Assessment and Feedback - ORHEP

Centre for Educational Development
ORHEP Project
1
www.orhep.brad.ac.uk
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ORHEP Project
Assessment and Feedback
John Dermo
Centre for Educational
Development

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In pairs/groups, discuss
(5 minutes)
Why do we have
assessment in Higher Education?
Can you list at least
three reasons?

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Purposes of Assessment
Gibbs (1999):
• capturing student time and attention (e.g. through
motivation);
• generating appropriate learning activity in students;
• providing feedback which students pay attention to;
• helping students to internalise a discipline’s standards
and notions of quality;
• marking to enable pass/fail decisions to be made;
• quality assurance through providing evidence to
outsiders enabling judgements about appropriateness of
standards to be made.

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Some words used to discuss
assessment
4
test quiz
exam
formative
summative
high-stakeslow-stakes
norm-referenced
criterion-referenced
diagnostic constructed response
selected response
objective
subjective
assignment
peer assessment
peer review
self-assessment
group assessment
evaluation
assessed coursework
moderation
item analysis
marking criteria
assessment of learning
assessment for learning

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What makes a
good assessment?
What do you think are
the main features of a
“good” assessment?

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Fundamental Principles of
assessment
• Validity
• Reliability
• Practicality
• Accessibility, Inclusivity, Authenticity

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Validity - Bloom’s Taxonomy
Synthesis
Analysis
Application
Comprehension
Knowledge
7
Making decisions and
supporting views:
required
understanding and
values.
Identifying
components:
determining
arrangement, logic
and semantics.
Restating in your own
words: paraphrasing,
summarising,
translating.
Combining information to
form a unique product:
requires creativity and
originality.
Using information to solve
problems: transferring
abstract or theoretical ideas
to practical situations.
Identifying connections and
relationships and how they
apply.
Memorizing verbatim
information. Being able to
remember but not necessarily
fully understanding the
material.
Evaluation

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Test and item
Reliability
Rater (inter and intra)
Practicality
Resources
“Real world” issues
Accessibility, Inclusivity, Authenticity
cf University’s Core Values
Reflective / Adaptable / Inclusive
Supportive / Ethical / Sustainable

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“It is now thirty years since serious doubts were
raised about examinations, yet despite the fact
that there has been no serious shortage of
critics since then, very little has changed.” Cox
(1967: 352)
“For many years I taught in universities. . .
. I marked thousands of scripts without
examining what the scripts could teach
me about my capacity as a teacher and
examiner.” Ashby (1985: v)
“Something like 90% of a typical university degree depends
on unseen time-constrained written examinations, and
tutor-marked essays and/or reports.” Race (2001: 5)
Some quotations on
assessment in HE:
Are they true
today?
“Students can avoid
bad teaching but they
can’t avoid bad
assessment” (Boud
1994)

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“...institutional assessment efforts should not be concerned about valuing
what can be measured but, instead, about measuring that which is valued.”
Banta et al (1996: 5)
“Description of a grade: An inadequate report of an
inaccurate judgment by a biased and variable judge of
the extent to which a student has attained an undefined
level of mastery of an unknown proportion of an
indefinite material.” Dressel (1983:12)
“assessment plays a critical role in
determining the quality of student
learning” and “a conception of
assessment for learning first and grading
second implies the use of a spectrum of
methods” Ramsden (1992:177 and 185)
Some quotations on
assessment in HE
Are they true
today?

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National Union of Students’ Principles of Effective
Assessment (2009)
1. Should be for learning, not simply of learning.
2. Should be reliable, valid, fair and consistent.
3. Should consist of effective and constructive feedback.
4. Should be innovative and have the capacity to inspire and motivate.
5. Should measure understanding and application, rather than technique and
memory.
6. Should be conducted throughout the course, rather than being positioned
as a final event.
7. Should develop key skills such as peer and reflective assessment.
8. Should be central to staff development and teaching strategies, and
frequently reviewed.
9. Should be of a manageable amount for both tutors and students.
10. Should encourage dialogue between students and their tutors and
students and their peers.
11

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NSS: Assessment and feedback
5. The criteria used in marking have been clear in advance.
6. Assessment arrangements and marking have been fair.
7. Feedback on my work has been prompt.
8. I have received detailed comments on my work.
9. Feedback on my work has helped me clarify things I did
not understand.
Since 2005 NSS evidence suggests that students nationally find
assessment and feedback among the least satisfactory
elements of their experience of higher education.
We also know that assessment takes up ever more of our time
and energy.

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Grading, Marking Criteria, Moderation
What are marking criteria?
How can they help tutors?
How can they help students?
What about moderation/standardisation?
Can grading ever be “objective”?
Look at the
example criteria
from this module
Consider this:

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Plagiarism
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• “...work which is
not undertaken in
an examination
room under
supervision but
which is submitted
by a student for
formal assessment
must be written by
the student and in
the student’s own
words...” (UoB
2003)
Cheating or weak
study skills?
• Misunderstanding
of or not
understanding –
Academic Integrity
• Greater
heterogeneity of
student body
requires new
consistent
approach to
detailing what
required and what
acceptable
Why does it
happen?
• Pandora’s box
(Sutherland-Smith
2005)
• Reluctance to
discuss plagiarism
openly
• Application and
understanding of
University policy on
plagiarism
• Integrity, honesty
and
trustworthiness
How to prevent it
and deal with it?

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Feedback
• National Student Survey
• NUS Principles
• What is feedback?
Student views on feedback
(10 minute video)
http://vimeo.com/channels/154640
What would your
students say on
the subject?

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References 1
Ashby, E. (1985), preface to Brewer, I. Learning more and Teaching
less. Guildford: Society for Research into Higher Education &
NFER-Nelson.
Atkins, M.J., Beattie, J. and Dockerell, W.B. (1993) Assessment
Issues in Higher Education, Department of Employment.
Banta, T. W., Lund, J. P., Black, K. E., & Oblander, F. W. (1996)
Assessment in practice: Putting principles to work on college
campuses. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Boud, D (1995) Enhancing learning through self-assessment London,
Routledge.
Cox, R. (1967) “Resistance to Change in Examining”, Universities
Quarterly, 21, pp. 352–358.
Dichtl J. (2003) Teaching Integrity The History Teacher 36: 3, 367-
373 Society for History Education
Dressel, P. (1983) "Grades: One more tilt at the windmill." in A.W.
Chickering (Ed.), Bulletin. Memphis: Memphis State U. Center for
the Study of Higher Education.

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References 2
Gibbs, G. (1999) Using assessment strategically to change the way
students learn. In: Assessment matters in Higher Education (eds
Brown, S. & Glasner, A.), pp. 41-53, Society for Research in
Higher Education and Open University Press, Buckingham.
Race, P. (2001) The Lecturer's Toolkit. (2nd ed) London: Kogan
Page
Ramsden, P. (1992) Learning to Teach in Higher Education.
London: Routledge.
Sutherland-Smith W. (2005) Pandora’s box: academic perceptions
of student plagiarism in writing. Journal of English for Academic
Purposes 4 (2005) 83–95
UoB (2003) Statement on Academic Integrity. Academic Standards
and Support Unit University of Bradford
http://www.brad.ac.uk/admin/acsec/assu/statement_on_academi
c_integrity.htm accessed 20/1/10

Assessment and Feedback - ORHEP

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