Keynote I - What Makes Good Feedback Good?

 Professor Margaret Price, Oxford Brookes University

The keynote speaker addressed student feedback in the context of a higher education environment, that is dynamic and subject to a large number of external and internal pressures. Within that context, there appears to be general consensus that feedback is a crucial component of learning and assessment, and that assessment itself is a key driver of learning. Professor Price pointed out that the discourse of assessment is relatively simple for such a complex subject and suggested a need for new and more descriptive terminology than exists at present. She also noted the added pressure of higher student expectations and a louder student voice from ‘customers’ paying high fees.

Oxford Brookes and Cardiff have collaborated on a new piece of research, examining what makes feedback good in the perceptions of the students and what domains influence these perceptions of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ in this context. The project used student researchers and a cross-discipline approach. Students taking part were asked to bring one piece of ‘good’ feedback and one ‘bad’. They were interviewed around these pieces and then the feedback was analysed. The domains used in the analysis covered quality, context, student development and expectations and were further divided into areas such as technical factors, particularity (i.e. personal/impersonal feedback), recognition of effort, assessment design (crucial), student resilience (can they accept criticism?), student desires (to learn or to achieve a high grade?) etc. The full report is available at http://www.brookes.ac.uk/aske/.

The research found that the domains overlapped and compensated for each other so that feedback that was poor in one domain might be good in another, and vice versa. Three important messages for those giving feedback that emerged were:

• Give it plenty of time
• Train, develop and support staff in giving feedback
• Limit anonymous feedback (personalised feedback scored highly)

Professor Price suggested that students need to develop their assessment literacy if they are to be able to gain the most from assessment and feedback. This can be done through developing their technical understanding of marking and grading, through self and peer assessment, and through an appreciation of what grading criteria actually mean. She pointed out that academics see hundreds of pieces of work and have a tacit understanding of what a 2:1 looks like, for example, but how are students to know this? Give them good examples was the answer and put them through stages of self-assessment, peer review, drafting, re-drafting and perhaps peer assisted learning where more experienced students support beginners and help them to develop their assessment literacy.

An overarching message resulting from the research was that ‘You don’t need to get it right all the time’: students are very forgiving of delayed feedback or low grades when they can see that there has been a real effort to engage with their individual piece of work. Examples of good practice are available at https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/whats-on/inclusive-assessment-in-practice-conference.

Finally – she concluded by saying that this should go beyond university and students should leave having developed these valuable self-evaluation skills to take with them into the future.

Report by Celia Cozens, e-Learning Content Manager, Centre for Academic Practice Enhancement (CAPE)

Keynote II: Could do Better: Assessing the Assessors

Professor Paul Haywood, Middlesex University, School of Art and Design

If Professor Haywood had been giving the keynote address at a conference on student engagement his presentation would have got full marks for walking the talk - the whole audience was totally engaged from start to finish. Highly entertaining delivery coupled with the offer of free apples for participants (which, I have to say, were not too forthcoming) proved a winning combination and the keynote sped by. A bit too fast for me actually as I had been charged with reporting on the session, but my frantic note-taking could not keep up with the speed and the range of information delivered so I will summarise a few key points and recommend you to watch the video for the full, highly worthwhile experience.

Professor Haywood whisked us through a quick history of the modern university, from Bologna to Middlesex. The first universities were, he claimed, set up as propaganda machines to oppress difference. Now we claim to celebrate difference and, to paraphrase V. I. Lenin, see education as the core of our so-called democracy. Indeed, mass education defines us as a democracy, with all aspiring to equal rights of access leading to the widening participation agenda.

Paul Haywood addressed the issue of social mobility – people leaving behind communities and people that they love and understand, to go to far-removed ‘institutions of learning’ – and highlighted the alternative offer, outreach education that invests in the communities, growing them rather than asset-stripping them. A model of total engagement, where education resources link to community activism, practice environments and life-wide learning led us to an outline of Paul's major project. Rooted in Salford whose grim statistics belie the experience, knowledge and creativity within, the project aims to break down institutional barriers to learning and rather than importing culture to the area, use and develop the rich diversity of knowledge, experience and creativity that already exists.

One of the key aims of the project (see video for full outline) is the development of the E.L.L.I.E. (Experiential Learning Live and Immediate Evidence) App tool for mobile devices linked to student blogs and on-line learning journals. This is a tool for learners through which they can capture, store, profile and disseminate evidence of learning from experience or practical engagement. It allows the student to start a process of reflection without breaking their flow of activity. The technology is a means of populating and structuring the student’s digital learning journal with raw content to support the process of reflection and, later, portfolio development.

Informal/formal education, institutional learning/social learning, cooperative learners’ action networks (CLANs), onions, apples, all human (and vegetable) life is here. But don't take my word for it - watch the video and let Professor Paul Haywood - the human dynamo - explain this all to you so much better than I can.

Report by Celia Cozens, e-Learning Content Manager, Centre for Academic Practice Enhancement (CAPE)

Track A4 - Assessment Literacy in Student Midwives

Jo Killingley, Middlesex University, School of Health and Education

As part of the revisiting assessment theme of the Learning and Teaching Conference 2015, Jo’s talk centred on providing prompt feedback to students immediately after one of the exams called the Objective Structured Clinical Examination, OSCE, which she carried out as a research project. Jo identified that:

• Feedback has to promote critical thinking and self-judgement
•   Feedback has to be behaviour focused
• Clarity and clear articulation – students want to be in control of their learning and be motivated through clear feedback. Feedback helps students take control of their learning.
•  Timeliness – it’s important that feedback provided is very close to the time of the event in       order for it to be effective 
• Coping with learning – feedback provokes high levels of anxiety 
• Feedback should be constructive. Destructive feedback can be more in the perception by the recipient than in the intended feedback content.

Jo described in detail how much dedication is required to support and mentor students through their learning progress on their Midwifery course and the value quality feedback played in this process.

Report by John Koushappas, Senior Educational Technologist, Centre for Academic Practice Enhancement (CAPE)

Track B3 - Using My Learning in the Assessment Cycle: How Hard Can it Be? Challenges and Benefits of Using VLEs for Assessment

Jas Ahmad, Middlesex University, Business School
Luiza Dantas, Centre for Academic Practice Enhancement (CAPE)

Jas and Luiza provided an energetic presentation on the benefits and versatility of integrating My Learning (Moodle) tools into the assessment cycle.

Luiza opened by describing the various stages of the assessment cycle; 1) specifying requirements, 2) setting assessment criteria and expectations, 3) supporting students through the assessment process, 4) submission of assignments, 5) marking and feedback, 6) returning marks and feedback, and 7) reflection. She identified that more focus and engagement is needed in the first 4 stages than is currently being given.

Jas then walked us through his approach to these 4 stages of the assessment cycle. Jas advocates the use of Breeze presentations.  Breeze is available freely online and allows the lecturer to upload Powerpoint slides coupled with short audio narration for each slide.  This allows Jas’ students to gain the basic information regarding assessment design at home, allowing for richer engagement and more informed questions during his face to face lectures.

Jas emphasised the need to ‘frontload’ your course with information and support.  Jas sets out his expectations early on, providing a recorded lectures, online announcements and engages with online discussions on how students should prepare for seminars, lectures and assignments.  In his experience, students routinely need the same guidance at the start of every term, so providing this information in a pre-recorded format saves valuable time and confusion in the long run.

Challenges to providing online guidance and support can include resistance from students who see more value in receiving the information in a face to face format. Gaining the students ‘buy in’ early on and continuously throughout the course is important for the success of online support.  It is also important to consider necessary adjustments for disabled students, if these students are not considered in the preparation stage of teaching then this can create a lot of back tracking and extra work later.

Jas empathised with colleagues who may be reluctant to try out technologies they are not familiar with due to fear of failure, and the potential for being caught on camera making a mistake. He recommends speaking to the camera as though you are speaking to a student in the room, if you trip up over a sentence or need to correct yourself it is not a big deal, and with time and practice confidence will grow.

Luiza closed the session by reminding the audience that the Centre for Academic Practice Enhancement is on hand to support any members of staff who would like to branch out and explore the potential of using My Learning in their assessment strategies.

Report by Jessica Isaacs, Online Learning Content Developer, Centre for Academic Practice Enhancement (CAPE)