Spotlight on assessment and feedback, new resources for staff

Assessment and Feedback

Assessment and feedback have a significant impact on a student’s learning experience, and we are putting a spotlight on this area of practice by sharing a collection of resources, case studies and articles on our new assessment and feedback webpage.

Learning and assessment are complex activities that require persistence and effort. We owe it to our students to design assessment tasks that are worth doing and have meaning beyond just a mark or grade. Assessment tasks should challenge our students intellectually and stimulate their interest in wanting to learn more. 

(Crisp, 2020:61)

Assessment and feedback is an area of practice that needs to evolve to best meet the needs of our students. Across the sector, there is a trend to use approaches that are familiar to, and appreciated by, a wide audience and include more contemporary writing styles, group-working and alternative forms of communication.

To help explore how we can strive to achieve our strategic aim:

Enhance the education we offer by embedding evidence-based, student-centred pedagogies for learning and assessment across the institution.

Our new assessment and feedback webpage

Explore a new range of assessment and feedback resources on our website that you can use to develop and enhance your practice. The resources include support to refresh and build on your knowledge of assessment and feedback, consider the use of online assessment tools and an insight into what your colleagues are doing.

Exploring case studies and sharing practice

Want to explore what colleagues are doing in this and other areas of practice? Visit the TIPS Blog and join the TIPS Community MS Teams channel to find articles and videos created by colleagues showcasing their excellent practice in teaching and learning. You can focus your search on assessment or feedback using the search boxes. To get you started check out these great examples:

• Case Study: Re-design online delivery assessment and aligning the two – This case study considers how moving a second-year economics module online involved a series of changes, to delivery, ‘lecture’ and seminar content, and to assessment. 
• Case Study: Dynamic reflective assessment and the insta generation – A case study exploring the engaging  Study Abroad programme (SA) which provides students with a truly immersive and potentially transformative experience.
• Case Study: Using flipgrid video to get students talking asynchronously – Explore how short Flipgrid videos from students are being used to encourage participation and communication in an enjoyable and convenient way. 

References:

Crisp,G. Assessment: new developments in design, marking and feedback. In  Marshall, S.(ed.) (2020). A handbook for teaching and learning in Higher Education: enhancing academic practice. 5^th edition. London: Routledge. (61-71).