Feedback, efficiency and learning pay-off: new designs for formative assessment.

Prof David Nicol is Deputy Director of the Centre for Academic Practice and Learning Enhancement (CAPLE) at the University of Strathclyde.  He is also Director of the Re-engineering Assessment Practices (REAP) project, one of six £1m projects funded by the Scottish Funding Council as part of its e-Learning Transformation Initiative.  REAP is a consortium of three Scottish HEIs and the project involved redesigning and evaluating new assessment and feedback practices in large-cohort first year modules across a range of disciplines.  David has published extensively in the area of formative assessment and feedback in recent years.  He has also carried out research and published on online and distributed learning, and published in the area of change management and cost-benefit and risk analysis of investments in e-learning in higher education.  

The workshop

Many HE teachers believe that providing high quality feedback to students, particularly in large classes, will inevitably lead to increased workload.  However, creating an assessment environment rich with useful, high-quality feedback that supports effective student learning is possible without a negative impact on staff time.  In essence, it involves rethinking both how feedback is conceptualised and the student's role in assessment and feedback. 

Through the REAP project, nineteen large-enrolment first-year modules (from 160-900 students) were redesigned, supported by technology, across three Scottish HE Institutions.  Significant learning gains have been shown across a diverse range of courses and disciplinary contexts and across more than one institution.  These findings suggest that the principles and processes that guided the REAP project are transferable across the HE sector.

This workshop outlined this new thinking on assessment and provided practical advice on implementing successful assessment and feedback activities in modules and courses.  It also provided advice on how to develop appropriate assessment and feedback policies at institutional level.  The findings of the REAP project, showed how research and theory on assessment can be turned into effective practices.

Prof D Nicol, using case studies from Mechanical Engineering and Psychology, put theory into practice, giving the delegates an opportunity to discuss their different disciplines, how change would affect their areas, and how simple changes can have an increased effect on feedback. 

The different types of effective feedback were discussed, covering feedback from students’ secondary schools and how this is transferred to tertiary education, and how, if marks and feedback are given together, students tend to ignore the feedback.  This focuses the student on the performance goal whereas maybe the learning goals should have more importance.

 The workshop was challenging and thought-provoking giving delegates many exciting, fresh approaches to assessment practices and many new ideas.

If you missed this interactive workshop please download Prof Nicol's PowerPoint presentation                < Back to the Guest Speaker Series 07/08