The aim of most undergraduate research methods courses is to introduce students to the theory and techniques associated with quantitative and qualitative research. However, teaching such skills can be challenging, particularly when instructing large groups of students; the topics covered can be diverse and the subjective nature of qualitative coding can prove difficult for someRead more
In this last blog post in ‘Focus On… Feedback’ month, Dr Valerie Pinfield, who is a lecturer in Chemical Engineering, shares her thinking on giving feedback to students. I wanted to produce a quick-reference guide for staff to check the feedback that we/they are giving to students, and ensure that it has the effect ofRead more
There is accumulating evidence that on-line marking and feedback can be more effective and efficient than traditional paper-based methods. Thus using technology, to deliver feedback can have several benefits:
- It allows us to provide more feedback in less time through the use of repeated comments;
- It helps provide more detailed feedback through the use of in-text annotations and general comments;
- It can help develop a stronger link between marking criteria, feedback and the grade through the additional use of a rubric.
What is GradeMark?
GradeMark is an on-line marking system which is part of Turnitin (often used to check originality), and can be accessed via Learn.
A common concern expressed by staff is that students do not make full use of the feedback provided.
Given the huge investment of time and energy in the assessment process by staff and students, this does seem to be an area worthy of further consideration.
Research indicates that staff and student views about feedback do not always coincide – staff believe that the feedback they provide will aid student learning yet students state that they do not understand the feedback nor do they know how to seek support to improve. This situation is compounded by students being unsure of their role within the assessment process and being unprepared to receive and act on feedback.
So what can be done?
The first CAP Forum, focusing on assessment, will now be held on Friday March 6th (time to be advised shortly) and will cover the February Focus On… topic of feedback as well.Read more
Three years ago, a number of Engineering Schools approached The Centre for Engineering and Design Education (CEDE), requesting the Centre’s help to unpick, from the students’ perspective, the assessment and feedback issues that were being highlighted by the National Student Survey (NSS). Their goal was to identify what the School could do strategically to enhanceRead more
Date: Friday 6th February Venue: BRI.2.08 – Bridgeman Building Time: 14.00 – 16.00 Come and discuss assessment! During January the Centre for Academic Practice (CAP) has been running a series of workshops and other activities focused on assessment. The CAP Forum, which will be the first in a regular series, will be an opportunityRead more
Exhausted from a deluge of assessment marking? You may be in agreement with Einstein, “It is simply madness to keep doing the same thing, and expect different results.” As Fisch and McLeod put it back in 2007… …we are at risk if we are using the same assessment practices to prepare students for a veryRead more
CASPA has been developed by CEDE (Centre for Engineering and Design Education) and is an online system that enables staff to schedule all types of degree programme and module assessments, to record student submissions/participation against assessments and to record the return of work/feedback to students. It is a large web based application with interfaces toRead more
Assessment via what? OMR stands for Optical Mark Recognition, a technology which is still widely used here at Loughborough for summative assessment – and yet many colleagues will know very little about the service. If you’d like to know more, we are running a ‘coffee and cake’ session on OMR as part of Focus On…Read more