Enhancing Induction: Principles for Improving the Student Experience Engaging the learner: Why did I get 37%? Professor Brenda Smith Goldsmiths, University of London 7th July 2010

Key aims are to... Highlight key points on enhancing induction arising from the day Highlight key points on enhancing induction arising from the day Explore students expectations of the first year Explore students expectations of the first year Help students to learn through assessment and feedback by encouraging their active engagement Help students to learn through assessment and feedback by encouraging their active engagement

Key Questions re Induction When does it start? When does it start? How long does it last? How long does it last? Who should do it – how do you engage staff? Who should do it – how do you engage staff? Is Induction just for the first year? Is Induction just for the first year? Is it induction and social orientation? Is it induction and social orientation? Is it a process in which students actively participate? Is it a process in which students actively participate? Do you clarify students' expectations of studying at Goldsmiths, and the University's expectations of them? Do you clarify students' expectations of studying at Goldsmiths, and the University's expectations of them? Do you offer peer support? Do you offer peer support? How do you induct students into assessment and feedback? How do you induct students into assessment and feedback?

1.Certification 3. Learning 4. Sustainability 2.Quality Assurance Why do we assess?

We need to explore students expectations of assessment and feedback in the first year as part of induction

Key Issues with assessment? Students do not know what to expect in the first year Students do not know what to expect in the first year Students are often not given the Big Picture - students want an e-bay or Amazon experience Students are often not given the Big Picture - students want an e-bay or Amazon experience Students bring with them different expectations and prior experiences Students bring with them different expectations and prior experiences Students are not actively involved in the whole process Students are not actively involved in the whole process Limited assessment methods Limited assessment methods Assessed work bunched towards the end of a semester Assessed work bunched towards the end of a semester

Are students actively encouraged to use feedback as part of your learning & teaching process? Are students actively encouraged to use feedback as part of your learning & teaching process? Is your feedback spread out throughout the year? Is your feedback spread out throughout the year? Do you encourage students to reflect by using self and peer feedback? Do you encourage students to reflect by using self and peer feedback? Does your feedback feed forward? Does your feedback feed forward? Do you try and give face to face feedback? Do you try and give face to face feedback? Do your students have an opportunity to collate feedback over time and act upon it? Do your students have an opportunity to collate feedback over time and act upon it? Key Questions on Feedback ………

Dont use bullet points! All I get is a grade next to my matriculation number without any indication on how I am actually doing I got an essay back where the only comment was use a bigger text size, there was nothing on how to improve my grade For a rather lengthy scientific report, the feedback I received consisted of a mere two ticks and a question mark I have never received feedback for any of my exams and this means I dont know how to improve for the third year when the marks really count

The effectiveness of feedback Summaries of what makes most difference to student achievement, involving reviews of many thousands of studies spanning decades of research, show clearly that the most powerful single influence is feedback

Inducting students Get students confident with assessing Give students in groups a selection of essays - Excellent, Good, Average & Fail Give students in groups a selection of essays - Excellent, Good, Average & Fail Students decide individually which essay fits into which category and then compares notes in small groups Students decide individually which essay fits into which category and then compares notes in small groups Then get students to tease out the differences & express these differences as criteria Then get students to tease out the differences & express these differences as criteria Students then provide feedback on each piece of work in their groups Students then provide feedback on each piece of work in their groups Students then provide guidelines for effective essay writing Students then provide guidelines for effective essay writing What has each student/group learned? What has each student/group learned?

Get students actively involved Use feedback as an integral part of the curriculum In small groups get students to exchange an assessed piece of their work and compare the feedback comments with group members In small groups get students to exchange an assessed piece of their work and compare the feedback comments with group members Do they understand the comments? Do they understand the comments? How would they respond to the comments? How would they respond to the comments? What would they do differently next time if: What would they do differently next time if: a) They re-did the same assignment b) Applied the learning to a new and different piece of work?

Quick ways of giving feedback Generic feedback within 24 hours on the VLE Generic feedback within 24 hours on the VLE Face-to-face feedback with the whole group or small groups Face-to-face feedback with the whole group or small groups Peer feedback in groups Peer feedback in groups Use technology - Audacity, Dragon, Statement Banks Use technology - Audacity, Dragon, Statement Banks Self-feedback - help students develop the skills of self reflection Self-feedback - help students develop the skills of self reflection Student want more face-to-face feedback – what can we stop doing to enable this to happen – Pod/Vodcasts? Student want more face-to-face feedback – what can we stop doing to enable this to happen – Pod/Vodcasts?

Engaging students. When lecturers stopped marking weekly problem sheets (too busy), students stopped tackling the problem. Exam marks went down as a consequence. But when lecturers introduced periodic peer-assessment of the problem sheets – as a course requirement but without the marks contributing – students exam marks increased dramatically to a level well above that achieved previously when lecturers did the marking. What achieved the learning was the quality of student engagement in learning tasks, not teachers doing lots of marking. The trick when designing assessment régimes is to generate engagement with learning tasks without generating piles of marking. Forbes & Spence (1991) study of assessment on an Engineering course at Strathclyde University

Ensuring nderstanding...? This report is not logically structured This report is not logically structured This essay is not sufficiently analytical This essay is not sufficiently analytical We need to develop the skills of self- assessment & encourage students to be active in this process We need to develop the skills of self- assessment & encourage students to be active in this process

Involve the students StudentStaff These are areas of my work which I think are good Please comment on the following areas What I want to improve or do differently next time The mark I think it deserves is

L EARNING Most significant feedback comments What did you understand these to mean? A NALYZISING Things that I did that attracted positive comments Things that I did that attracted critical comments Any recurring trends or comments? P LANNING AND F EEDING F ORWARD Things I can do to build on the positive feedback Things I can do to address the critical feedback Ref: P Race (2007). How to get a Good Degree

A Way Forward The single most important thing for me to keep doing in the future is.. The single most important thing for me to improve in my future work on the basis of this feedback is…

Dialogue Starters... How did this essay make you think differently? How did this essay make you think differently? Which part of the assignment do you feel less confident about? Which part of the assignment do you feel less confident about? What was the most challenging part of this assignment? What was the most challenging part of this assignment? Jot down 2 things you have learnt doing this assignment that you did not expect to learn? Jot down 2 things you have learnt doing this assignment that you did not expect to learn? What advice would you give to students doing this assignment? What advice would you give to students doing this assignment? If you were to do this assignment again, what one change would you make? If you were to do this assignment again, what one change would you make? Ref: P Race 2009

When I get to sit down with my tutor and discuss my work – thats probably the best form of feedback I can get

Good luck with inducting your students into assessment and feedback