Help clarify good performance (goals, criteria, standards)

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Help clarify good performance (goals, criteria,
standards)

• Do your students understand the assessment
  criteria that you use? 
• Do they understand the standards required to
  achieve a particular grade for each criterion or
  overall? 
• Do you discuss these with them before they start
  the task? 
• If you do, are the students able to state these
  in their own words?

• Research has shown that students who engage with
  assessment criteria and standards are more likely
  to be able to manage their own learning.  For
  example, Rust et al. (2003) found that by working
  with students in their first term on assessment,
  assessment criteria and marking, that there was a
  significant increase in the marks in the final
  assessment, compared with students who had not
  taken part in the exercise.

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Some ways to do this... Technologies to consider
Provide clear definitions of what is required for each task Screen Recording Tools/ Sound Recording
Provide explicit marking criteria and standards Screen Recording Tools/ Referencing and Citation
Provide opportunities for discussion and reflection about the criteria and standards before students start the task Collaboration Tools/ Online Testing
Students put assessment criteria into their own words Collaboration Tools/ Online Testing/ Referencing and Citation
Students generate own criteria and standards and compare to staff criteria Collaboration Tools/ Online Testing
Provide model answers and opportunities for students to compare their own work against these Screen Recording Tools/ Written Feedback Tools/ Peer to Peer Tools
Explain the rationale for the assessment task Screen Recording Tools/ Sound Recording
Marking exercises where students look at examples of work of different standards from a previous year to identify a rank order and why Online Testing/ Written Feedback Tools/ Peer to Peer Tools
Adapted from REAP and the Viewpoint project
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Encourage 'time and effort' on challenging
learning tasks

• Are your assessments designed to encourage
  students to work in and out of class throughout
  the semester or year? 
• Can the students see the relevance of the
  assessment task is it an authentic assessment?

• Spreading activities either as discrete pieces of
  work or as components of a single piece of work
  throughout the module balances the student
  workload and can encourage deep learning.  This
  approach also provides opportunities for ongoing
  feedback. Even if marks are attached to the
  individual elements (summative assessment), the
  activities will also be formative assessments,
  because students should be able to build on the
  feedback provided for subsequent stages or
  elements.
• Although a particularly useful approach to use
  with first year students, this can be extended to
  students in other years.

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Some ways to do this... Technologies to consider
Students complete a number of small summative assessments with regular feedback Online Testing/ Written Feedback Tools
Group work activities or large assessment broken down into smaller tasks. Progress is monitored and feedback provided in a staged way over the course of the module Collaboration Tools/ Written Feedback Tools/ Peer to Peer Tools
Get students to set their own schedule for completing an assignment task with milestones. Marks could be awarded if the student delivers as planned and on time Written Feedback Tools
Portfolio of activities that is taken in regularly the activities could become progressively more challenging Portfolio Tools
Regular activities to be completed in class Interactive Voting/ Lecture Participation
Provide opportunities to practise skills before doing the assessed work Online Testing/ Written Feedback Tools
Mock exams or provide opportunities for students to do past exam questions with feedback in a safe environment Online Testing/ Screen Recording
Staged final year projects literature review delivered first Online Submission
Have students prepare basic material prior to a session and use the time for more in depth activities Collaboration Tools
Explain the rationale for the assessment task Screen Recording Tools/ Sound Recording
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Deliver high quality feedback

• What kind of feedback do you provide?
• How does it encourage students to assess and
  correct themselves?

• It is important that students have the
  opportunity to learn from the feedback provided
  by staff.  That learning however, may be enhanced
  by high quality feedback.  Students are less
  likely to act on poor quality feedback. 
  Students issues with feedback include the time
  it takes to receive feedback after submitting the
  work, understanding the feedback that has been
  given this could be the language used, the
  handwriting, not understanding the abbreviated
  shorthand, or the grade. Summary sheet comments
  should be explicit enough for the student to act
  on them intelligently. For example, does a
  student know what your spelling needs some
  attention or much of this work was irrelevant
  mean?  Feedback should also be about feed forward
  - what the student can do next time to improve
  performance.

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Some ways to do this... Technologies to consider...
Ensure feedback is related to the assessment criteria Online Testing/ Written Feedback Tools
Provide feedback in advance of the assignment FAQs, common errors Screen Recording Tools/ Sound Recording
Provide tutorial activities with feedback Collaboration Tools
Feedback built into online tests Online Testing/ Collaboration Tools
Generic feedback to whole group following an assignment or as part of in-class activities Screen Recording Tools/ Sound Recording
Feedback 24-48 hours after hand in - skim, say 10 of work handed in, identify common strengths and weaknesses and feed these back to the class either in the next lecture or posting on to QOL Online Submissions/ Screen Recording Tools/ Sound Recording
Select model answers as a feedback source and give feedback to the whole group via discussion board Screen Recording Tools/ Collaboration Tools/ Written Feedback Tools
Ask students to indicate the areas where they would like feedback Written Feedback Tools
Ask students to self-assess their work and provide feedback on this as well as the assessment Written Feedback Tools/ Multimedia Authoring Tools/ Online Testing/ Portfolio Tools/ Peer to Peer Tools
Adapted from REAP and the Viewpoint projects
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Provide opportunities to act on feedback

• Staff often raise the issue that students do not
  use the feedback given.  There are a number of
  reasons why this might be including
• students perception of feedback coming too late
• the module is over, and/or
• the mark achieved is acceptable to them.

• Students need to use both formative and summative
  feedback as a means of improving their future
  performance.  Other than via the next piece of
  assessed work, do you provide students with
  opportunities to internalise and act on the
  feedback given?  Equally, students will not be
  able to action the feedback if they do not
  understand it this usually comes down to the
  terminology used by the assessor.

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Some ways to do this... Technologies to consider...
Provide feedback on a draft this could be tutor feedback or it could be peer feedback which engages the students with the assessment criteria and the art of marking Collaboration Tools/ Written Feedback Tools/ Portfolio Tools
Withhold the mark until the student has produced an action plan for the future work (3600 feedback) Written Feedback Tools
As part of personal tutoring, require students to produce an action plan at the beginning of the new semester/year on how they will address the feedback given in the previous semester/year Portfolio Tools/ Written Feedback Tools/ Collaboration Tools
Regular activities throughout module that receive feedback expect this feedback to be incorporated Portfolio Tools/ Written Feedback Tools/ Collaboration Tools/ Multimedia Authoring Tools/ Online Submission/ Online Testing
Have one assignment come in early which is marked and returned to the students in time for them to use the feedback in the second assignment Online Submission/ Written Feedback Tools/ Collaboration Tools
Ensure that students understand the feedback provided Online Testing/ Collaboration Tools/ Interactive Voting/ Lecture Participation
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Encourage interaction and dialogue around learning

• What types of dialogue do you have with your
  students regarding feedback?
• What types of dialogue do you encourage students
  to have with their peers?

• Dialogue between students and between staff and
  students plays an important role in student
  success.  Students need to engage in dialogue
  around feedback. 
• Large first year classes make one-to-one
  interaction between staff and students difficult,
  but meaningful dialogue can take place between
  students.  

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Some ways to do this... Technologies to consider...
Structure group projects so that students discuss the criteria and standards expected at the start and then review progress against the criteria Collaboration Tools/ Written Feedback Tools/ Portfolio Tools
Minute papers with questions covering the session results used at the beginning of the next session Interactive Voting/ Lecture Participation/ Online Submission
Use group work or support learning groups and learning communities Collaboration Tools/ Written Feedback Tools/ Portfolio Tools/ Peer to Peer Tools
Students set task(s) for each other Collaboration Tools/ Online Testing
Students set MCQ(s) with feedback to correct and incorrect answers Online Testing/ Interactive Voting/ Lecture Participation/ Peer to Peer Tools
Students discuss the written feedback they have been given with their peers and suggest strategies for future improvement Collaboration Tools
Students bring brief pieces of work to tutorials which are then reviewed by a peer what is good, what is less good and how can it be improved? Collaboration Tools/ Written Feedback Tools/ Peer to Peer Tools
Students peer mark or peer review a draft which is then modified in response to the feedback provided Collaboration Tools/ Written Feedback Tools/ Peer to Peer Tools
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Development of self-assessment and reflection

• How are students developing graduate skills?
• Do your students recognise their strengths and
  weaknesses?

• If students are to acquire the skills of
  regulating their own learning and development
  they need to be able to self-assess their work. 
• Providing students with opportunities to engage
  with self-assessment in a formal manner is likely
  to develop more autonomous learners and lead to
  greater engagement with criteria and standards.

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Some ways to do this... Technologies to consider...
Ask students to complete a self-assessment proforma (using the assessment criteria) this may include an estimate of the mark (your feedback would identify why there are gaps between the students view and yours) Online Testing/ Written Feedback Tools/ Peer to Peer Tools
Ask students to indicate the parts of their work which they feel are strengths and weaknesses Collaboration Tools/ Portfolio Tools
A combination of the two above See above
Students requesting assistance/feedback on particular aspects (this could be included with the above also) Collaboration Tools/ Portfolio Tools
Peer assessment provides an opportunity for students to engage with the criteria and standards on someone elses work and then apply that to their own Written Feedback Tools/ Collaboration Tools/ Peer to Peer Tools
Confidence-based marking for MCQs students have to rate how confident they are that their chosen answer is correct on a scale of 1-3.  The mark is weighted according to their confidence level Online Testing
Students keep a reflective journal or portfolio through the course Portfolio Tools
Online objective tests and quizzes for self-testing Online Testing
Students include how they have responded to earlier feedback Collaboration Tools/ Portfolio Tools
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Give choice of topic, method, criteria, weighting
or timing of assessments

• Are there opportunities for your students to
  choose the topic of their assessment?
• Does the class negotiate and agree deadlines?
• Does the class have the opportunity to discuss
  and have input to the assessment criteria?

• Being able to manage and prioritise work is a key
  graduate skill. Providing students with
  opportunities to make decisions about which topic
  to do, when to hand work in, the weighting of an
  assessment or part of it, enables them to
  practise this skill. For example, students often
  have a choice of topic, or some online testing
  designs allow students to choose when to take a
  test during a specified period.

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Some ways to do this... Technologies to consider...
Choice of essay titles and/or negotiated titles
Choice of topic for extended essay or project/dissertation
Negotiated submission dates
Students generate criteria for assessment Collaboration Tools/ Interactive Voting/ Lecture Participation
Students provide additional criteria for assessment Collaboration Tools
Students choose the weighting for parts of an assessment Collaboration Tools/ Interactive Voting/ Lecture Participation
Students set their own schedule Portfolio Tools
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Create learning communities

• How do your students learn together?
• What opportunities are there for student
  interaction in your courses within and beyond the
  classroom?

• Feeling part of a group is important for success
  at University. This includes opportunities to
  interact with staff outside the classroom as well
  as interaction with other students. Social
  interaction is more difficult when class sizes
  are large students live at home or go home
  regularly and have increasing work commitments
  outside University.
• Students also benefit from supporting each other
  in their academic study through the development
  of learning communities. Assessment and feedback
  practices can help to engender social integration
  and the development of learning communities.

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Some ways to do this... Technologies to consider...
Group tasks Collaboration Tools
Peer review of a draft or final assignment Written Feedback Tools/ Collaboration Tools/ Peer to Peer Tools
Group discussion/task around criteria and standards Collaboration Tools/ Written Feedback Tools
Course social space e.g. learning café Collaboration Tools
Course social activities Collaboration Tools
Personal tutor groups Collaboration Tools
Peer mentoring Collaboration Tools/ Peer to Peer Tools