Marking the markers?

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Marking the markers?

• Faculty of Education, Humanities and Sciences
  Symposium on Assessment, 12th March 2007

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Assessment is a generic term for a set of
processes that measure the outcomes of students'
learning, in terms of knowledge acquired,
understanding developed, and skills gained. It
serves many purposes. Assessment provides the
basis for decisions on whether a student is ready
to proceed, to qualify for an award or to
demonstrate competence to practice. It enables
students to obtain feedback on their learning and
helps them improve their performance. It enables
staff to evaluate the effectiveness of their
teaching.Quality Assurance Agency 'Code of
Practice for the Assurance of Academic Quality
and Standards in Higher Education', Section 6
Assessment of Students, May 2000, paras 6 and 7.
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• Assessment plays a significant role in the
  learning experience of students. It determines
  their progression through their programmes and
  enables them to demonstrate that they have
  achieved the intended learning outcomes. It is
  assessment that provides the main basis for
  public recognition of achievement, through the
  awarding of qualifications and / or credit.
• Quality Assurance Agency 'Code of Practice for
  the Assurance of Academic Quality and Standards
  in Higher Education', Section 6 Assessment of
  Students, May 2000, paras 6 and 7.

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Good Feedback..

• is legible
• is balanced - Highlighting the work's good and
  bad points
• is detailed and explicit - Linking feedback to
  script comments
• is honest and direct - Not tactful at the expense
  of being truthful
• is consistent - Positive feedback followed by a
  mark of 35 is confusing
• moves from the general to the specific
• highlights grammatical errors

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Bad feedback

• is illegible
• contains pointless comments that do not provide
  any information
• contains subjective comments irrelevant to the
  assignment
• contains ambiguous comments that are difficult to
  interpret
• is detached from the assessment criteria

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What should we do about this?

• Review the NSS Survey summary sheet for 2006
• In small groups, discuss the mechanisms for
  improving feedback to students
• Agree a set of concrete practical suggestions for
  immediate implementation
• Summarise your ideas on a flip chart sheet

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