1. Marion Webb January 2015

2.  By the end of the session, participants will be able to:  Discuss the role of assessment for learning  Describe key assessment terms  Use assessment criteria to effectively judge the merit of a piece of work  Critically evaluate the use of assessment criteria  Consider how to deliver constructive feedback on written assessments 

3.  Introductions-to the topic and to each other  The purposes of assessment  The language of assessment  Assessment “autobiography”  Assessment criteria  The role of feedback  Marking!

4.  In groups of three (ish) introduce yourselves and explain what you teach. Report this to the whole group

5.  “Students can escape bad teaching but they cannot escape bad assessment” (Boud 1995)  “Assessment is the most important thing we do to our students” ( Brown 2005)  “Assessment often works against, rather than for, learning” (Freeman and Lewis 1998)

6.  In your groups use post-its to list as many reasons as you can think of for assessing students

7.  Any processes that appraise an individual’s knowledge, understanding, abilities or skills  Does the assessment process enable learners to demonstrate the achievement of all learning outcomes?  http://www.qaa.ac.uk http://www.qaa.ac.uk

8.  What do you want your students to learn? ( Learning outcomes)  How are you going to help them to learn it? (Teaching methods and opportunities)  How will you know if they have learnt it? (Assessment methods and assessment criteria)

9. Assessment influences learning  Students regard assessment as important –how they spend their time  Generates student learning activity  Provides feedback which students use  Helps students to internalise the discipline's standards and notions of quality

10.  Generates grades-who uses these?  Quality assurance  Helps us to plan and evaluate our teaching See Gibbs, G.& Simpson, C. (2004) Conditions under which assessment supports students’ learning. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 1 http://www.testa.ac.uk/

11.  Think about your own experiences of assessment

12.  Assessment  Evaluation  Formative  Summative  Diagnostic  Continuous  Criterion referenced-standards against which students are judged  Norm referenced-judging students against the performance of others

13.  Fair? (Avoiding bias?)  Valid?  Reliable?  Aligned with the aims and learning outcomes in such a way that it allows students to learn?

14. What is it for?  Quality Assurance-meeting standards: QAA reports “Failure to provide adequate feedback on students’ work”  Progression and Improvement: Enhancing learning Accelerating learning

15.  NSS  Students say feedback doesn’t help them to understand  Feedback is often not read or understood  We use assessment criteria but the students norm reference  The volume and thoroughness of feedback varies  One piece of feedback on one assignment is little use

16.  May be too late to be acted upon  May be backward looking  May ask them to do something they don’t know how to, eg “express yourself more clearly”  May apply to one assignment and not be of general help  May be too discouraging  There may be no follow-up action to see if students have acted on the feedback

17.  Students need to understand why they get a particular mark or grade  The criteria need to be explicit

18.  Define the extent to which learning outcomes have been achieved  Reliable measures for the quality of marking  Make assessment decisions more transparent  Let’s have a go!  Read the essay

19.  Write some comments

20.  Read the two essays  Agree 5 criteria for each with colleagues  Use the criteria to mark the essays (on your own)  Compare your marks

21.  1. helps clarify what good performance is (goals, criteria, expected standards);  2. facilitates the development of self-assessment (reflection) in learning;  3. delivers high quality information to students about their learning;  4. encourages teacher and peer dialogue around learning;  5. encourages positive motivational beliefs and self- esteem;  6. provides opportunities to close the gap between current and desired performance;  7. provides information to teachers that can be used to help shape the teaching. 21

22.  Rust, C (2002) Purposes and Principles of Assessment, OCSLD Learning and Teaching Briefing Papers Series. Available at: https://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsld/resources/briefing_p apers/p_p_assessment.pdf [Accessed 1st October 2014] https://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsld/resources/briefing_p apers/p_p_assessment.pdf  Carroll, J (2002) Suggestions for Teaching International Students More Effectively, OCSLD Learning and Teaching Briefing Papers Series. Available at:  https://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsld/resources/briefing_p apers/international_students.pdf [Accessed 1st October 2014] https://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsld/resources/briefing_p apers/international_students.pdf  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, 31 (2), pp.199-218.