S ETTING QUESTIONS AND GIVING FEEDBACK

Learning outcomes To critically evaluate the appropriateness and usefulness of questions set to measure learning in your discipline area To develop a rationale for setting and marking questions.

W HY DO WE ASSESS ?

Provide feedback to students so they can learn from mistakes and build on achievements Classify or grade student achievement Enable students to correct errors and remedy deficiencies Motivate students and focus their sense of achievement Consolidate student learning Help students to apply abstract principles to practical contexts Estimate students potential to progress to other levels or courses Give us feedback on how effective we are being at promoting learning Guide selection or option choice Provide statistics for internal/external agencies (Sally Brown, 1999, p.6)

D ISCIPLINARY DIFFERENCE … Within your discipline, consider and establish the types of assessment that take place within your faculty and evaluate the purposes for which they are used. Pause the video here and list all the forms and methods of assessment in your department.

C OMMON FAILINGS WITH ASSESSMENT Hasty assessment preparation Use of inefficient assessment tools Too heavy a reliance on subjective judgement Reliance on absolute standards of judgement Testing trivia Careless wording of assessment questions Failure to analyse the quality of the test

F ORMATIVE VS. S UMMATIVE

FORMATIVE continuous assessed mainly by words prime purpose to help students improve SUMMATIVE

F ORMATIVE VS. S UMMATIVE FORMATIVE continuous assessed mainly by words prime purpose to help students improve SUMMATIVE end point assessment is largely numerical concerned with making evaluative judgements

T HINGS THAT HELP Offering students responsible choice among different methods Discussion of appropriate methods and how the methods relate to course goals Joint staff-student design of assessment questions and negotiation of criteria for success and failure Self and peer assessment activities

C RITERIA FOR MARKING : W ATERTIGHT M ARKING S CHEMES What do you test? Memory retention? Applying skills and techniques? Exercising critical judgement? Reflection on what they have learnt?

F EEDBACK I SSUES Oral versus written comments Praise versus criticism Suggestion versus correction The feedback sandwich Other issues….?

G IVING F EEDBACK Be positive, honest, fair and realistic Try to motivate the student Target feedback to enhance learning Make feedback legible

G IVING G OOD N EWS Clear be blunt with your praise – use words like excellent, great Specific in the long term the student needs to know what was good and why Personal acknowledge the individual – use their name Fred this was a great piece of work

G IVING B AD N EWS Be specific be clear about what is wrong with the piece Be constructive Suggest how the work could be made better Be kind do this by being constructive and specifi Offer encouragement round off on a high note

G ENERAL C OMMENTS Positive and encouraging Summary of view of assignment General suggestions for how to move forward Questions that encourage reflection Offer help on specific problems Etc....