Advancing Research-based Education
Changing Feedback Practices Across an Institution
Teresa McConlogue Alex Standen
Francesca Peruzzo
Outline
• Introduction
– Feedback issues
– Why saturation CPD?
• Workshop activities
• Raising NSS scores
• Supporting activities
• ChangeMakers guides
• Conclusions and ways forward
Feedback issues
– Turnaround times
– Consistency across a programme (quality and quantity) – Student understanding of feedback, developing
evaluative judgement (Boud et al. 2018, Carless 2016, Sadler 2010)
– Connections across a programme
Why saturation CPD?
• Large numbers of staff taking the same CPD sessions.
• Creates a shared understanding of an issue – effect change at the level of the programme team.
• Workshop facilitated in departments, faculties, courses, programme teams and centrally.
(Bloxham 2016, Forsyth et al 2015).
Evaluation data
• Attendance (since September 2017 – present) c. 650 staff
• Feedback sheet, 363 respondents:
162 rated the workshop as ‘excellent’
172 rated the workshop as ‘very good’ (total - 92% very good/excellent)
Comments:
Most valued – ‘guidance and advice’, ‘conversations with
colleagues’, ‘practical aspect’, scenarios, FPT, video case study.
Limitations – time, large student numbers, colleagues (‘ask them to
attend the workshop’)
Workshop content
Addresses:
Developing evaluative judgement
Quality and quantity of feedback Activities:
Scenarios – common feedback issues
Analysis of sample feedback using the Feedback Profiling Tool (Hughes et al. 2015)
Video case study of peer review of feedback and creating department guidelines
Actions:
Guided Marking (evaluative judgement)
Peer review of feedback (guidelines for consistency)
Case study – Life & Medical Sciences
• 2 year Masters programme, 60 students per year.
Leads to accredited professional qualification.
• Peer dialogue activity between group of colleagues:
– Peer review of feedback
– Development of guidelines for staff and students, in
partnership with students.
Case study – Raising NSS scores
Caroline Garaway from UCL Anthropology, explains
how she led work on assessment and feedback in
her department.
Busting assessment myths
Dr Teresa McConlogue and Dr Mira Vogel, University College London.
t.mcconlogue@ucl.ac.uk and m.vogel@ucl.ac.uk
Myth
Reality
Mythbusting sessions
A&F Discussion Forum
McConlogue and Vogel, AHE June 2016,
Quick Guides to Assessment and Feedback
ChangeMakers Project
Student guides to assessment and feedback
Dr Francesca Peruzzo and Au-Yeung Claudia
- Guide project proposal:
- A guide for students by students to advise reflect and discuss the new UCL assessment regulations and making the best use out of feedback
- Different stakeholders involved in the project:
- UCL Arena Centre for Research-Based Education - Student Union
- Student Registry
- Assessment regulations and governance manager
- Aims:
- Simplify students’ understanding of assessment and feedback procedures - Provide tools to effectively engage with them
Project development
• Preliminary online and site research to gather different sources of information on assessment and feedback material:
• Website
• Different departments and centres
• Initial mapping of potential topics to deepen and discuss with students:
• Intensification of discussion with stakeholders involved in the project
• Focus groups:
• Undergraduate (8 students mixed representatives and not)
• Post-Graduate Taught (7 students from different disciplines)
• Word cloud to spark discussion on:
• Descriptions of feelings associated to being assessed and received feedback
• What use students do of assessment criteria and formative feedback on drafts and final exams.
• Practical examples of experiences of being assessed and used they made of feedback
• Reflections on their pedagogical relationship with academic staff
Preliminary findings
• Lack of understanding of what use make of assessment criteria and feedback;
• Focus on mark rather than formative assessment and constructive
feedback;
• Little attention to learning outcomes and connection with modalities of learning and assessment;
• Lack of trust in academic staff;
• Post-graduate students more
strategically engaged and aware of importance of feedback and
assessment.
Outcomes and dissemination
• Guides developed around major themes emerged from focus groups, friendly
written and targeting more undergraduate students.
• Organised in ‘tips’ ranged from reflections on:
– The holistic nature of assessment and feedback;
– Relations between feedback, assessment, skills development, expectations and learning outcomes;
– Relation between formative and summative assessment and career prospects;
– Development of pedagogical relations with peers and teaching staff;
– Connection between assessment, feedback and student mental health.
Feedback and dissemination
• Feedback on the guide from students and different
departments before dissemination;
• Included in student welcome pack for freshers;
• Link on Student Union website.
Conclusions and next steps
• Multiple pressures for change – institutional and external (TEF), multiple initiatives
• Change is complex – can be difficult to identify impact
• Change takes time – we need to track departments over a longer period
• Follow up
References
Bloxham, S. (2016) Central challenges in transforming assessment at departmental and institutional level. Keynote. AHE Seminar Day, 30th June, Manchester.
Boud, D., Ajjawi, R., Dawson, P., & Tai, J. (Eds.). (2018). Developing Evaluative Judgement in Higher Education: Assessment for Knowing and Producing Quality Work. Routledge.
Carless, D. (2006) Differing perceptions in the feedback process. Studies in Higher Education 31, no. 2: 219–33.
Forsyth, R., Cullen, R., Ringan, N. & Stubbs, M (2015) Supporting the development of assessment literacy of staff through institutional process change. London
Review of Education 13(3)
Hughes, Gwyneth, Holly Smith, and Brian Creese. (2015)"Not seeing the wood for the trees: developing a feedback analysis tool to explore feed forward in
modularised programmes." Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education 40, no.
8: 1079-1094.
Sadler, D. Royce. ( "Beyond feedback: Developing student capability in complex appraisal." Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education 35, no. 5: 535-550.
