CoreJan12, LTHE module PGCAP, University of Salford

Twitter @pgcap

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• to participate and collaborate in small group PBL with an assessment and feedback theme

• to identify and critically analyse issues linked to the given PBL trigger

• to present findings to another team and provide feedback

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grouping first: buddies (5-6)

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Mills, D (2006) Problem-based learning: An overview, available at http://www.c-sap.bham.ac.uk/resources/project_reports/ShowOverview.asp?id=4

(part 1) “Just finished marking 150 essays, the one and only assignment for this challenging module. Can’t understand why students don’t do well! Is one essay too much? I have been using this essay title for the last 10 years – I love it! – and students just don’t seem to engage with it, not even the brighter ones, which is really strange!I have given the students an extensive reading list and during the lectures I always tell them that they can ask me if they don’t understand something. Not sure what I am doing wrong… Students have never complained about anything and the module evaluation is always positive.They had a whole month to write the essay… but I know that many just do it a few days before the handing in date. At least they hand it in I guess.

(part 2) Writing feedback is hard work too! I don’t know these people. I see them 2h a week over 10 weeks and there are 150 of them in the lecture theatre, well they are usually not all there. I find it really time consuming to write feedback on their assignments. I tend to write loads and tell them what they did wrong. That should be useful for them! But I am actually not sure if they read it. Most of them just see the mark and don’t bother collecting the feedback. Am I wasting my time?”

Please investigate the above carefully. Identify possible problems, then define your learning outcomes. Carry out research to resolve the issues identified. You will be asked to present your findings to another group and engage in a conversation about these.

Please work together and apply the Mills 5-stage PBL model in your investigation. Please remember that you will be working together. Co-ordinate team activities and assign roles, such as chair, reader, scribe and timekeeper.

A PBL facilitator will help you to get started. Please also access the online PBL resources to familiarise yourself further with PBL. Ask your facilitator if you are unsure about something.

You are welcome to use some of the resources made available and identify further ones for your research.

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• … a portrait of the person sitting next to you

• Show portrait to the person you created

• Person on the portrait to provide feedback to the artist

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“Solange arrives at her English university. She is a keen student and wants to do well. After a few weeks, she is asked to write an assignment. When she sits at her computer, she finds that she can only think of the complex ideas she has grappled with on the course in her mother tongue, which is not English. It is an enormous strain to write these ideas and she cannot think directly in English. She has to translate her thoughts one by one. When she gets the essay back, she is extremely disappointed with her mark. She is used to excellent results. Some of the feedback relates to her use of English and is very discouraging. Her tutor has written:

‘There are hints of some interesting ideas in this essay but they are often difficult to understand because you do not express them clearly. Please check your English carefully before you hand in your work There are too many errors here.’” (Duhs, 2010, 6)

Discuss the feedback. Try to redraft it so that it feeds forward and helps Solange to feel less apprehensive about her next essay.

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Access an e-portfolio

Pick a reflection

Use the assessment criteria and attainment descriptors (see the module guide)

Provide feedback (insert your comments directly to the e-portfolio)

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What are the 3 things you are taking away today?

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Biggs, J. (1999) Teaching for Quality Learning at University SRHE/OUP

Bloom, B.S. et al, Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Cognitive Domain New York: McKayBloxham, S. & Boyd, P. (2007) Developing Effective Assessment in Higher Education, Open University Press: Maidenhead

Boud (2010) Keynote, University of Salford Assessment and Feedback Good Practice event, 6 July 2010

Brown, S., Race, P. and Smith, B. (1996) 500 Tips on Assessment. London: Kogan Page

Butcher et al (2006) Designing Learning. From module outline to effective teaching, Oxon: Routledge

Duhs, R. (2010) ‘Please, no exam”’ Assessment strategies for international students, in: SEDA Educational Developments, Issue 11.4, Dec, pp. 3-6

Earl, L.M. (2003) Assessment as Learning, Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.

Gibbs, G. and Simpson, C. (2004) Conditions under which assessment supports students’ learning. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, vol. 1. pp.1-31

Irons, A. (2008) Enhancing Learning through formative assessment and feedback, Oxon: Routledge.

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Juwah, C. et.al (2004) Enhancing student learning through effective formative feedback. HEA. At http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/resources/resourcedatabase/id353_senlef_guide.pdf

Knight, P. T. (2002) Summative assessment and higher education: practices in disarray, in: Studies in Higher Education, 27, 3, pp. 275-286.

Price (2007) ‘Should we be giving less written feedback?’ in Centre for Biosciences Bulletin Autumn 2007, HEA

Schofield, M. (2010) “Taking the ‘ass’ out of assessment” [keynote], First level assessment project conference, 16th June 2010, LeedsMet university

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