Principles to Practice:
Enhancing Assessment and Feedback

Outline

Assessment and feedback stubbornly remains an area where many Universities still under perform in the NSS. Assessment and feedback should not be considered in isolation as they are part of the wider student experience. Participants will therefore reflect on current evidence around assessment and feedback, and explore challenges to the student experience. 

The aim of this introductory session is to identify the key elements underpinning effective assessment design, and delivering high impact assessment and feedback that benefits students’ learning. Participants will explore practical applications of the Assessment for/of Learning principles, and consider effective strategies for both formative and summative assessment.  Reference will also be made to the importance of inclusivity, and the role of feedback.

The session will be framed through the acknowledgement of wider sector drivers influencing the assessment and feedback agenda, and the policy landscape at the University of Portsmouth.

The intended outcome of this session is to engage thinking around:

• The key elements underpinning high impact assessment and feedback

• The distinction between assessment for learning, assessment of learning and assessment as learning and the implication for assessment design

• The purpose and value of high quality feedback and its impact on student learning

• Wider sectors influencing the assessment and feedback agenda, such as NSS and TESTA

Outline

Student reflection on, and understanding of, assessment and feedback is critical to assessment literacy. It helps students to engage and develop as autonomous and self-directed learners. Therefore, active engagement with assessment practices needs to be an integral and seamless part of course design and the learning process, in order to allow students to develop their own, internalised conceptions of standards and to monitor and supervise their own learning.

The aim of this interactive session is to discuss and consider the relevance of the key elements that contribute towards assessment literacy, allowing participants to reflect on the shared understanding and expectations between students and staff.

The session will also focus on practical ways to develop engaging and innovative approaches to authentic assessment, i.e. formative tasks, exemplar assignments, discussion of criteria, and self- and peer assessment. 

The intended outcome of this session is to engage thinking around:

• The importance of assessment literacy and addressing ways that assessment literacy can be developed through engaging and innovative forms of assessment

• The identification and application of authentic approaches to assessment design to promote learning, the rationale for their use and their appropriateness in the context of your learners and your discipline

• The role of assessment criteria and practical ways to actively engage students with assessment criteria and outcomes that will encourage student autonomy through reflection and the review of their own progress

Pre-requisite 

To join this session it is recommended that you have attended Session 1 - Assessment and Feedback - Principles to Practice. 

Outline

The aim of this interactive session is to explore practical approaches to feedback and feeding forward for improving learning and developing learner autonomy, along with a discussion on feedback language, feedback mechanisms and standardisation.

Participants will discuss the key elements that contribute towards feedback literacy, engaging with relevant pedagogy and reflecting on the impact of feedback practices on students’ learning.

The session will focus on how to improve student feedback literacy by exploring practical ways to engage students with the feedback processes, enhancing their ability to understand, utilise and benefit from feedback.

To support the enhancement of staff feedback literacy, the session will develop participants’ understanding of what feedback is for and how it is interpreted by students.

The intended outcome of this session is to engage thinking around:

• The identification and discussion of the key elements of effective feedback to students and the implications for learning design

• The importance of feedback literacy and addressing ways in which it can be developed, reflecting the on-going repositioning and emergence of new paradigms relating to feedback literacy

• Practical approaches to enhancing feedback, and signposting to useful resources

Pre-requisite

TTo join this session it is recommended that you have attended Session 1 - Assessment and Feedback - Principles to Practice.