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An evidenced-informed approach to enhancing programme-wide assessment
TESTA to FASTECH
Dr Tansy Jessop & Yaz El Hakim, University of WinchesterProfessor Paul Hyland, Bath Spa University
JISC Online Annual: 22 November 2011
Pre-Conference ActivitiesPre-reading:1) Gibbs & Simpson (2004) Conditions under which assessment supports student learning. http://www2.glos.ac.uk/offload/tli/lets/lathe/issue1/articles/simpson.pdf
2) Gibbs, G. & Dunbar-Goddet, H. (2007) The effects of programme assessment environments on student learning. http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/teachingandresearch/gibbs_0506.pdf
3) Jessop, T., Smith, C. & El Hakim, Y. (2011) Programme-wide assessment: doing ‘more with less’ from the TESTA NTFS project. HEA Assessment & Feedback Briefing Paper.http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/assessment/2011_Winchester_SS_Briefing_Report.pdf
1) What conditions do you see as most important in student learning (Paper 1)?
2) What is your response to the idea of institutional and programme ‘assessment environments’ which influence assessment and feedback patterns? (Paper 2)
3) What are the main challenges and benefits of addressing assessment patterns on a whole programme? (Paper 3)
Pre-conference questions
TESTA ‘Cathedrals Group’ Universities
Why TESTA has been compelling
1) The research methodology2) It is conceptually grounded in assessment and
feedback literature3) It’s about improving student learning4) It is programmatic in focus5) The change process is dialogic & developmental
Presentation Overview
1) The Research Methodology (Tansy)2) Case study as a compelling narrative (Tansy)3) Trends in assessment & feedback (Tansy)
Q&A4) The student effort narrative (Yaz)5) The bewildered student narrative (Yaz)6) Systems-failure on feedback narrative (Yaz)
Q&A7) A way forward: FASTECH (Paul)
Two Paradigms
Transmission• Expert to novice• Planned, packaged & ‘delivered’• Feedback given by experts• Feedback received by novices• One way traffic• Very little dialogue• Emphasis on measurement• CompetitionMetaphor = mechanical system
Social constructivist model• Participatory, democratic• Messy and process-oriented• Peer review• Self-evaluation• Social process• Dialogue• Emphasis on learning• CollaborationMetaphor = the journey
1) Research Methodology
• triangulates data from three sources • presented in a case study • complex, ambiguous, textured • open to discussion - not the ‘final word’• ‘before’ and ‘after’ data
Programme Audit
• How much summative assessment• How much formative (reqd, formal, feedback)• How many varieties of assessment• Proportion exams to coursework• Word count of written feedback• How much ‘formal’ oral feedback• Criteria, learning outcomes, course docs
Assessment Experience Questionnaireversion 3.3
• 28 questions• 5 point Likert scale where 5 = strongly agree• 9 scales and one overall satisfaction question• Scales link to conditions of learning• Examples: – quantity and distribution of effort; – use of feedback; – quantity and quality of feedback; – clear goals and standards
Focus groups
• What kinds of assessment• How assessment influences your study
behaviour• Whether you know what quality work looks like • What feedback is like and how you use it
Research Methodology
ASSESSMENT EXPERIENCEQUESTIONNAIRE (AEQ n= 1200+)
FOCUS GROUPS (n=50 with 301 students)
PROGRAMME AUDIT (n=22)
Programme Team
Meeting
Case Study
2) The cases are surprising, complex, puzzling
Here is one case from the TESTA data……
Case Study 1
• Lots of coursework (47 tasks)• Very varied forms (15 types of assessment)• Very few exams (1 in every 10)• Masses of written feedback on assignments
(15,412 words)• Learning outcomes and criteria clearly
specified….looks like a ‘model’ assessment environment
But students:• Don’t put in a lot of effort and distribute their
effort across few topics• Don’t think there is a lot of feedback or that it
very useful, and don’t make use of it• Don’t think it is at all clear what the goals and
standards are
……what is going on?
Your best guesses
A. Variety of assessment confuses studentsB. Assessment in ‘bunched’ at certain timesC. The feedback is too late to be of any useD. Teachers don’t share a common standardE. Other
• Select your response from the buttons (A B C D E) at the bottom-right of the list of participants
• Type any additional comments into the text-chat
• Teachers work hard, students less so.• Feedback is too late to be useful• Teachers have varied standards• Students see feedback as ‘modular’• Variety confuses students• Formative tasks are assigned low priority• Summative assessment drives effort
What is going on?
3) Trends in assessment and feedback
• High summative assessment, low formative • High variety (average 11; range 7-17)• Written feedback (ave7,153; r = 2,869-15,412 )• Low oral feedback (average 6 hours)• Watertight documents, tacit standards• Huge institutional and programme variations: o formative: summative ratios (134:1 cf 1:10)o oral feedback (37 minutes to 30 hours)
Q&A
4) The effort narrative. TESTA data shows that:
• average of 12 summative per year• 24 teaching weeks, one every two weeks• summative tasks end-loaded & bunched• leading to patchy effort• and surface learning• with an average three formative tasks a year….
The more you write the better you become at it… and if we’ve only written 40 pieces over three years that’s not a lot.
So you could have a great time doing nothing until like a month before Christmas and you’d suddenly panic. I prefer steady deadlines, there’s a gradual move forward, rather than bam!
In the second year, I kept getting such good marks I thought “If I’m getting this much without putting in much effort that means I could do so much better if I actually did do the hours” but it just goes up and down really.
TESTA plus HEPI quiz
Which one is false? A) 1 in 3 UK students study for 20 hours or less a weekB) Students on only 1 out of 7 TESTA programmes agreed that
they were working hardC) Students work hardest when there is a high volume of
formative assessment and oral feedbackD) Students work hardest when there is a high volume of
summative assessment and written feedbackE) 1 in 3 UK students undertake > 6 hours of paid work a weekSelect your response from the buttons (A B C D E) at the bottom-right of the list of participants
Chat box
What ideas might encourage students to put in effort regularly on degree programmes?
• Type your responses in the text chat
Strategies to encourage student effort
Choose your top strategy to encourage effort:A) Raise expectations in first year B) Require more formative assessmentC) Link formative and summative tasksD) Use more peer and self assessmentE) Design small, frequent assessed tasks
Select your response from the buttons (A B C D E) at the bottom-right of the list of participants
Technologies that may help…
What technologies might work to spur on regular and distributed
effort?
Type your responses in the text chat
5) The baffled student narrativeo The language of written criteria is difficult
to understando feedback does not always refer to criteriao students feel that marking standards vary
and are subjective and arbitraryo students sometimes use criteria
instrumentally
I’m not a marker so I can’t really think like them... I don’t have any idea of why it got that mark.
They have different criteria, build up their own criteria. Some of them will mark more interested in how you word things.
You know who are going to give crap marks and who are going to give decent marks.
Chat Box
What strategies might help students to internalise goals and standards?
• Type your responses in the text chat
Strategies to help students know what ‘good’ is
Which strategy do you think helps most?A) Showing students models of good work B) Peer marking workshopsC) Lots of formative tasks with feedbackD) Plenty of interactive dialogue about standardsE) Self assessment activities
Select your response from the buttons (A B C D E) at the bottom-right of the list of participants
6) System-wide features make it difficult for students to use feedback and act on ito feedback often arrives after a module, or after
submission of the next tasko tasks are not sequenced or connected across
modules, leading to lack of feed forwardo students sometimes receive grades electronically
before their feedback becomes available on parchment in a dusty office
o technology has led to some depersonalised cut and pasting
It’s rare that you’ll get it in time to help you on that same module.t’s rare that you’ll get it in time to help you on that same module.You know that twenty other people have got the same sort of comment.
I look on the Internet and say ‘Right, that’s my mark. I don’t need to know too much about why I got it’. I only apply feedback to that module because I have this fear that if I transfer it to other modules it’s not going to transfer smoothly.You can’t carry forward most of the comments because you might have an essay first and your next assignment might be a poster.
Changes through TESTA
Structural
Thematic
Pedagogic
Module
Types of changes
1. Reduced summative2. Increased formative assessment 3. Streamlined variety4. Raised expectations of student
workload5. Sequenced and linked tasks across
modules6. Practice based changes
Q&A
FASTECHFeedback and Assessment for Students with Technology
What is FASTECH?
• R&D Project (3 yrs): ‘R’ primarily with TESTA tools; ‘D’ in disciplines and universities.• approach: teaching teams with students interpret ‘R’ data to determine goals of ‘D’.
• activities: to address QA and QE issues, optimize sector engagement (fastech.ac.uk) • outputs: R&D findings, experiences & guides by teachers, students, others…
Pragmatic Principles?
• Fast: using readily-available technologies; quick to learn, easy to use …• Efficient: after start-up period; saves time & effort ( paper), productivity … • Effective: brings significant learning benefit to students, pedagogic impact …
FASTECH: a Pedagogical Goal
Student baggage … • all can be
strategic!
and blocks:• ideas about
roles of S & T• …
… ability to manage own learning …In each assessment culture, this entails using technologies that help promote
transparency & S participation in all processes from design and management to feedback and revision(validity, reliability & fairness are not enough)
a reshaping of teacher & student responsibilities
processes that enhance and create new: peer-learning activities & collaborations (in/out of class); self & peer assessment; recording, sharing & review of students’ progress and achievements …
teacher revision of pedagogies, based upon records of student progress & achievement in learning
attuning of assessment to address individual & distinctive needs & aspirations …..
Teacherbaggage …
and blocks:• ideas about role
of assessment• unsure about
value of feedback• assessment &
marking conflated• criteria &
standards• …
Finally, for an excellent overview
of technologies and pedagogies
JISC, Effective Assessment in a Digital Age. Bristol: HEFCE, 2010.Available at: www.jisc.ac.uk/digiassess (esp., pp. 14-15, 54-55)For resources associated with this publication:www.jisc.ac.uk/assessresource
Please contact us for more info about TESTA and FASTECH:[email protected]@[email protected]
Websites: www.testa.ac.uk & www.fastech.ac.uk (from January 2012)
Thank You
DISCUSSIONto be continued in the conference discussion forum
How do you think using technology in A&F will improve students’ learning?
ReferencesBlack, P. & D. William (1998) ‘Assessment and Classroom Learning’, Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy and Practice. 5(1): 7-74.Bloxham, S. & P. Boyd (2007) Planning a programme assessment strategy. Chapter 11 (157-175) in Developing Effective Assessment in Higher Education. Berkshire. Open University Press. Boud, D. (2000) Sustainable Assessment: Rethinking assessment for the learning society, Studies in Continuing Education, 22: 2, 151 — 167.Gibbs, G. & Simpson, C. (2004) Conditions under which assessment supports students' learning. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. 1(1): 3-31.Gibbs, G., & Dunbar-Goddet, H. (2007) The effects of programme assessment environments on student learning. Higher Education Academy. http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/ourwork/research/gibbs_0506.pdf Gibbs, G. & Dunbar-Goddet, H. (2009). Characterising programme-level assessment environments that support learning. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. 34,4: 481-489.
Jessop, T., El Hakim, Y. & Gibbs, G. (2011) TESTA: Research inspiring change, Educational Developments 12 (4). In press.Jessop, T., McNab, N., and Gubby, L. (2012 forthcoming) Mind the gap: An analysis of how quality assurance procedures influence programme assessment patterns. Active Learning in Higher Education. 13(3).Knight, P.T. and Yorke, M. (2003) Assessment, Learning and Employability. Maidenhead. Open University Press.Nicol, D. J. and McFarlane-Dick, D. (2006) Formative Assessment and Self-Regulated Learning: A Model and Seven Principles of Good Feedback Practice. Studies in Higher Education. 31(2): 199-218. Nicol, D. (2010) From monologue to dialogue: improving written feedback processes in mass higher education, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 35: 5, 501 – 517Sambell, K (2011) Rethinking Feedback in Higher Education. Higher Education Academy Escalate Subject Centre Publication.
