1. Centre for Academic Practice University of Strathclyde
Rethinking Formative Assessment: a model and seven principles of good feedback practice
Dr David Nicol
Centre for Academic Practice
University of Strathclyde
Debra Macfarlane-Dick
Careers Service & Teaching and
Learning Service
University of Glasgow

2. Background SENLEF project funded by LTSM
50 case studies from Scottish HEIs
Literature review: model of formative assessment and feedback and 7 principles of good feedback practice + simple strategies
Web site
>projects>assessment>SENLEF

3. Definitions (1)
Formative assessment refers to:-
‘….assessment that is specifically intended to provide feedback on performance to improve and accelerate learning’ (Sadler, 1998, p77)

4. Definitions (2)
Who is involved in formative assessment and feedback?
Tutor
Peer
External (e.g. placement supervisor)
Computer generated
Self

5. Why take formative assessment and feedback seriously?
Black and Wiliam (1998) – 250 studies
Real classroom situations – tutor, peer and self-feedback
Positive benefits on learning and achievement across all content areas/ skills and sectors.
Big impact on schools but what about HE?

6. Current thinking about learning & assessment
Teaching/learning paradigm
Transmission Constructivist.
[student-centred]
Assessment paradigm
Transmission
[teacher-centred]

7. Problems with transmission view
Lifelong learning depends on self-regulation (Boud, 2000)
Feedback messages from teachers must be actively interpreted (Higgins et al, 2001)
Motivational beliefs both regulate and are regulated by external feedback (Dweck, 1999)
Teacher workload issues

8. How to conceptualise formative assessment & feedback?
…process that build up the students own skills and capacity to self-evaluate and self-correct. [throughout u/g degree]
The intention of most educational systems is to help the student….become progressively independent of the teacher for lifelong learning. Hence… some of what the teacher brings to the assessment act must itself become part of the curriculum of the student, not an accidental adjunct to it. (Sadler, 1998, p82)

9. Sadler’s argument For feedback to benefit learning students must know:
1. What good performance is (goals, criteria)
2. How current performance relates to good performance (compare)
3. How to act to close the gap
No 2 means that students ‘must already possess some of the same evaluative skills as the teacher’ (Sadler, 1983).

10. Self-regulated learning
Self-regulated learning is an active constructive process whereby learners set goals for their learning and monitor, regulate, and control their cognition, motivation, and behaviour, guided and constrained by their goals and the contextual features of the environment. (Pintrich and Zusho, p64)

11. Research on self-regulation
The more self-regulated the student the better the learner – confident, persistent etc (Zimmerman, 2000; Pintrich & Zusho, 2002).
Students can learn to self-regulate through making learning explicit and meta-cognitive training (Boekaerts et al, 2002)
Monitoring and self-assessment are key components of self-regulation (Schunk and Zimmerman, 1994).
Formative assessment and self-regulation traditionally seen as separate paradigms

12. A Model of self-regulation and feedback
Processes Internal to Student C B
Domain
Knowledge
Strategy
Motivational
Beliefs D E F
Teacher set task
(goals/
criteria)
Student
goals
Tactics &
Strategies
Learning
Outcomes G
Paths of internal feedback
Performance A
Self-regulatory processes
(cognition, motivation and behavioural) H
External Feedback
(teacher/peers/employers)
A Model of self-regulation and feedback

13. Key message
Formative assessment and feedback by others can only have an impact on learning when it influences a student’s own self-regulatory processes (adapted from Boud, 1995).

14. The Seven Feedback Principles
How can assessment and feedback help to build a learner’s capacity to self-regulate?

15. Helps clarify what good performance is (goals, standards, criteria)
Difficult to use feedback to self-regulate if students don’t understand goals
Research
Mismatches between tutors and students conceptions of goals/criteria (Hounsell, 1984; Norton, 1990; Channock, 2000)
Strategies
Exemplars of performance (Orsmond et al, 2002), students help construct criteria (Gibbs, 1999)

16. Facilitates development of self-assessment in learning
Key process in self-regulation is self-assessment
Research
Training in self-assessment improves exam performance (McDonald and Boud, 2003)
SA integrated with external feedback improves performance. (Taras, 2003)
Strategies
Peer assessment, supporting reflection etc.

17. Delivers high quality information to students about their learning
External feedback should help students trouble shoot and correct their own performance
Research
Shows feedback might be delayed, not relevant, overwhelming in quantity, focused on low level goals (Sadler, 1983)
Strategies
Offering corrective advice in terms of criteria
Reader response theory (Lunsford, 1997)

18. Encourages teacher and peer dialogue around learning.
Students don’t understand the feedback given by tutors ( ‘essay is not sufficiently analytical’) [Channock, 2000; Hyland, 2000]
Research
Ideal feedback = two-way dialogical: teacher-student (Laurillard, 2003) not enough teachers
Strategies
Classroom technologies (Nicol & Boyle, 2003)
Peer processes (Gibbs, 1999)
The ideal feedback situation involves two-way dialogue with tutor and student. Laurillard talks about a conversational framework. Teacher explain something to the student – the student explains it back to the teacher and through this joint endeavour misunderstandings are cleared. However, in mass higher education there aren’t enough teachers for this kind of dialogue and yet students need external feedback to challenge them and as an authoritative external reference point against which they can evaluate and self-correct their progress.
Research shows
Strategies
One particularly effective strategy to re-introduce dialogue into large classes is PRS – explain
Teach concept – MCT – many wrong answers on histogram – ‘convince your neighbour that you have the right answer – students discuss logic behind the answers etc.

19. Encourages positive motivational beliefs and self-esteem.
Feedback has positive or negative effects depending on type, delivery etc.
Research
Feeback as marks versus comments (Butler, ; Dweck, 2000).
Strategies
More low stakes assessments
Marks only after feedback used

20. Little opportunity to resubmit (Boud, 2000) Strategies
Provides opportunities to close the gap between current and desired performance.
How do you ensure that students actually use the feedback information to improve.
Research
Little opportunity to resubmit (Boud, 2000)
Strategies
Feedback during the task (process)
Action points and resubmissions.

21. Provides information to teachers that can be used to shape teaching.
Being sensitive to learner needs
Research
Teacher’s don’t necessarily adapt teaching to students’ needs (Ramsden, 1997)
Strategies
Angelo & Cross (1990) – one minute paper
Classroom Technology (Boyle & Nicol, 2003.
Student-requested feedback

22. Supporting and building on student self-regulation
Processes Internal to Student C B
Domain
Knowledge
Strategy
Motivational
Beliefs D E F
Teacher set task
(goals/
criteria)
Student
goals
Tactics &
Strategies
Learning
Outcomes G
Paths of internal feedback
Performance A
Self-regulatory processes
(cognition, motivation and behavioural) H
External Feedback
(teacher/peers/employers)
1. Clarify task
goals
2. Encourage
dialogue
3. Provide quality
feedback
4. Facilitate
self-assessment
5. Provides
opportunities
to close the gap
6. Encourage
positive
motivational beliefs
7. Use feedback
to shape teaching
Supporting and building on student self-regulation

23. New revised paper:
Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick (2004).
Title: ‘Formative assessment and self-regulated learning: A model and seven principles of good feedback practice.’
To be published in: G. Gibbs (ed), Innovating in Assessment.
Available soon from:

24. The End