Assessment & Feedback

Workshop Summary

This summary outlines the first of a two part assessment and feedback workshop delivered by Bournemouth University as part of the Bournemouth & Poole College staff development day on 15 October 2018.  The session was delivered by Curie Scott, senior lecturer in BU’s Centre for Excellence in Learning (CEL), on behalf of Anne Quinney, principal lecturer and theme leader for assessment and feedback.  The event was attended by BPC teaching staff from a range of higher education courses.  The morning session involved discussion of the nature of assessment and feedback, while the afternoon session, which was not attended, examined the implementation of BU’s new assessment design policy.

Importance of Assessment & Feedback

As innovation and excellence in teaching are key themes in BU’s Strategic Plan, BU are undertaking a review of assessment.  Assessment and feedback form an important part of teaching and learning for a number of reasons.  Firstly, assessment and feedback drive learning as they help to motivate students.  Research shows students narrow their focus down to material which they know will be assessed.  They are not motivated if things are not assessed.  Students regularly ask lecturers, “Is this in the exam?”  As a lecturer, it pays to answer “Yes, it may be.”  Poorly designed feedback can also serve to demotivate students if it is unvaried and repetitive.  Assessment and feedback are by nature time and resource intensive for staff, and therefore need to be designed as effectively as possible to deliver quality in a sustainable way.  They also seriously affect student-teacher relationships and are the main areas of dissatisfaction, nationally, in the National Student Survey (NSS) in higher education.  Particular issues highlighted included: clarity of advance marking criteria; fairness of assessment and marking; promptness of feedback; level of detail in feedback; effectiveness of feedback in boosting student understanding.

Principles of Assessment

BU’s Centre of Excellence in Learning is keen to see a move from a focus on assessment of learning, to assessment for learning.  This involves integrating learning and assessment together, and requires dialogue between student and teacher.  It promotes thinking about the learning process and requires the active engagement of students.  Assessment tasks involve choice and are central to curriculum design, aligning with important learning outcomes.  Assessment for learning provides feedback that is rich, meaningful and timely, which students can act on to improve their learning. A range of assessment approaches should be provided, to enable all students to demonstrate their learning and prepare students for employment.  Assessment literacy is also embedded within the curriculum, preparing students for assessment by informing them of the process.  Consider what ways   Co-constructing assignment briefs can be used to further enhance clarity.  Using extensive “low stake” forms of assessment through, for example, the use of practice question banks and peer review, can prepare students for high stake assessment later on, while also boosting confidence.

Formative assessment should begin as early as possible and promote deep learning while enabling the demonstration of excellence.   

Assessment should also be:

·         valid ·         reliable ·         transparent ·         authentic ·         redeemable

·         equitable ·         formative ·         timely ·         incremental ·         demanding

·         motivational ·         fair ·         efficient ·         manageable

 

Feedback Strategies

Feedback can be made more meaningful through use of the following principles and strategies.

Feedback and feedforward - consider providing both feedback and feedforward. Feedback justifies the mark awarded for the current assignment; feedforward indicates how the work can be improved. 

Audio feedback - consider providing multimedia audio feedback, for example podcasts or screencasts, which can also be used on Turnitin.  As a guide, a three minute recording equates to 1500 words.  Audio feedback has received positive feedback from students, but can be difficult to produce. 

Face to face feedback - face to face feedback can be conducted with individuals and groups and can be used to clarify written comments.  Begin by asking the student if they are surprised by their mark.  This can guide you as to whether the student needs in depth feedback to explain the mark and how it could be improved.  Diagrams, pictures and metaphors can also help students understand.  Other questions to ask include: what do you think went well? (Here’s what I think went well…) What do you think could be improved?  (Here’s what I think could be improved...) Discuss how the improvements could be brought about.

Whole class feedback - provide whole class verbal feedback on what went well and what didn’t, how the assignments could have been improved, provide clarification of understanding and further reading.

Common language matrix - consider using a matrix of vocabulary to use richer, wider terms to describe feedback and also to ensure consistency at different levels (e.g. good for 50-59; very good for 60-69; excellent for 70-79; outstanding for 80 and above). 

Peer feedback – embedding peer feedback encourages students to consider marking criteria more carefully and to develop critical reflection skills.  It also supports assessment transparency.

 Streamlining Assessment and Feedback

As assessment and feedback are time intensive for staff, explore different ways in which technology could be used to help. Visit the CEL website for information about blended learning and web-based tools which support assessment and feedback.  As with the vocabulary matrix, consider using online statement banks to develop frequently used phrases.  Involving students in self- or peer-assessment can also release staff time.  If using exams, mark one question at a time through all the papers, rather than all questions on one paper.

Assessment Literacy

Students sometimes don’t realise what feedback is, so they don’t realise they have received it.  Assessment literacy refers to clear mutual understanding of assessment and feedback.  Find ways to dialogue with students to promote understanding of what assessment is, why it’s important, and how students can make feedback work for them.  Use different approaches to highlight to students that “this” is feedback.  (One lecturer would put on “the feedback hat” complete with flashing lights, to emphasise this point!) Consider getting permission from students to post assignments from last year, and get students to mark them using criteria.

JISC Assessment and Feedback Recommendations

Curriculum design should include plenty of opportunities for formative assessment, and an assessment timetable that permits feedback to be acted on and feed forward into the next assignment.  Assessment design needs to reflect the skills and competences that enhance employability – including the ability to make judgements about different sources of feedback and to give as well as receive feedback.  Over-assessment and assessment bunching have a detrimental effect on student achievement.  Analysis and discussion of approaches to assessment and feedback needs to become normal practice for academic staff.  Students at all levels need better support and development to enable them to engage effectively with assessment and feedback practices.

Problems with Feedback

According to research there is currently a low student response to feedforward support and discussion with the marker. Markers tend to focus on positive and encouraging comments rather than providing clear practical advice on how students can improve the quality of future work.   

“Unless students are able to use the feedback to produce improved work, through for example re-doing the same assignment, neither they nor those giving the feedback will know that it has been effective” (Boud 2000, p.158).

Students tend to be fixated on the grade or numerical score, which may override verbal or written feedback.  Insensitive or judgemental feedback can negatively influence students’ motivation and confidence.  Feedback messages may also be complex and difficult to grasp unless students are given opportunities to actively construct an understanding of them.

Application

Due to limited contact time with students we have little opportunity for assessment.  In the past we have assessed an LRC-led information skills assignment for approximately 80 Access students.  This was very time intensive to mark, and provided numerous challenges in terms of providing feedback.  Following on from this experience, future assignments would be delivered via Moodle, with as much automatic marking as possible.  The use of statement banks and the vocabulary matrix would be helpful for providing both consistency and depth and breadth of written feedback to supplement this.  We are currently developing an online Harvard referencing course with question banks which will provide formative assessment opportunities for students.  Basic formative assessment can also be used within some of our information skills sessions to check learning, for example in the form of Kahoot quizzes.  Verbal feedback and feedforward is regularly supplied to students during practical workshops and one to one surgery sessions.  We are currently investigating the feasibility of developing one-to-one student skills audits, which may provide more opportunity for assessment and feedback.

References

Boud, D., 2000. Sustainable assessment: rethinking assessment for the learning society. Studies in continuing education, 22 (2), 150-167.

Centre of Excellence in Learning, 2018.  Assessment and feedback pocket guide. Bournemouth: Bournemouth University.