Learning and Teaching unit, SASM Developing practical guidance to promote good practice in assessment and feedback Nick Smeeton, Nicola Hailstone, Andy Theodoulides, Rob Harley, Alan Richardson and Sid Hayes Learning and Teaching unit, SASM Assessment and feedback processes are important vehicles for student learning. They are also heavily implicated in measures of student satisfaction. Assessment and feedback is often an area that is given the lowest score in surveys of student satisfaction. This result is found in the context of there being a lot of research and guidance on this topic. To help increase the impact of this guidance, the Learning and Teaching unit in SASM has produced an interactive assessment and feedback jigsaw to promote good practice. https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/jigsaw/

Objectives of the session Present the assessment and feedback jigsaw and its development Share examples of current practice from SASM course Inform future good practice through discussion

Objectives of the session Present the assessment and feedback jigsaw and its development Share examples of current practice from SASM course Inform future good practice through discussion

Assessment and Feedback: The national, institutional or SASMic context NSS assessment and feedback scores

Assessment and Feedback: The national, institutional or SASMic context Brighton NSS scores – assessment and FB

Assessment and Feedback: The national, institutional or SASMic context SASM - assessment and feedback range of scores 69-92% (2015-16)

A & F Jigsaw Development Cycle Stage 7. Document publicised. Presented to SASM student Stage 6. Document publicised. Presented to SASM staff & L&T conference Stage 1. Review of guidance. discussion with L & T unit, Online resources, consult SASM projects Stage 5. Feedback sought. Points presented at school student forum and staff forum Stage 2. Refine and categorise. 25 points to 17. Themes: Required to, Online & Technology, Building student conf. and motivation, Curriculum design and improving, knowl. Skills and underst. Stage 1. Online – Queen Marys doc, HEA FB tool kit, NUS A &FB benchmark tool kit L & T – current practice and SASM policies SASM projects – Alan Richardson and I course based approach to online feedback Stage 2. Other structures were considered POSSIBILY HAVE ANOTHER CATEGORY - FAIR AND TRANSPARENT MARKING – IT COULD BE ADDED TO THE MODULE OUTLINE ANOTHER WAY TO SEPARATE THE GUIDELINES IS TO CATEGORIES IT AS THINGS FOR THE STUDENTS, THINGS FOR THE MODULE TEAM AND THINGS FOR THE COURSE TEAM TO CONSIDER. Stage 3. FB was positive (comments from Andy who presented it) Stage 4. In order to turn complicated research into usable practical advice, some degree of simplification was needed as well as an active voice Stage 5. Fantastic admin support used here. Stage 4. Development of the jigsaw. Document created that can be navigated through Stage 3. Practical guidance developed. Short ‘bitesize’ guiding statements written for each of the points

Feedback jigsaw AThe jigsaw groups good practice into five themes of; improving knowledge skills and understanding, curriculum design, building student confidence and motivation, online feedback and use of technology and ‘required to’ processes in the school. The aim of the jigsaw is to provide an overview of good practices and serve as an entry point for lecturers to seek further information

Discussion 1: Feedback on Feedback (10 mins) Get sight of a copy of the jigsaw Ipads, paper copies, download pdf https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/jigsaw/ Click link Comment on themes, guidance points and guidance Add comment here

Objectives of the session Present the assessment and feedback jigsaw and its development Share examples of current practice from SASM courses Inform future good practice through discussion

Examples of current practice Feedback on exam papers. Harvey Ells, RT404 Podcast feedback. Nigel Jarvis and Clare Weeden, TT403 and SZ605 Studentfolio and employability skills. Adam Jones. SR425, SE511 and SZ674

Feedback on exam papers Module: RT404 Retail Operations Management # of students: 15-25 Assessment task: Long answer exam Students are provided with quick mark comments drag and dropped onto the exam script

Feedback on exam papers

Feedback on exam papers

Feedback on exam papers: Module leader comments Benefits to the students: Greater knowledge about their level of understanding Benefits to the staff: Improved student learning for little extra time Issues: Time to develop repository, admin support needed to get scripts into Grademark, students need to be introduced to the format of the exam and have good instructions on how to complete the exam paper, dependent on technology

Podcast as a feedback method Module: TT403 (Impact of Tourism) and SZ605 (Sports Tourism) Assessment task: Essay Students are provided with an audio file 3-4 mins long (sometimes 7 mins) containing oral feedback. Points made in the text are elaborated on. No summative text comment is given. Done straight after marking the work. Example podcast

Podcast as a feedback method: Module leader comments Benefits to the students: More information can be given, tone detail etc. Easier to communicate motivational feedback. They like it (and EE do too) Benefits to the staff: quick to produce –grammar. Issues: Neutral voice needed. Sometimes students just look at the mark (marks released after FB listened to being explored). Batch loading of audio files. TII limited to 3 min clips. Moderation through another audio file. Useful in practical classes. Need to not worry about creating a studio level production

Assessing students with Studentfolio Module: SR425 (Academic and Employability Skills), SE511 (placement) and SZ674 (Employability, Enterprise and Innovation) Assessment task: Portfolio Students develop an online portfolio that acts as a repository of there work and can be shown to a future employer once the student has graduated. Learning technologist introduces the students to Studentfolio

Assessing students with Studentfolio: Module leader comments Benefits to the students: Develop employability and transferable skills, allows skills to be built on over the degree, opportunity for formative feedback. Benefits to the staff: More diverse range of skills can be assessed (e.g. placement evidences of competencies, crowd source video). Previous work can be shared with students easily as examples of good practice. Issues: Learning digital skills

Discussion 2: Sharing Innovative Practice (10 mins) What worked and what hasn’t worked? Constraints of the course/module Student numbers Assessment mode Technology

Summary and Next Steps The assessment and feedback jigsaw may bridge the gap between applied practice and guidance documents 5 themes were identified: ; improving knowledge skills and understanding, curriculum design, building student confidence and motivation, online feedback and use of technology and ‘required to’ processes in the school – context specific

Summary and Next Steps NUS assessment and feedback benchmarking tool for self reflection

Further reading / References The Higher Education Academy’s Feedback toolkit •https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/system/files/resources/feedback_toolkit_whole1.pdf Good Practice Guide on Assessment and Feedback to Students http://capd.qmul.ac.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2014/05/Assessment-and-Feedback-Guide.pdf