Assessment and feedback

Principles, practice and technologies

Assessment and Feedback

Help clarify good performance

Encourage interaction and dialogue around learning

Provide opportunities to act on feedback

Development ofself-assessmentand reflection

Deliver high quality feedback

Encourage time and effort on challenging tasks

Give choice of topic, method, criteria, weighting or timing of assessments

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Help clarify good performance (goals, criteria, standards)

• Do your students understand the assessment criteria that you use? Do they understand the standards required to achieve a particular grade for each criterion or overall? Do you discuss these with them before they start the task? If you do, are the students able to state these in their own words?

• Research has shown that students who engage with assessment criteria and standards are more likely to be able to manage their own learning. For example, Rust et al. (2003) found that by working with students in their first term on assessment, assessment criteria and marking that there was a significant increase in the marks in the final assessment, compared with students who had not taken part in the exercise. LEARN MORE

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Help clarify good performance (goals, criteria, standards)

Ways to do this.... Technologies that can support this … Provide clear definitions of what is required for

each task Provide explicit marking criteria and standards Provide opportunities for discussion and

reflection about the criteria and standards before students start the task

Students put assessment criteria into their own words

Students generate own criteria and standards and compare to staff criteria

Provide model answers and opportunities for students to compare their own work against these

Explain the rationale for the assessment task Marking exercises where students look at

examples of work of different standards from a previous year to identify a rank order and why

Wiki Discussion forum Blog MS Office – Word, Excel Audio Screen capture (Jing, Camtasia) QuestionMark Perception(QMP) or

Personal Response System (PRS) Resources such as Cite-2-Write

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Encourage 'time and effort' on challenging learning tasks

Are your assessments designed to encourage students to work in and out of class throughout the semester or year? Can the students see the relevance of the assessment task – is it an authentic assessment?

Spreading activities either as discrete pieces of work or building up to make a single piece of work throughout the module brings balance to the student workload and can encourage deep learning. This approach also provides opportunities for ongoing feedback. Even if marks are attached to the individual elements (summative assessment) the activities will also be formative assessments, because students should be able to build on the feedback provided for the next or subsequent stages or elements. Although a particularly useful approach to use with first year students, this can be extended to students in other years. LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW TO DO THIS

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Encourage 'time and effort' on challenging learning tasksWays to do this.... Technologies that can

support this … Students complete a number of small summative

assessments with regular feedback Group work activities or large assessment broken down

into smaller tasks. Progress is monitored and feedback provided in a staged way over the course of the module

Get students to set their own schedule for completing an assignment task with milestones. Marks could be awarded if the student delivers as planned and on time

Portfolio of activities that is taken in regularly – the activities could become progressively more challenging

Regular activities to be completed in class Provide opportunities to practise skills before doing the

assessed work Mock exams or provide opportunities for students to do

past exam questions with feedback in a safe environment Provide feedback on examinations Staged final year projects – literature review delivered first Have students prepare basic material prior to a session and

use the time for more in depth activities Explain the rationale for the assessment task

QMP Wiki for group work (QOL

or SharePoint) Discussion forum Templates MS Office – PowerPoint w

ith or without narration Electronic sources

(scanned off prints on VLE)

Video activities as part of preparation - eg for a lab class how to

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Deliver high quality feedbackWhat kind of feedback do you provide? How does it encourage students to assess and correct themselves? We all learn from feedback and it is important that students have the opportunity to learn from the feedback provided by staff. That learning, however, may be enhanced by high quality feedback. When students receive poor quality feedback they are less likely to act on it. The issues that students have with feedback include the time it takes to receive feedback after submitting the work, understanding the feedback that has been given – this could be the language used, the handwriting, or not understanding the abbreviated shorthand. or the grade. If students only get a summary sheet are the comments explicit enough for the student to act on them intelligently – eg does a student know what ‘your spelling needs some attention’ or ‘much of this work was irrelevant’ mean? Feedback should also be about feedforward - what can the student do next time to improve their performance. LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW TO DO THIS

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Deliver high quality feedbackWays to do this.... Technologies that can

support this … Ensure feedback is related to the assessment criteria Provide tutorial activities with feedback Provide feedback in advance of the assignment – FAQs,

common errors Feedback built into online tests Micro-tasks offering opportunities for formative feedback Generic feedback to whole group: following an assignment or

as part of in class activities Feedback 24-48 hours after hand in - skim, say 10%, of worked

handed in, identify common strengths and weaknesses and feed these back to the class either in the next lecture or posting on to QOL.

Select model answers as a feedback source and give feedback to the whole group via discussion board

Ask students to indicate the areas they would like feedback on Ask student s to self-assess their work and provide feedback on

this as well as the assessment

QMP Wiki for group work Discussion forum Comments on work using

MS Office – Word and Quick parts for statement banks

Audio Screencast – Jing and

Camtasia Electronic Voting Systems (

Personal Response System) Generic feedback – typed

and or audio posted on to QOL

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Provide opportunities to act on feedbackOne of the issues frequently raised by staff is that students do not use the feedback given. There are a number of reasons why this might be including students’ perception of feedback coming too late, the module is over, and/or the mark achieved is acceptable to them. Students need to use both formative and summative feedback as a means of improving their future performance. Other than via the next piece of assessed work, do you provide students with opportunities to internalise and act on the feedback given? Equally, students will not be able to action the feedback if they do not understand it – this usually comes down to the terminology used by the assessor.

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Provide opportunities to act on feedback

Ways to do this.... Technologies that can support this …

Provide feedback on a draft – this could be tutor feedback or it could be peer feedback which engages the students with the assessment criteria and the ‘art of marking’

Withhold the mark until the student has produced an action plan for the future work (3600 feedback)

As part of personal tutoring require students to produce an action plan at the beginning of the new semester/year on how they will address the feedback given in the previous semester/year

Regular activities throughout module that receive feedback – expect this feedback to be incorporated

Have one assignment come in early which is marked and returned to the students in time for them to use the feedback in the second assignment

Ensure that students understand the feedback provided

QMP Assignment tool in QO

L Download template

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Encourage interaction and dialogue around learning

Dialogue between students and between staff and students plays an important role in student success. Students need to engage in dialogue around feedback. Large first year classes make one-to-one interaction between staff and students difficult, but meaningful dialogue can take place between students.

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Encourage interaction and dialogue around learning

Ways to do this.... Technologies that can support this …

Structure group projects so that students discuss the criteria and standards expected at the start and then review progress against the criteria

Minute papers with questions covering the session – results used at the beginning of the next session

Use group work or support learning groups and learning communities

Students set task for each other Students set MCQ with feedback to correct and incorrect

answers Students discuss the written feedback they have been given

with their peers and suggest strategies for future improvement

Students bring brief pieces of work to tutorials which are then reviewed by a peer – what is good, what is less good and how can it be improved?

Students peer ‘mark’ or peer review a draft which is then modified in response to the feedback provided

Use the PRS to promote debate about the right answer when the results are shown

Wiki Discussion forum QMP Groupwork around any

multimedia product

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Development of self-assessment and reflection

If students are to acquire the skills of regulating their own learning and development they need to be able to self-assess their work. Providing students with opportunities to engage with self-assessment in a formal manner is likely to develop more autonomous learners and lead to greater engagement with the criteria and standards.LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW TO DO THIS

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Development of self-assessment and reflectionWays to do this.... Technologies that can support

this … Ask students to complete a self-assessment proforma (using the

assessment criteria) – this may include an estimate of the mark (your feedback would identify why there are gaps between the student’s view and yours)

Ask students to indicate the parts of their work which they feel are strengths and weaknesses

A combination of the two above Students requesting assistance/feedback on particular aspects

(this could be included with the above also) Peer assessment provides an opportunity for a student to

engage with the criteria and standards on someone else’s work and then apply that to their own

Confidence-based marking for MCQs– as well as providing an answer students have to rate how confident they are that this is the correct answer on a scale of 1-3. If the answer is incorrect then the penalty is greater the higher the level of confidence. If the answer is correct the mark depends on the confidence level.

Students keep a reflective journal or portfolio through the course

Online objective tests and quizzes for self-testing Students include how they have responded to earlier feedback

A series of on-line formative tests

QMP Wiki Discussion forum Reflective blog Template MS Office - Word

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Give choice of topic, method, criteria, weighting or timing of assessments

Being able to manage and prioritise their work is a key graduate skill. Providing students with opportunities to make decisions about which topic to do, when to hand work in, the weighting of an assessment or part of it enables them to practise this skill. For example, students often have a choice of topic to, and some online testing allows them to take the test at some point during a specified period.LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW TO DO THIS

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Give choice of topic, method, criteria, weighting or timing of assessments

Ways to do this.... Technologies that can support this …

Choice of essay titles Choice of topic for extended essay or

project/dissertation Negotiated submission dates Students generate criteria for assessment Students provide additional criteria for assessment Students choose the weighting for parts of an

assessment Students set their own schedule

Wiki

Discussion forum

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Computer Assisted AssessmentRequirements: A QuestionMark Perception (QMP) account Benefits Students Staff Formative and summative

assessment online The possibility of immediate

and detailed feedback.

The ability to question the student right across the curriculum, addressing the full range of learning outcomes.

Greater efficiency and reliability as a large number of papers can be marked quickly and consistently.

The possibility of immediate and detailed feedback to students.

More detailed and immediate analysis of student performance on each question enabling a greater fine tuning of assessment for future use.

Tips The literature shows that gradual introduction eg a few short formative

tests, and building a bank of tested questions over a period of time before moving to summative assessment is lower risk and less stressful for staff

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Video Screen capture with or without audio

Requirements: JING or CamtasiaJING is free to download and use with up to 5 minutes of video

Benefits Students Staff Re-usable resource

Personal

Able to draw attention to key points even if more detail is provided in the annotations

Tips CED has a tablet PC which allows you to “write” comments over a word document or screenshot and this is available on loan from g.m.kelly@qub.ac.uk

Several short clips are easier to record and plan

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AudioRequirements: Digital voice recorder with ability to save as MP3 files

Audacity – free to download – headphones and microphoneSmart phone with voice recorder

Benefits Students Staff Personal

Listen in own space in own time No issues with legibility Improved quality of feedback Students report returning to

feedback in this format It can benefit students who have

a particular learning style or have difficulty reading or for whom English is not their first language.

Students themselves can also be encouraged to produce audio content. This can help to improve their knowledge and enhance their understanding of material, develop communication skills or share ideas and collaborate.

More feedback can be given in the time than it takes to type

Increased student interest Rewarding Increased efficiency With Audacity able to cut out long

pauses With Audacity able to copy and

paste comments

Tips If you are using this to give feedback and a mark, then give the mark at the end. Students have to listen to get the mark.

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Annotated text – can be used in conjunction with video screen capture

Requirements: MS Word or equivalent using comments, track changes and Quick Parts

Benefits Students Staff Legible comments

Comments in line with text Quick Parts remove the need

to write the same comment on each paper – just paste in the Quick Part

Tips If using Quick Parts build up a statement bank before creating the Quick Parts

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Electronic Voting System/Personal Response System (EVS/PRS)

Requirements: MS PowerPointTurningPoint softwareAccess to handsets

Benefits Students Staff Allow the lecturer to ask students questions and

then get instant feedback on their answers. Participation is lower risk as answers are not

identified with individuals, but its use has been seen to encourage greater verbal responses from students and initiate peer-to-peer discussion and debate.

Engage students in active learning. Can help to meet the needs of different learning

styles. Improved attainment Increased interest Facilitates interaction

Allow the lecturer to ask students questions and then give instant feedback on their answers.

Engage students in active learning. Gives the lecturer an insight to the students'

understanding of key concepts. Provide lecturers and students with instant

feedback related to learning and understanding.

Provide lecturers with the ability to analyse student responses and use as the basis for class discussion.

Check students have noted the main points in prior readings.

Ensure student have a clear understanding of tasks and assignments.

Improved attendance at more interesting lectures

Tips Single best answer questions work well – all options may have some validity but a panel of “experts” would all be able to justify one answer over the others – such questions are “hooks” that lead to further discussion and explanations

Ask only the questions the learners need ie those that address the learning outcomes or that tease out whether students have mastered a difficult concept – two or three questions are adequate in a 1 hour session.

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Narrated presentations

Requirements: MS PowerPointHeadphones and microphone

Benefits Students Staff Re-usable resource that can be

revisited for revision purposes Deliver basic material and know

that it is available for all students Frees class time for other

activitiesTips

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Video – of practical activities or lecture

Requirements: Benefits Students Staff Re-usable objects

Revision Preparatory work before practical

or fieldwork – saves time in session

Tips Several short clips can be more effective than one longer film “Storyboard” your content in steps Video that is mainly illustrative is more reusable and can be housed in

web templates or placed alongside written resources which provide further explanations and activities.

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Wiki/discussion forum/blog

Requirements: Wiki and discussion forum via module resource in QOLSharePoint for wiki

Benefits Students Staff Class or group sharing of ideas

Class or group posting of questions

Managing group work Peer feedback

Monitoring class or group discussions

Feedback to class or group or individual

Responding to questionsTips Setting up tutorial Groups in QSIS automatically creates separate

discussion and wikis for each group Set up alerts to let you know when content has been added to

discussion and wiki areas Too many alerts? - A rule in your inbox can group the alerts into a

separate folder that you can monitor regularly

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e-Learning templates

Requirements: Username and password from the CMS teamBenefits Students Staff Re-usable resources

Ability to access from a distance

Self-testing

Delivery of material Frees class time for other

activities

Tips

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QOL assignment tool

Requirements: Access to module in QOLBenefits Students Staff Upload assignment in any

file format Download feedback

Anonymous code if required Upload marked work in any

file format Upload feedback in any file

format See who has accessed

feedbackTips

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