Abstract
The micro-study was a small student-led 'Student Education Innovation Project' that aimed to gain insight into assessment and feedback practice at a leading Russell Group Business School. The study looked to shed light on ‘what works’ in Assessment & Feedback practices that a) constitute best practice in line with extant pedagogy, and b) are considered as ‘best practice’ by students.
The objectives of the study were to understand staff and student perceptions towards varying 'effective' assessment and feedback practices and gain insight into student performance across varying modes of assessment.
An undergraduate student led the study conducting a mini literature review, proposing that effective assessment (as extensively covered by Boxham & Boyd, (2007)) and most suitably represented by sustainable assessment practice (Boud & Soler, 2016) and learning orientated assessment (Carless, 2007) incorporates many facets including: groupwork (Entwistle & Waterston, 1988), self-assessment (Boud, 2013), peer-assessment (Liu & Carless, 2006), using exemplar banks (Handley & Williams, 2011), formative assessment and assessment criteria (Nicol & Macfarlane‐Dick, 2006, Nicol, 2007). These along with many other constructs may be deemed as being key to effective assessment in contemporary Higher Education.
Regarding effective feedback; feedback should be seen as being a process, not a product (Boud & Molloy 2012), and as dialogue (Nicol, 2009). Innovative techniques like audio feedback (Voelkel, Mello & Varga-Atkins, 2018) or face to face feedback (Chalmers, Mowat & Chapman, 2018) have also been deemed most effective in the literature hence these methods warranted further discussion.
The study was a micro study exploring questionnaire responses from a small sample of Postgraduate students (n=35) and interviews with a small number of academic colleagues (n=4). Secondary data of PTES results across 13 programmes and assessment results across 144 modules and 254 assessments were used as inputs to a multiple regression model within the study.
Key findings indicate students perceptions of effective assessment are in line with pedagogic discourse and include the desire for one to one feedback, the use of exemplars and more formative / feedforward opportunities. Staff perceptions of effective assessment were largely aligned to student perspectives however constrained by institutional factors including large student numbers and workload. Findings also suggest multiple low-stakes assessment result in higher overall module marks and implementation of group work initiatives also contribute to enhanced average module marks.
Although not on a large scale, this micro-study is valuable as balances both qualitative and quantitative findings to present a 'local' 'through the key hole' perspective into current assessment and feedback practice.
The objectives of the study were to understand staff and student perceptions towards varying 'effective' assessment and feedback practices and gain insight into student performance across varying modes of assessment.
An undergraduate student led the study conducting a mini literature review, proposing that effective assessment (as extensively covered by Boxham & Boyd, (2007)) and most suitably represented by sustainable assessment practice (Boud & Soler, 2016) and learning orientated assessment (Carless, 2007) incorporates many facets including: groupwork (Entwistle & Waterston, 1988), self-assessment (Boud, 2013), peer-assessment (Liu & Carless, 2006), using exemplar banks (Handley & Williams, 2011), formative assessment and assessment criteria (Nicol & Macfarlane‐Dick, 2006, Nicol, 2007). These along with many other constructs may be deemed as being key to effective assessment in contemporary Higher Education.
Regarding effective feedback; feedback should be seen as being a process, not a product (Boud & Molloy 2012), and as dialogue (Nicol, 2009). Innovative techniques like audio feedback (Voelkel, Mello & Varga-Atkins, 2018) or face to face feedback (Chalmers, Mowat & Chapman, 2018) have also been deemed most effective in the literature hence these methods warranted further discussion.
The study was a micro study exploring questionnaire responses from a small sample of Postgraduate students (n=35) and interviews with a small number of academic colleagues (n=4). Secondary data of PTES results across 13 programmes and assessment results across 144 modules and 254 assessments were used as inputs to a multiple regression model within the study.
Key findings indicate students perceptions of effective assessment are in line with pedagogic discourse and include the desire for one to one feedback, the use of exemplars and more formative / feedforward opportunities. Staff perceptions of effective assessment were largely aligned to student perspectives however constrained by institutional factors including large student numbers and workload. Findings also suggest multiple low-stakes assessment result in higher overall module marks and implementation of group work initiatives also contribute to enhanced average module marks.
Although not on a large scale, this micro-study is valuable as balances both qualitative and quantitative findings to present a 'local' 'through the key hole' perspective into current assessment and feedback practice.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Published - 26 Jun 2019 |
| Event | International Assessment in Higher Education Conference - Manchester, United Kingdom Duration: 26 Jun 2019 → 27 Jun 2019 Conference number: 7th |
Conference
| Conference | International Assessment in Higher Education Conference |
|---|---|
| Abbreviated title | AHE Conference |
| Country/Territory | United Kingdom |
| City | Manchester |
| Period | 26/06/19 → 27/06/19 |