Student Feedback and Assessment

HEA-ICS Workshop - April 10th 2008

London Metropolitan University

Introduction: “It was not prompt and it didn’t help”Peter Chalk

Academic Leader, Undergraduate Centres, LondonMet

2006 & 2007 National Student SurveysQuestions 2006 2007

% average agreement

1-4 The teaching on my course 81 82

5-9 Assessment and feedback 61 62

10-12 Academic support 69 71

13-15Organisation and management

69 71

16-18 Learning resources 78 80

19-21 Personal development 76 77

22 Overall satisfaction 80 81

The figures in this table are for students at universities and colleges in England.

What do students think?

• From NSS (England 2007):– 81% satisfied overall with their experience, but– 62% with assessment/ feedback, the lowest

category– Questions 7, 8, 9: Feedback prompt, detailed,

helped (53%, 58%, 53% respectively: i.e. the lowest scores)

It was not prompt and

it didn’t help…

The other side…

• Evidence that students aren’t engaging with feedback either:– They don’t read it– They don’t understand it– They don’t use it

– Gibbs & Simpson 2002

1. Prompt and timely feedback

One of several initiatives at LondonMet:

• Higher Education Orientation module: formative assessment early in first semester

• Reflective self-evaluation in PDP

• Module tutor can refer student to their Personal Academic Adviser or to the Learning Development Unit

2. Early return of marked course work

• Shorter semesters - late deadlines can mean no feedback before exam

• Students Union requested that annotated course work should be returned

• New procedure agreed for course work with deadline before week 9 – mark plus annotation to be given back in class

3. Scan feedback & return on-line

• Problem: feedback often written on course work cover sheet but not marked until module has ended

• Cover sheet copies returned to students, often by collection from office or u/g Centre, but often not collected

• Solution? Proposal: scan cover sheet and store in student record/portal

• Link to electronic PDP in future? VLE feedback?

Record feedback & return online• “I use freeware called Audacity to

record audio comments on group coursework for two modules (one at undergraduate level and one at postgraduate level).

• The audio files were uploaded on Weblearn and access to each file was given only to the group members by using the selective release tool.

• The feedback from students has been positive.” (Volpe 2008)

4. Feedback & personal development (action) planning

• Personal Development Portfolio (PDP) includes sections for action planning based on feedback and results

• PDP related assessment and completion linked to core spine modules at levels 1 (HEO), 2 (Employability), 3 (Project)

• Opportunity to discuss with Personal Academic Adviser in u/g Centre

Problems with engaging students…

• From Millar & Handley, Oxford Brookes study and Gibbs & Simpson 2002:

• Students don’t read their feedback

• Students don’t understand their feedback

• Students don’t use their feedback How?

5. London Met’s University Assessment Framework

• Published June 2004 (www.londonmet.ac.uk/capd/resources)

• Advice on feedback included:– “[certain kinds of] feedback can draw attention

away from the learning task” (Sims-Knight & Upchurch 2001), and

– Negative feedback can de-motivate.

• Therefore start & end positive, suggest actions, be explicit, give examples

Additional Framework points

• Feedback linked to purpose: diagnostic/ formative/ summative

• SENLEF (Student Enhanced Learning through Effective Feedback) Project (LTSN) feedback principles:– Facilitates reflection/ dialogue, clarifies

expectation, provides opportunities, quality information, motivate, shape teaching

Feeding forward…

• Feedback may be too late to make a difference, key could be feeding forward

• Phased course work, or opportunity to discuss and re-draft

• Peer feedback can be useful, encourage study groups

• Large classes – summary, pro-formas, CAA (computer aided assessment)

Student engagement with feedback – how improve?

• Feedback often not read or understood (Lea & Street 1998 – references in Framework document)– Note & raise in class– Submit drafts– Feedback without a grade read more carefully

(Black & William 1998)– Self-assess– Provide grade after feedback completed– Staged formative assessment (Cooper 2000)

6. Law department – exam feedback

• Not published, information by email (Mills 2008):• “individual feedback on exams after their results are

published”• Uses benchmark and blank feedback forms• “extended office hours and allocated [individual] feedback

days“• “after exam, many of us then put these generic answers on

our Weblearn sites (together with the question papers)”• Tracking shows most widely used part of VLE• Should actual scripts and feedback forms be given back to

students?

7. MSc Student Assessment

• London Met & Liverpool Hope• Write Now CETL & CAPD• Includes module on e-Assessment• Delivered & assessed on-line, feedback via VLE• Targeted at HE staff, add on to PGCE• Starts in 2008/9; modular• www.writenow.ac.uk/mscassessment.html

MSc Student Assessment modules

• Theory and Philosophy of Assessment• Assessment for Learning• Rethinking Assessment: A Critical Approach to

Contemporary Practice• Researching Assessment• Writing for Assessment• E-Assessment• Quality Assurance in Assessment• Negotiated Learning

MSc Student Assessment aims

• “enable participants to experience a variety of assessment methods from a student’s perspective”

• “peer and self-assessment will be included alongside tutors as assessment sources, thus integrating formative feedback from a variety of sources [and] are considered essential to develop self-directed learning and sustainable assessment”

• “good assessment and feedback practice modelled in the programme”

MSc Student Assessment outcomes

• Develop scholarship in assessment and enable HE educators to:– systematically apply assessment methods that are

underpinned by evidence;

– challenge existing practices from an informed theoretical understanding;

– conduct research in student assessment;

– enhance the participants’ employability in the field of learning and teaching in higher education.

8. Continuous assessment means continuous feedback

• Continuous assessment has a bad name, associated with instructional method, and with overloading students, but– Can mean continuous feedback– Using a weekly log (cf science labs), MCQs– Was used on a first year programming module

action research project with apparent success (Chalk et al 2005, thanks to F Culwin LSBU) & in Business School (weekly graded exercises on-line, Holley & Andrew 2007)

Online feedback

• Advantages– Involve peer feedback, e.g. using IM (chat)– Teacher feedback (a)synchronously, stored and

shareable online – ‘just in time’ feedback?– Use internet to seek feedback

• Disadvantages– Possible plagiarism, problem of authentication– Staff resistant to perceived 24/7 expectations

References• Black, P & William, D (1998) ‘Assessment and classroom

learning’, Assessment in Education, 5.1, 70-74 • Chalk, P, et al (2005) ‘Introducing a virtual learning

environment and learning objects into higher education courses’, Internat. J. of Learning Technology 1.4, 383–398

• Cooper, N J (2000) ‘Facilitating learning from formative feedback in level 3 assessment’. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 25.3, 279-291.

• Gibbs, G. and Simpson, C. (2002) Does your assessment support your students’ learning? Milton Keynes: Open University.

• Holley, D & Andrew, D (2007) ‘An Approach to Continuous Assessment: Students enjoying their assessment experience!’ BbWorld Europe Conference, Nice, France 27/2/07

• Lea, M & Street, B (1998) ‘Student writing in higher education: an academic literacies approach’, Studies in Higher Education, 23.2, 157-172.

• London Metropolitan University (2004) University Assessment Framework, accessed 26.2.08: www.londonmet.ac.uk/capd/resources

• Mills, T (2008) personal communication.• SENLEF (undated) ‘Student Enhanced Learning through

Effective Feedback’, accessed 26.2.08: www.heacademy.ac.uk/ourwork/learning/assessment/senlef

• Sims-Knight, J E and Upchurch, R L (2001) ‘What’s wrong with giving students feedback?’, Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference.

• Volpe, G (2008) personal communication.

References (continued)