Assessment and Feedback (AAF) in practice Martina A. Doolan Principal Lecturer National Teaching Fellow Paul Morris Senior Lecturer

Background National Student Survey in the UK; –more informative and timely feedback on assessment Support (new member of) staff Funding – Staff and Educational Association Development (small grant scheme) –Higher Education Academy (subject centre for Information and Computer Science (ICS) development fund)

Problem Statement Newly defined module Highly interactive and hands-on course material 100% Exam assessment How to use assessment FOR learning to meet both the previous statements “be able to explain a variety of methods for representing data values and relationships and appreciate the circumstances under which it is appropriate to apply these methods”

Data Visualisation module Semester B module End of semester exam 22 (18 present) learners studying on a as part of the final year of a BSc 2 Academic staff 1 Advisor (researcher)

Assessment Strategy Mini-projects –carried out in small groups (2 or 3 students). –7 active groups from a class list of 22 (4 never present) – intended to engage learners’ collectively and collaboratively through group based learning activities to construct, and share knowledge through interaction –critique of existing data visualisation artefacts (from press, web, etc) –design of visualisation artefacts based on varied project definitions and associated datasets”

Assessment Strategy WeekLecture Assessment ActivityTutorial Assessment Activity 18 19Mini-Project 1 20Critique 1Mini-Project 1 21Mini-Project 1 Presentations 22Mini-Project 2 23Critique 2Mini-Project 2 24Mini-Project 2 Presentations 25Mini-Project 3 26Critique 3Mini-Project 3 27Mini-Project 3 PresentationsWhat is the Question for MP4? 28 – Easter 29 – Easter 30Critique 4Mini-Project 4 31Mini-Project 4 Presentations

The Presentations Recorded using the flip camera and organised as follows: –Group (order selected randomly) –3-4 minute presentation –Tutor-led class critique, question and feedback –Final Tutor Feedback on general points from the presentations –Open discussion on the validity of the mini- project, what worked and what didn’t

 15 out of 18 learners present in class to complete a questionnaire – quantitative  4 learners participated in one-to-one interviews recorded using a flip camera (advisor/researcher)  Tutor reflections captured by one-to-one interview (research assistant) – qualitative  Summary of findings are presented based on learner experiences of engaging in the assessment and feedback practices with tutors on the data visualisation module Evaluation

Summary Trailed on the Data Visualisation module – 18 learners, final year students (almost 100% engagment), value added HCI Principles and Practice – 49 learners, predominately international, MSc students (almost 100% engagement), value added These students value the opportunity to co-construct assessment – part of the assessment design, decision making process, feedback process

Tutor Reflections

Acknowledgements Students Tutors: Paul Morris, Wei Ji Team: Martina A. Doolan (Project Lead), Paul Morris, Chris Tilley (Research Assistant) Technical support: Chris Moore, Mathew Waters Admin support: Jackie Davidson HEA ICS subject centre (funding). SEDA (funding)

Chickering, A. Gamson, Z (1987) Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education Washington Centre News Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1990). Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Vygotsky, L.S. (1978) Mind in Society. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press Wenger, E. (1998) Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. References