Assessing and giving feedback to students

Session learning outcomes On completion of this session you should be able to; Understand the purpose of assessment and the role it plays in helping students to learn Recognise the challenges involved in marking and grading student work and develop approaches to ensure that your own practice is reliable and transparent Understand and apply the principles of giving effective feedback to students

The role of the postgraduate teacher in assessment As a PGwT you are not likely to be asked to design summative assessments HOWEVER, you need to Understand assessment criteria and alignment to learning outcomes Be able to guide/advise students Be able to provide constructive feedback to students Utilise formative assessment methods to support students and develop your teaching

Key principles of assessment

The power of assessment “Nothing we do to, or for our students is more important than our assessment of their work and the feedback we give them on it” (Race et al, 2005) Elton (1987) coined the term ‘backwash’ to refer to the effects of assessment on student learning Although we as teachers may see the learning outcomes as the central pillar of an aligned teaching system – but students generally see otherwise Assessment determines what and how students learn more than the curriculum does Backwash refers to the influence that the assessment strategy has on a students approach to learning – it is typically seen as a negative thing – but does not have to be that way EXAMPLES A task that requires recall of facts will promote surface learning (e.g. and exam) A task that requires application of knowledge requires understanding and should promote deeper learning (e.g. a project or case study)

Assessment backwash Negative backwash often occurs in an exam based system Teachers typically ‘teach towards the exam’ Students learn by looking at past papers and practising model answers Strategic and surface learning Positive backwash can occur in a system where assessment is aligned to learning outcomes In preparing for the assessment, students will be learning the intended outcomes My learning experience of GCSE and A levels was a typical example of negative backwash THIS UNDERLINES THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CONSTRUCTIVE ALIGNMENT APPROACH TO DESIGN THAT WE DISCUSSED YESTERDAY

Types of assessment Formative assessment Summative assessment Assessment for learning Carried out during teaching/learning Formative feedback may Improve learners learning Improve teachers teaching Formative assessment and feedback is inseparable from teaching Assessment of learning Carried out after the teaching/learning Used to see how well the student has learnt what they were supposed to The result/grade is final There are two main types or forms of assessment Typically, both formative and summative assessment methods are used within modules and programmes

Criterion vs Norm-referencing Individual achievement is judged in relation to the performance of the whole population Only a set percentage can achieve each level Criterion-referencing Achievement is measured against a clear set of criteria Norm referencing used to be the method used in grading GSCE and A levels – they would determine the grade mark needed for an A each year depending on the spread of marks In HE we use criterion-referencing This is a much fairer and transparent system – all students can theoretically achieve the top grades We are not supposed to compare the work of students – but in reality this is very hard to do

Assessment criteria and alignment Assessment criteria must align with the learning outcomes Assessment tasks should be set to enable students to meet these Criteria should be simple and clear to students Staff should mark to the assessment criteria It is good practice to link feedback to the assessment criteria The assessment criteria should break down the learning outcomes – and present them in a way that students know what they have to do to meet them The assessment criteria are you benchmark for a pass. Only if the student has met the assessment criteria can they pass. When Marking we should assess first against the criteria and then grade **In nursing we do something slightly different which is to use the two question approach EXAMPLE

Marking and grading

How do we mark? Electronically – using Turnitin Grademark Electronically – annotating the original script Handwritten annotations on the original script Other…. As an institution we are moving towards all student receiving marks and feedback through Turnitin – Most students will receive electronic annotations on their script and summary comments There are some types of assessment that cannot go through Turnitin at present – these may require different ways of marking – presentations are the most common example given here

Top tips for marking students’ work Familiarise yourself with the criteria and assessment brief Mark to the criteria and marking scheme Plan and manage your time Beware of bias/prejudice/halo effect Be confident to use the full range of marks – just make sure you can justify each mark you give Make sure you know what you are looking for and what students have been told. Some module leaders will do a session for the team, if they don’t, ask, or go along to the session where they are giving students the assessment brief Make sure the work meets the assessment criteria (or brief – in the absence of criteria) before you think about grades – mark then grade Marking takes longer than you think – and longer than we get allocated to mark – plan for this and block out an adequate amount of time in your diary when you know when marking is due Even if you don’t think you do, you will have unconscious biases – you may inadvertently reward students you really like or know tried really hard, you may be more punitive towards students who were problematic or didn’t turn up for class. If you can, go on the University’s unconscious bias training Halo effect – marking higher then you should when a good one follows a bad one – self-moderate where you can to avoid these

Giving feedback

Types of feedback Feedback comes in may forms Written, verbal & audio Individual & group How and when might you use the different styles of feedback? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each

Student perceptions of feedback Each year the National Student Survey (NSS) scores show widespread dissatisfaction with feedback Common complaints include Feedback takes too long to be returned Feedback is limited or not useful Inconsistency in the quality and quantity of feedback Return times are less of a problem now, we have a 15 day turnaround limit at Lincoln which we are pretty good at sticking too Students like us to be really specific in our feedback – rather than saying something is ‘good’ we need to explain why it is good. Instead of saying something needs developing we need to say how and what additional sources might be good in helping them to do this – we must be specific – in text comments are useful in this respect Inconsistency should be avoidable through good communication within marking teams – ideally you should agree how the feedback is going to be presented to students and roughly how much should be given. A good moderator will pick up on big differences between team members too Think about what you would want to receive as a student

The “feedback sandwich” A popular model for providing feedback – sandwiching the constructive criticism between positive points Not without criticism itself……but a good way to ensure that you don’t cause offence….. Always try and find positive comments, even when a piece of work is very poor (yes its hard)

What do students want? Praise for what they have done well Clarity about what was good so that they can do it again Clear identification of where they went wrong Specific pointers on how to put things right Identification of transferable skills (feedforward) – particularly important for students who pass! This came from our second year nursing students. Keep it clear, keep is simple and to the point – and be nice! Watch your language, if you wouldn’t say it to someone’s face, don’t write it down!

“When we are giving feedback to students, we are teaching” Baume (1998) “When we are giving feedback to students, we are teaching”

Encouraging students to engage with feedback Producing assessment feedback for students is difficult and time consuming Despite demands for it, students may not recognise, understand or use it We need to think of ways to engage students with their feedback Incorporate it into the learning and teaching process – embed an activity in class that makes use of feedback Utilise formative assessments that are clearly linked to the summative assessment task Ask for feedback on the feedback – give students the opportunity to discuss is with you – encourage them to come and see you to talk it through – this is something that they may not want to talk to their peers about

Summary Marking and giving feedback is challenging and time consuming You need to prepare for marking in the same way you prepare for teaching Try to self-moderate where you can Keep feedback simple, clear and constructive Remember: You are teaching students how to do better next time Find out exactly what you are marking – what the criteria is – what is expected/acceptable – what the feedback should look like

References & further reading Baume, D. (1998) Marking and giving feedback. Milton Keynes: Open University Elton, L. (1987) Teaching in higher education: Appraisal and training. London: Kogan Page. Race, P., Brown, S. & Smith, B.(2005) 500 tips on assessment (2nd Ed). London: Routledge.