Tendency to treat A&F separately

But feedback should be informed by the form of assessment…

…what feedback method works best for this piece of assessment?

diversity of feedback.

Students should expect written feedback but don’t rely solely on written comments to provide feedback.

Assessment and Feedback

Diversity of assessment Coordinated assessment approachAssessment calendar (College of Science

system)Spread of assessmentEarly assessmentSmall assessment: Balanced assessment (for learning): Choice of assessment

Assessment in Geography

Diversity of assessment

… makes a positive difference to the engagement of students in the assessment and feedback process.

Exams but also continual assessment in the form of:

Essays

Posters

practical reports

seminar presentations

Fieldwork notebooks, field

guides

maps production

Frequent formative assessment and feedback through frequent (biweekly) tutorials /essays

Assessment in Geography

“I found the best thing about the (tutorial) module to be the close work with the tutor in relation to getting the best out of essay writing. I enjoyed writing the essays and then getting feedback to work on”.

“Out of the four essays that have to be submitted, only the two best essays go towards your overall mark. This is good as it allows you to work on certain areas that need improving.”

Diversity of assessment

… makes a positive difference to the engagement of students in the assessment and feedback process.

Exams but also continual assessment in the form of:

Essays

Posters

practical reports

seminar presentations

Fieldwork notebooks, field guides

maps production

Frequent formative

assessment and feedback through frequent (biweekly) tutorials /essays

Biweekly practical classes provide prompt and frequent feedback

Summative assessment (Continual Assessment increases through degree, which provides earlier feedback than exam period)

Project assessment (Dissertation support from Level 2 via tutor and peer system)

Students tell us they appreciate the diversity of assessment.

Assessment in Geography

“I like the assessment, the presentation was a good experience”

“Take the use of presentations into other modules, even instead of exams”.

“The seminar put many out of their comfort zones and pushed us to develop ourselves overall.”

“Having to do a presentation to the class. It was scary but it was a useful thing to do and the feedback after was really helpful.”

Diverse assessment also helps students of differing abilities shine:

“The presentations are a great opportunity for those of us who can explain our knowledge better with words than on a piece of paper.”

Coordinated assessment approach:Form (we expose students to different methods and

forms of assessment; assessment methods communicated pre-selection)

Frequency TimingStress a course rather than modular perspective.

Assessment calendar (College of Science system)available for all students to see and plan their time.submission dates coordinated by teaching

administrator.

Assessment in Geography

Coordinated assessment approach: Form (we expose students to different methods and forms of

assessment; assessment methods communicated pre-selection) Frequency Timing Stress a course rather than modular perspective.

Assessment calendar (College of Science system)available for all students to see and plan their time.submission dates coordinated by teaching administrator.

Spread of assessmentpoints of assessment spread across academic year to

avoid assessment congestion.

Assessment in Geography

Early assessmentearlier points of assessment in TB1 provide feedback for learning crucially allows feedback before student surveys.

Compulsory dissertation (at L3) has formative and summative assessment in TB1 and TB2, so everyone gets feedback.

Assessment in Geography

Level Two Modules with continual assessment components

Teaching Block 1

7

Teaching Block 2

7

Level 3

Teaching Block 1

7

Teaching Block 2

12

Small assessment: small, quick to mark, low % module contribution

(low risk) early and individualised feedback which students

appreciate.E.g. Geographic Information Systems:

5% mapping assignmentDue October 25th

Feedback on November 2nd

Individual and group feedback

Assessment in Geography

Group feedback emailed to all students by module coordinator:

Well done - everyone passed. We have marked in 5% categories, which equates to 1% for the overall module mark as this piece of work is worth 5% of the total. The minimum was 50% and the maximum 80%.

 On the whole you all appear to have grasped the nature of good mapping, and some of you have demonstrated considerable flair.

Common problems included:1) Lack of geographic reference (e.g. graticule, grid or inset map).2) Unsympathetic colours, scale or layout.3) Failing to completely address the specification.4) Lack of information to explain what is being presented.

Best wishes.

Balanced assessment (for learning): • Risk of assessment burden and assessment

fatigue (for students and staff).• Regular points of assessment across the course• Frequent student experiences of feedback.

Choice of assessment:• students appreciate choice (selection from

choice of essays; essay or more technical assignment; choice of data set).

“Module was very interesting, especially the seminars and coursework idea of choosing from a

list”.

Diverse feedback methodsExam feedbackContextualised feedback Early feedbackFrequent individualised formative

feedback (project) CommunicationPre-emptive feedback

Feedback in Geography

Diverse assessment justifies diverse feedback methods:students get bored with the same method of feedback. combine written feedback with:

Feedback using a rubric which reflects your marking guidelines

Feedback in Geography

Feedback sheet for student seminars

Marketing Sustainable Tourism

31/5/2012Anon

Additional comments for feedback:A visually appealing poster with reasonable structure and flow (organisation).What is the research question? The context section needs references. Methods lack detail.Curiously the research describes attractions rather than focusing on their marketing.An odd discord between the title and the research.

Diverse assessment justifies diverse feedback methods:students get bored with the same method of feedback. combine written feedback with:

Feedback using a rubric which reflects your marking guidelines

Oral feedback (tutorials, after seminar presentations)Peer feedback (in seminars, group work at Level 2, DSG

for dissertation at Level 3).

Exam feedback: At every level students receive individual meetings with

their tutor in February and October personalised feedback.Students see their scripts

read the comments discuss strengths and weaknesses

devise objectives for improvement.

Feedback in Geography

Contextualised feedback Individualised feedback complemented by…

…Generic feedback (common strengths/weaknesses)

How do I compare to my peers?

What did I do better and worse than my peers?

provides context

encourages reflective learning

Early feedback early and prompt feedback for learning

We do this through: our tutorial system

research methods module

in various topic-specific modules.

Feedback in Geography

Frequent individual formative feedback E.g. Dissertation (project assessment)

L2 tutor provides feedback on proposalAllocated staff mentor adds further feedback on proposalL3 mentor provides formative feedback in regular meetingsDSG peer-group also provides formative feedbackFeedback on project progress in NovemberFeedback chapter(s) in December

Communication Feedback calendar to accompany an assessment calendar

(manage expectations). Monitoring and notification by our Teaching Administrator Blackboard to give generic feedback to all students in a

module. Return of work with feedback whenever possible (Sharepoint

to store electronic work for review by external examiners). Trialling Grademark in semester 1 AY2012-13.

Feedback in Geography

Pre-emptive feedbackEnsure students are aware of the standards

expected of them:what does 1st class work look like? Can they assess their peers? Reviewing past exam essay answers

(anonymised) to students to read, award a mark, justify and discuss.

More than providing a model answer, it promotes reflective-learning.

Feedback in Geography

Final thoughts:Some practices are serving us well

… but there is still room for improvement.

Improving student feedback scores remains a top priority.

Our subject provides for a large variety of assessment methods

… best solution likely to be subject-specific.

A College system has been helpful: assessment calendar has assisted coordination and oversight.

Assessment and Feedbackin Geography