Human Resources Brookes Assessment Compact Dr Chris Rust, Head, Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Deputy Director, ASKe

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Definitions Assessment All judgements made about the work of a student and/or their skills, abilities and progress, and the associated provision of feedback. Compact A formal agreement or covenant, indicating intent, but not enforceable by law (cf contract)

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Tenet 1 - central to learning Assessment is at the heart of the student experience (Brown, S & Knight, P., 1994) From our students point of view, assessment always defines the actual curriculum (Ramsden, P.,1992) Assessment defines what students regard as important, how they spend their time and how they come to see themselves as students and then as graduates If you want to change student learning then change the methods of assessment (Brown, G et al, 1997)

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Tenet 2 - relational Feeling valued is often important to the way individuals respond to each other. FDTL Feedback project found that a sense of being valued by staff meant that students were more likely to engage with their feedback, to read it and use it. One student commented, "You can go through the whole semester and the teacher still doesn't know your name". In this case, she said, she was unlikely to bother to read the feedback that "teacher" gave her. Creating opportunities for dialogue between staff and students is likely to support this relational dimension of assessment and feedback.

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Tenets 3 & 4 Joint responsibility, i.e. students must also take responsibility The skills of self and peer-assessment should be graduate attributes It is the interaction between both believing in self-responsibility and using assessment formatively that leads to greater educational achievements (Brown & Hirschfeld, 2008)

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Tenet 5 - assessment literate communities of assessment practice making sense of the world is a social and collaborative activity (Vygotsky, 1978) Tacit knowledge is experience-based and can only be revealed through the sharing of experience – socialisation processes involving observation, imitation and practice (Nonaka, 1991) Dialogue and participatory relationships are key elements of engaging students with assessment feedback (ESwAF FDTL, 2007) An indispensable condition for improvement in student learning is that the student comes to hold a concept of quality roughly similar to that held by the teacher (Sadler, 1989)

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Tenet 5 - assessment literate communities of assessment practice (contd.) Social-constructivist process model the social-constructivist view of learning argues that knowledge is shaped and evolves through increasing participation within different communities of practice the social-constructivist process model of assessment argues that students should be actively engaged with every stage of the assessment process in order that they truly understand the requirements of the process, and the criteria and standards being applied, and should subsequently produce better work (Rust C., ODonovan, B., & Price, M., 2005)

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Active engagement with feedback Explicit Criteria Completion and submission of work Students Active engagement with criteria

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Active engagement with feedback Explicit Criteria Completion and submission of work Students Active engagement with criteria

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Engaging students with criteria Get students actively using the criteria through a developmental combination of: Marking exercises Self-assessment Peer-feedback Peer-assessment Possibly creating and negotiating criteria

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Activity 1.Read the ASKe leaflet, How to improve student performance in 90 minutes 2.Discuss: to what extent do you already and/or could you use methods like these to engage students with the assessment criteria?

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Active engagement with feedback Explicit Criteria Completion and submission of work Students Active engagement with criteria

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Improving feedback - prepare students (in Yr 1 esp.) Aligning expectations (of staff & students, & between teams of markers) -often a mismatch of expectations e.g correcting errors, advice for the future, diagnosis of general problems, comments specific only to that piece of work. These mismatches occur frequently with no particular pattern about who holds which view/perspective but problems arise when the the two don't coincide. Purpose of feedback may vary from assignment to assignment so would need to be clarified each time. (Freeman & Lewis, 1998) Identifying all feedback available (especially oral) Model the application of feedback -e.g. using previously-marked assignments to show how feedback was used (or consider how used) to improve later assignments Encourage the application of feedback -e.g. in a subsequent piece of work the student is required to show how they have used prior feedback to try to improve their work (and possibly some marks allocated for this). Require and develop self-assessment

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Activity Discuss: How do you currently prepare students to make use of feedback and to what extent could you do more through the introduction/development of some of these ideas?

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Improving feedback - ensure it is fit for purpose Ensure students have MOM - Motive, Opportunity, Means (Angelo, 2007) Draft-plus-rework - feedback effort (for markers and students) is located at the draft stage, and possibly only a summative grade is given for the final submission Improve the linkage of assessment strategies across programmes and between modules/units Increase student engagement and understanding through dialogue - in- class discussion of exemplars, peer-review discussions supported by tutors, learning-sets, etc. Identify what is feasible in a given assessment context - written feedback can often do little more than diagnose development issues and then direct students to other resources for help and support Ensure it is timely - quick and dirty generic feedback, feedback on a draft, MCQs & quizzes, etc. (using technology may help) Consider the role of marks - they obscure feedback Reduce over-emphasis on written feedback - oral can be more effective (McCune, 2004). See the Sounds Good website at: Review resource allocations (N.B. OU 60%)

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Activity Discuss: Which of these ideas could you introduce/develop to help students engage with their feedback?

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Implementation 2.6, 2.7, assessment literate communities of assessment practice Programmes to include activities (e.g. marking exercises, self and peer- assessment, etc.) specifically designed to: involve students in the assessment process encourage dialogue between students and their tutors encourage dialogue between students and their peers, and ultimately develop their abilities to make their own informed judgements (assessment literacy as a graduate skill) Staff peer discussion of assessment at course design stage, moderation, and staff development Student involvement to include contribution to the development of assessment policy at course and programme level through the established processes and student representative system (3.4)

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Active engagement with feedback Explicit Criteria Completion and submission of work Students Active engagement with criteria Assessment design & development of explicit criteria Tutor discussion of criteria Marking and moderation Staff Assessment guidance to staff

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Active engagement with feedback Explicit Criteria Completion and submission of work Students Active engagement with criteria Assessment design & development of explicit criteria Tutor discussion of criteria Marking and moderation Staff Assessment guidance to staff Rust C.,ODonovan B & Price., M (2005)

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Implementation : course design Constructive alignment 3-stage course design: What are desired outcomes? What teaching methods require students to behave in ways that are likely to achieve those outcomes? What assessment tasks will tell us if the actual outcomes match those that are intended or desired? This is the essence of constructive alignment (Biggs, 1999)

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Implementation : course design (contd.) Emphasis on programme outcomes Avoid atomistic assessment and the whole not being the sum of the parts Slowly learnt academic literacies require rehearsal and practice throughout a programme (Knight & Yorke, 2004) The achievement of high-level learning requires integrated and coherent progression (based on programme outcomes) Where there is a greater sense of the holistic programme students are likely to achieve higher standards than on more fragmented programmes (Havnes, p. 2007)

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Implementation & 2.7: course design (contd.) Assessment for learning Redress the balance from summative to formative assessment: …students become more interested in the mark and less interested in the subject over the course of their studies. (Newstead 2002, p2) Design out plagiarism and ensure authenticity Avoid bias and unnecessary disadvantage Programmes to produce assessment schedules of summative assessment, and make every effort to avoid the concentration of assessment deadlines (API requirement)

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Activity Discuss: How could you redesign your programme to redress the balance from summative to formative, and focus the emphasis on the assessment of programme outcomes?