Assessing large groups, doing group work

1
Assessing large groups, doing group work

• Good Practice Week, May 2008
• Tina McGuinness, (Management)
• m.mcguinness_at_shef.ac.uk
• Margaret Freeman (HCS)
• m.freeman_at_shef.ac.uk

2
Review of current literature and practice re
learning in large groups

• Several recurring themes
• Larger classes have highlighted general concerns
  about
• Engagement (with/ of) students,
• Provision of meaningful feedback,
• Ensuring assessment is appropriate, aligned,
  effective and efficient
• How to provide effective support and assessment
  for groupwork

• Much of the published research aims to translate
  general concepts of good practice, to the larger
  scale, viz
• Learning approaches which promote student
  autonomy
• Assessment aligned with the learning experience
• (Constructive alignment Biggs, 99)
• Self and peer-assessment as part of the learning
  experience
• Group work/ teamwork process and outcomes

3
Five assessment challenges created by large
classes

• The assessment of large student cohorts presents
  five distinct though interrelated challenges
• 1) Avoiding assessment that encourages shallow
  learning
• 2) Providing high quality, individual feedback
• 3) Fairly assessing a diverse mix of students
• 4) Managing the volume of marking and
  coordinating the staff involved in marking
• 5) Avoiding plagiarism
• www.cshe.unimelb.edu.au/assessinglearning

4
Assessing large classesCentre for the Study of
Higher Education (Aus)

• Larger class sizes pose significant teaching
  challenges, not least in the assessment of
  student learning.
• Perhaps most troubling, large classes may limit
  the amount of feedback provided to students.
• In response to the pressures and challenges of
  assessing larger groups of students, academic
  staff are responding through
• 
  
• 
  

• communication of clear assessment criteria to
  students
• marking guides to be used by teaching and
  assessing teams
• various forms of exemplars to
• guide student efforts
• guide marking grading
• Model discipline-based thinking, writing and
  performance
• the continuous refinement and dissemination of
  assessment policy and practice in relation to
  large student groups.

www.cshe.unimelb.edu.au/assessinglearning
5
Assessment under pressure

• Our main concern is that purely mechanistic
  methods of reducing assessment (e.g. a change
  from two assignments to one) may result in a loss
  of standards.
• It is essential, therefore, that changes in
  assessment practice do not lose sight of why
  students are being assessed
• motivation
• creating learning activities
• for feedback to the student, identifying
  strengths and weaknesses
• for feedback to the staff, on how well the
  message is getting across
• to judge performance (grade/degree
  classification)
• quality assurance - internal to the institution
• quality assurance - external to the institution
• Too often, assessment tries to tackle all of
  these purposes at once.
• We believe that the first four in this list
  require lots of assessment (much of which can be
  peer-assessment)
• and the last three require occasional - yet
  rigorous - assessment.
• http//www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsd/2_learntch/
  aup14pr.html12

6
Students and innovative assessmentLiz McDowell
(2001)

• Research gives some indication of how students
  respond to innovative assessment
• Students' behaviour is affected considerably by
  their perception of what the assessment requires.
• students act according to the situation as they
  currently see it, not as lecturers would like
  them to see it.
• Students often see value in innovative approaches
  to assessment and believe that they are
  interesting, worthwhile and help them to learn,

• Not all students think in exactly the same way.
• Views vary considerably and are affected by a
  number of factors
• Students' reasons for being on the course in the
  first place.
• When assessment promotes some worthwhile and
  meaningful activity, students appreciate it on
  the one hand, but, on the other hand, find that
  it means more work, so they may resist it.
• You might hear them say 'It's really good in
  theory, but we just don't have the time'
• Students frequently criticise conventional
  assessment, especially traditional exams, seeing
  them as artificial, pointless, misleading, unfair
  .. and so on.
• But they may at the same time prefer exams
  because they are 'less work'. Individuals who
  have always been good at exams may be strongly in
  favour of them.
• From their point of view - why rock the boat?

7
Why involve students in their own assessment
(Phil Race)

• Because students are already self- and
  peer-assessing
• Tutor assessment is not always sufficiently
  valid, reliable and transparent
• To deepen the students learning experience
• To let students into the assessment culture
• To help students become autonomous learners
• To help students develop the skills for lifelong
  learning
• To help students gain much more feedback than
  would otherwise be possible.

8
Aligning Assessment
George Brown (2001) http//www.palatine.ac.uk/file
s/980.pdf
9
http//www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/
detail/id353_effective_formative_feedback_juwah_et
al
10
Chris Rust (2001)A Briefing on Assessment of
Large Groups.

• Argues that disciplines need to be prepared to
  look for solutions beyond their traditional
  cultures and practices,
• Offers detailed examples of possible solutions
  grouped under the following six headings
• 1. Front-ending
• 2. Do it in class
• 3. Self- and peer-assessment
• 4. Group assessment
• 5. Mechanise the assessment
• 6. Strategic reduction
• http//www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/r
  esources/resourcedatabase/id12_Briefing_on_the_Ass
  essment_of_Large_Groups.rtf

11
Enhancing student learning through effective
formative feedback

• Strategies
• One-minute papers
• What was the point of this lecture?
• What question remains outstanding?
• Students request feedback they would like in the
  assignment
• Students identify their own difficulties, when
  they hand in the assignment
• Groups identify a questions worth asking, for a
  tutorial
• Quick evaluation at key points during the teaching

12
Case study
http//www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/id353_
effective_formative_feedback_juwah_etal