1. Assessment and Feedback in PACE Units

2. What is PACE? and What is Participation?
PACE Project Team:
Theresa Winchester-Seeto & Marina Harvey
Debra Coulson & Jacqueline Mackaway
(Learning and Teaching Centre,
Macquarie University)

3. What is PACE? Participation And Community Engagement
This includes curricular and co-curricular activities.

4. WHAT IS PARTICIPATION? Learning through contribution to the community.
Learning that occurs within an academic framework and produces academic outcomes.
Learning that is potentially transformative.

5. Criteria for Participation Units
Include
community engagement; and
development of graduate capabilities
Can now be viewed on

6. EXAMPLES OF PARTICIPATION
Work Integrated Learning
Internships
Practicum
Service Learning
Community projects e.g. shop front style
Academic research that include community engagement

7. FLEXIBILITY Location Locally (Sydney Regionally (NSW and Australia)
Overseas
Curricular or Co-Curricular
Frequency
Block
Weekly
Accumulated

8. IMPLEMENTATION 2009-2011 – pilot and preparation stage
From 2012 – participation a requirement for all undergraduate students at Macquarie – integrated within undergraduate degree structure

9. Challenges - Organisational
Scale
Communication
Resourcing
Logistics
Partnership development and maintenance
Equity and Access

10. Challenges for Learning and Teaching
Providing quality learning experiences to all students
Providing a robust academic experience for students
Ensuring a rigorous scholarly framework for curriculum design and delivery
Support for staff in curriculum design and delivery
Working out the role of “reflection”
Addressing issues of assessment

11. Learning Outcomes You will be able to:
recognise features of effective assessment and feedback
identify issues related to designing and implementing assessment and feedback within a Participation context
discuss implications and recommendations for assessment and feedback in Participation units

12. Assessment works best when…
Assessment is a central feature of all learning & teaching:
Assessment is aligned with all aspects of the curriculum (Biggs, 2003)
Assessment is used to actively engage students in learning:
Appropriate and authentic tasks
Peer and self assessment (Falchikov, 2005)
Useful and timely feedback (Nicol & MacFarlane-Dick, 2006)

13. Assessment works best when…cont’
Assessment is transparent:
Linked to learning outcomes & activities (Ramsden, 2003)
Clear & specific criteria/standards
Assessment is inclusive and equitable:
Variety of methods/tasks used
Combination of formative and summative (ALTC, Assessment 2020)
Assessment serves “triple duty”:
Supports: learning; certification; life long learning (Boud, 2000; Boud & Falchikov, 2006)

14. Students Value Clear expectations and transparency
Clear links between lectures, tutorials, content and assessment tasks
Authentic tasks
Autonomy – possibilities for negotiation…
Timely and useful feedback
(CSHE, UniMelb 2002)

15. Students are demanding more feedback
Hot Macquarie
Students are demanding more feedback

16. The feedback loop
Hounsell, McCune, Hounsell and Litjens (2006)

17. Assessment & Feedback in Participation Units: an activity
Read scenarios
Discuss in group:
What is the purpose of this Participation unit?
Issues relating to assessment and feedback
Recommendations
Present findings to workshop group

18. Literature Review Approach: Findings Steps taken:
Grounded theory approach
Identifying key issues/themes from literature
Iterative process
Analysis /aggregation
Findings
Steps taken:
Development of resources
Conferences/Workshops

19. “In search of a scholarly underpinning…”
Education Theorists
Bloom
Biggs
Boud
Brookfield
Dewey
Kolb
Lave & Wenger
Mezirow
Moon
Schon
Vygotsky
Relevant Research/ Discourse
Brodie & Irving (2007)
Correira & Bleicher (2008)
Eyler (2000;2002)
Dressler & Keeling (2004)
Hatcher, Bringle & Muthiah (2004)
Kreber & Castleden (2009)
Leung & Kember (2003)
Falchikov (2007; 2005)
Holland (1996,2001)
Hounsell (2007)
Nichol & Macfarlane-Dick (2006)
Coll & Eames (2004)
Coll, Fleming ,Hodges (2009)
Poikela, (2004)
Meta analysis
Evidence-based Practice
Ash, Clayton & Atkinson (2005)
Astin, Vogelgesang, Ikeda & Yee (2000)
Van Gyn, Branston, Cutt, Loken, Ricks (1997)
Choy (2009)
Clarke & Burgess (2009)
Hayward & Blackmer (2009)
Keily (2005; 2004)
McAllister et al (2006)
Stupans & Owens (2009)
McNamara & Field (2007)
McNamara (2009)

20. General findings from the Literature
State of literature:
Dispersed
Fragmented
Dominated by certain types of Participation / Disciplines
Under-representation of “assessment” within the literature
Lack of longitudinal/empirical studies
Reliance on student self-reporting

21. Assessment Issues and Themes
Principles of good teaching / assessment still apply
Purpose of Participation impacts assessment
Participation is different from classroom learning
“Old tools” may not work when measuring “new/different” outcomes
Multiple variables impact assessment
Reliance on reflection
“Old tools” (i.e, exams & essays) may not work when measuring “new/different” outcomes:
- Not going to discuss in a BIG way here as we are aiming to design a workshop that specifically examines assessment design and tools in a more practical / hands on way.
* May need a more “holistic” approach and range of assessment tools.
Will say here:
- Participation units are often attempting to assess different outcomes or a combination of outcomes not usually assessed: eg: integration of knowledge/skills ; competencies for certification purposes ; “soft skills” or generic work ready type skills ; OR some type of “transformation” in terms of a student’s underlying beliefs, attitudes, etc (often the case in a Service Learning type context).

22. Principles of good teaching and assessment still apply
Transparent alignment
Flexible approach
Formative & summative assessment
Authentic tasks / assessment
Effective feedback
Already touched on at the beginning of the workshop.
Couple of important points in relation to the Participation context:
Theme emerging for the literature is that of having a flexible approach to assessment and feedback.
Could mean:
a “re-think” about the way you have approached assessment in the past – may mean you use different tools.
- could mean that you find ways to accommodate the various different workplaces and projects, etc each student will experience within your unit.
The other important point raised in the literature is that of authentic experiences and assessment. This is particularly relevant if the unit is designed to support integration of knowledge/practice and prepare students for transition to workplace. 22

23. Purpose of Participation impacts assessment
Different types of Participation
Range of learning outcomes
Discipline influences
Personal influences
Support life long learning
Issues 23

24. Participation is different to classroom learning Issues
Student centered
Self directed
Stakeholder involvement
Off- campus
Different learning outcomes / expectations
Student centred & self-directed nature of Participation maybe a different experience for some students who use to a more teacher directed/supported classroom learning environment.
Off-campus nature of Participation is an obvious difference. Clear challenge can be when the student is remotely located and the nature of frequency of contact with peers and teachers will be different – impacting feedback in particular. Need to re-think how to support.
Stakeholder involvement – refers mainly to the involvement of workplace supervisor. Issues around how & extent of involvement / guidelines / support etc to help manage issues related to standards/consistency, etc
What role should they play when it comes to assessment? Le Maistre warns about the “dual role” – mentor/assessor and how this can be particularly difficult when a student is underperforming.
Reluctance to be involved (Thomas & Goa)
Accounting for desire for authentic experience & assessment 24

25. Variables that Impact Assessment
See handout

26. Reliance on Reflection
Equity
Validity
Reliability
Subjectivity and consistency
Task weighting
Work loads
Issues
The use of reflection for both learning and assessment purposes in Participation units is pervasive. Too many examples to cite.
Equity – not all students naturally reflect & it relies on high language proficiency and written skills
Validity – What to assess – process or content?
Reliability – Untruthfulness of students – “writing to please” (Pieridies). Activities need to be well designed, structured and guided if going to be reliable/valid for assessment purposes (McNamara – QUT)
Workloads – takes time and needs to be scaffolded (Moon); Students find it time consuming (Pierides) as do staff when it comes to reading/marking. 26

27. Implications for Practitioners
“Paradigm shift”
Design related
Tool related
Time / resource related

28. Things to consider…. Graduate Capabilities MQ Assessment Policy
Unit evaluation

29. Want to Know More? Further workshops:
6 May: Assessing Reflection in PACE Units
In planning: 1)Scaffolding reflection
2)Assessment tools
Learning and Teaching Centre website: 29 29 29

30. Resources Macquarie University:
Assessment Futures:
Australian Universities Teaching Committee

31. References
Biggs, J. (2003), Teaching for Quality Learning at University, 2nd Edition, Open University Press Boud, D., (2000) Sustainable assessment: rethinking assessment for the learning society. Studies in Continuing Education, 22 (2), pp Boud, D. & Falchikov, N., (2006) Aligning assessment with long-term learning, Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 31 (4), p Falchikov, N., (2005) Improving assessment through student involvement: Practical solutions for aiding learning in higher and further education. New York: RoutledgeFalmer. Hounsell, D., McCune, V., Hounsell, J., & Litjens, J. (2006) The Guidance and Feedback Loop. University of Edinburgh. Accessed:

32. References cont’
Moon, J.A. (2004). A handbook of reflective and experiential learning: Theory and practice. London: RoutledgeFalmer. Nicol, D. J. & Macfarlane-Dick, D. (2006), Formative assessment and self-regulated learning: a model and seven principles of good feedback practice. Studies in Higher Education Vol 31, 2, April 2006, pp Ramsden, P (2003). Learning to Teach in Higher Education. 2nd edition. London & New York : RoutledgeFalmer Note: Please refer to Annotated Bibliography on Assessment and Feedback in PACE units found at :