Transcript Assessment, Marking and Giving Feedback

Marion Webb
January 2015







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







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!

In groups of three (ish) introduce yourselves
and explain what you teach. Report this to
the whole group



“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)

In your groups use post-its to list as many
reasons as you can think of for assessing
students



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



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)
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

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/

Think about your own experiences of
assessment








Assessment
Evaluation
Formative
Summative
Diagnostic
Continuous
Criterion referenced-standards against which
students are judged
Norm referenced-judging students against
the performance of others




Fair? (Avoiding bias?)
Valid?
Reliable?
Aligned with the aims and learning outcomes
in such a way that it allows students to learn?
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






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






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


Students need to understand why they get a
particular mark or grade
The criteria need to be explicit





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

Write some comments




Read the two essays
Agree 5 criteria for each with colleagues
Use the criteria to mark the essays (on your
own)
Compare your marks







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 selfesteem;
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
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]


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]

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.