Assessment and Feedback Peer and Self Assessment Fang Lou, Mark Russell and Helen Barefoot The Learning and Teaching Institute

What does good assessment look like?

GOOD assessment Stimulates learning ALWAYS provides high quality feedback Efficient and timely Related to learning objectives Develop self-assessment abilities Provides staff-student contact Monitors student progress Appropriate methods used Accurate and reproducible

Assessment Experience Questionnaire Student learning is best supported when the following conditions are met: Assessed tasks capture sufficient student time and effort These tasks distribute student effort evenly across topics & weeks These tasks engage students in productive learning activity Assessment communicates clear and high expectations to students Sufficient feedback is provided, often enough & in enough detail The feedback is provided quickly enough to be useful to students Feedback focuses on learning rather than on marks or students Feedback is linked to the purpose of the assignment and to criteria Feedback is understandable to students, given their sophistication Feedback is received by students and attended to Feedback is acted upon by students to improve their work or their learning assessment conditions which best support learning. Course experience questionnaire – Paul Ramsden – 1991 - Australia Discusses reduction in formative assessments – “Open University students may receive 50 times as much feedback on assignments over the course of an entire degree compared to students at conventional universities. OU Students can cope without much, or even, any facte-2-face teaching, but they cannot cope without regular feedback on assignments (Gibbs & Simpson, 2004)

Good Feedback Practice Good assessment and feedback practice should: 1 Help to clarify what good performance is (goals, criteria, standards) 2 Encourage 'time and effort' on challenging learning tasks 3 Deliver high-quality feedback information that helps learners to self-correct 4 Provide opportunities to act on feedback (to close any gap between current and desired performance) 5 Ensure that summative assessment has a positive impact on learning 6 Encourage interaction and dialogue around learning (peer and teacher-student) 7 Facilitate the development of self-assessment and reflection in learning 8 Give choice in the topic, method, criteria, weighting or timing of assessments 9 Involve students in decision-making about assessment policy and practice 10 Support the development of learning groups and learning communities 11 Encourage positive motivational beliefs and self-esteem 12 Provide information to teachers that can be used to help shape their teaching Meta-analysis of 87 studies (Hattie 1987) – what makes a difference to student achievement? –most powerful single influence is feedback Study of student and staff perceptions of feedback differ (Maclellen 2001) – staff think they provide useful information which stimulates discussion – students think that it is sometimes useful/helpful yet rarely (2%) think it stimulates discussion What students do with feedback can be depressing – feedback is often not read at all or understood. In absence of mark – students read feedback much more carefully. Nicol (2009)

NUS Principles of effective assessment 1. Should be for learning, not simply of learning 2. Should be reliable, valid, fair and consistent 3. Should incorporate effective and constructive feedback 4. Should be innovative and have the capacity to inspire and motivate such as with the use of technology 5. Should measure understanding and application, rather than technique and memory 6. Should be conducted throughout the course, not simply positioned as a final event 7. Should develop key skills such as peer and reflective assessment 8. Should be central to staff development and teaching strategies, and frequently reviewed 9. Should be of a manageable amount for both students and tutors 10. Should encourage dialogue between students and their tutors, and students and their peers (NUS’ Principles of effective assessment)

Experiences of self/peer assessment

Coping strategies for large numbers of reports/essays marking (1) Work in groups; joint rather than individual report. Run parallel activities on some weeks Abolish half the practicals/seminars and provide time for self-directed learning Mark only some of the exercises rather than all reports Get your post-graduate students to do the marking for you Specify very tight format; reporting data recorded, processing, final result

Coping strategies for large numbers of reports/essays marking (2) Use objective marking (e.g. MCQ) to test understanding of the practical/calculations. Pre-prepared comment sheets for feedback or assembled feedback via StudyNet Use peer-or self-marking of the write-ups Separate the learning objectives of different teaching activities and teach each explicitly. Peer marking copes with problem and has bonuses

Why do peer assessment? all get all the information provides full explanation requires better understanding develops critical evaluation see others’ mistakes and standards exposes bias/fairness/integrity issues saves staff time and effort IMPROVES STUDENT LEARNING

Example of improvement in student learning at Leeds

Self- & Peer - assessment What is it? Why do we use it? Student – centered Clear transparent criteria Encourage deep learning Quicker feedback Learn from others

Example (peer assessment) Bioscience level 1, 200 students Practical on exercise physiology, proforma A workshop to brief students Full lab report, submitted on StudyNet & hard copy 2 hour session for peer assessment; marking criteria; comments; WATS for reflection and feedback (5%)

Key points of the workshop Using EVS to discuss with students about what, why and how to do peer assessment Detailed guidance of how to write a lab report General marking criteria of a full lab report is given Total marks and sign Reports collected and marking sheet to lecturer introduction and initiation •keep silence during marking! •cheating? •scheduling; all same prac; time between prac and marking session; standard answer /data

Key points of the marking session Preparation and organisation 2 hours duration with prompt start Clear and detailed marking scheme – take them through timely; print-out Prompt attendance to queries – consistent answers OMR (optical marker Reader) marking sheet for scan WATS (weekly assessment tutorial sheet) system for reflection and feedback introduction and initiation •keep silence during marking! •cheating? •scheduling; all same prac; time between prac and marking session; standard answer /data

What do the students think?

What do the students think?

What do the students think?

“In what ways did you benefit from the peer assessment activity?” marking other people work can be useful to spot what you have done wrong in your own report so that was a good benefit nothing much really showed the standard that others were working at I don't feel that I benefited from the peer assessment activity, however, the detailed marking scheme did help to show what the lecturers are looking for in future reports. I felt that the marking scheme and even reading other peoples work made me reflect upon what I was good at and what I could work on/add to in my report and future reports. i had the chance to look at someone else’s style of writing and problem solving, which i may incorporate into my own work. Good indication of what our lecturers would be looking for as well perhaps of how our peers may view our written work. Additionally from this exercise, i can gauge how effective my written communication skills are in the scientific field norms. allowed me to understand the lecturers impartial role in the marking process

it's a fantastic experience “What other comments do you have regarding the peer assessment process?” Time could have been used as a lecture to improve our understanding of human physiology i think the assesment wasnt very fair as some markers can be really generous and others will not be. It was a very good eye opener the marking criteria was a great help and provided a guideline for future lab reports. I feel really unwell for my lab report marks. the marker didn't even count the total marks for me, and the comment he/she wrote was unreasonable. and he/she didn't even marks my PTS skills!! It wasn't as bad as I thought, but had trouble keeping up. It is quite a bit risky marking someone else's work but it was quite beneficial in understanding the criteria used in marking our laboratory reports. it's a fantastic experience

What is prompt ?

Consider if one of your assignments could be peer or self assessed

ESCAPE Themes Good Assessment for Learning… …Engages students with assessment criteria …Focuses on student development …Ensures feedback leads to improvement …Stimulates dialogue …Considers staff and student effort

Remember Assessment creates learning opportunities Assessment can enhance teaching Good assessment is motivating, aligned and feedback rich Guidance is out there ESCAPE project page: http://tiny.cc/jaqjr ESCAPE blog; Blogging from the mud movers: http://escape-uh-jisc.blogspot.com/