that attracted critical comments Any recurring trends or comments? PLANNING AND FEEDING FORWARD Things I can do to build on the positive feedback Things I can do to address the critical feedback Ref: P Race (2007). How to get a Good Degree

  30. A Way Forward The single most important thing for me to keep doing in the future is.. The single most important thing for me to improve in my future work on the basis of this feedback is…

  31. Getting students to reflect on their learningDialogue Starters... • How did this essay make you think differently? • Which part of the assignment do you feel less confident about? • What was the most challenging part of this assignment? • Jot down 2 things you have learnt doing this assignment that you did not expect to learn? • What advice would you give to students doing this assignment? • If you were to do this assignment again, what one change would you make? Ref: P Race 2009

  32. Hot Ten Tips • Help students to want feedback, not just the mark • Give some feedback quickly • Think of a variety of ways of giving feedback + actively involve the students • Have an appropriate balance of formative and summative assessment • Link feedback to learning outcomes and criteria

  33. Hot Ten Tips • Use feedback as an integral part of your lectures • Ensure your feedback includes feed-forward • Use self & peer assessment and feedback • Give students practice in understanding and using feedback • Make feedback interesting and motivational

  34. Quality Enhancement? Do you…. • review your assessment and feedback practices on an annual basis? • seek the views of students on their assessment and feedback practices to ensure continuous improvement by engaging in a dialogue? • ensure that when changes are made as a result of dialogue that the outcomes are fed back to the students? • engage as a course team in peer observation and in reviewing the feedback that students receive? • critique your own feedback practices to ensure that it enhances student learning?

  35. Any Questions? Involve your students as active partners in the learning process

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