Students as Partners in Assessment and Feedback:
A Sectoral Approach to Change
Dr Geraldine O’Neill, 14th March 2017, AHEAD.
National Forum for the Enhancement of
Teaching and Learning
National Forum
Universal Design
Students As
Partners
Student
Engagement
Learner
variability
Principle III: Provide
Multiple Means of
Engagement (Cast, 2011)
UDL is a framework for designing
flexible instructional environments and
proactively integrating supports that
address learner variability (Rao &
Meo, 2016)
Self-regulating their learning, becoming
more empowered, in partnership with
staff
Assessment AS
and
FOR Learning
Enhancement
Theme
...to support the engagement of
students in their assessment and
adopt a partnership approach with
students in key aspects of
assessment (National Forum, 2017)
Key Aim
To support the shift from Assessment OF
Learning (For Achievement; Graded) to
•
•
Assessment FOR (Feedback) and
Assessment AS Learning (Student Self–
Regulating),
in order to support the engagement of students
in their assessment and adopt a partnership
approach with students in key aspects of
assessment
Some Staff Views
I don't have
time to give
good
feedback
Students
wont do it if I
don’t assess
it
Some Student Views
I don’t
understand the
feedback
Students
don’t collect
feedback
I have no choice
in how I am
assessed
Is it on the
exam?
75 Seminars
(Staff and wider
stakeholders group)
Professional
Development
Framework
(for all who teach
in the sector)
Sectoral Definition
of Assessment
(for the whole
sector)
Students As Partners
Insight (with USI)
(Students, staff, and wider
stakeholders group)
Approaches to
Programme Assessment
(Senior academic and
administrative staff)
Authentic & Work-Based
Assessment
(Disciplines, employers,
and wider stakeholders)
1. Need for a better understanding of assessment and
feedback
2. Ideas for developing students as partners
3. The impact of assessment overload on student
engagement and need for ‘slow time’
4. The need for integrative, diverse and authentic
assessments to engage students
National Forum,
2016a
A Draft Sectoral Working Definition
SUMMATIVE
Teacher
Is responsible,
Is decision-maker
High stakes
To Demonstrate
Achievement
OF
Learning
AS
To Self-Regulate and
Critically Evaluate
FOR
To Give Feedback
on Learning and
Teaching
Student
Is responsible,
Is decision-maker
Low stakes
FORMATIVE
Examples
Examples
Students self-assess and receive
a grade for this judgement
SUMMATIVE
Teacher
Is responsible,
Student
self-review and/or peer
Is decision-maker
review to make a judgment
(critical evaluation) on their
work
‘Low stakes’
gradedstakes
High
in-class participation, MCQs
online for feedback purposes
To Demonstrate
Achievement
OF
Learning
Students judge their work based
on holistic or analytic criteria, or
by comparing exemplars
‘High stakes’ graded end-ofsemester exam, project, essay
AS
To Self-Regulate
and Critically
Evaluate
FOR
To Give
Feedback on
Learning and
Teaching
Written/oral feedback to
students; Staff-student dialogue;
Actions to improve;
Early feedback to staff to improve
teaching
Student
Is collaborate
responsible,
Students
to develop
theirIs
own
shared assessment
decision-maker
criteria
FORMATIVE
Students Low
requeststakes
feedback based
on their self-monitoring
Sadler (2010)
See also UD
Guideline 9
(Cast, 2011)
Students As Partners ‘Insight’ with
Union of Students in Ireland (USI)
National Forum (2016b)
What can staff do?
What can students do?
• Facilitate students’ involvement in
assessment-related institutional committees
 Input into institutional assessment
protocols, when possible
• Partner with students to negotiate their
assessment methods and/or timing, where
possible
 Stay informed on your role, and the role of
staff, in assessment and feedback
regulations
• Give students some choice of the methods
used to assess them from a prescribed
range
 Take responsibility for your learning and
assessment activities
• Give students opportunities to self- and/or
peer-assess their work in a module
• Allow some choice over the method of
feedback (online/written/oral)
 Propose methods of assessment that you
have found useful to you or other students
 Plan your assessment workload
National Forum
(2016c)
Typical Student A
Typical Student B
Two 5-ECTS single-semester
modules
(Total 10 ECTS credits)
One 10-ECTS full-year
module
(Total 10 ECTS credits)
5.2
2.8
assessments
assessments
A Case for Slow Scholarship:
Implications for Programme
Assessment Design
“Students were so busy with assessment
requirements that they had little space and time
for thinking or doing any study outside of
assessed course requirements. The need to
grade had led to the fragmentation of
experiences and the miniaturisation of knowledge
as learning happened in micro-modules. Neither
students nor lecturers were entirely happy with
this situation ….......’
Professor Tony Harland,
New Zealand, in
National Forum
Programme Assessment
Resource (In Press 2017)
Themes
• N=22 Short National
Case Studies and
Commentaries
• N= 5 International
Commentaries
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Context
Institutional Leadership
Student as Partners in Assessment
Using Evidence to inform change
Curriculum Mapping for Diversity and Load
Building in Diversity in the Programme
Students Experience of Assessment
Integrative Assessment, e.g. Capstone
Assessments
(National Forum, In Press 2017)
Assessment does not contribute to
Institutional Grade
Assessment Contributes to Institutional Grade
3.
Integrative
Assessment
8.
Module
size
Year 1
Structure
Highly Structured
Programme
Low Structure
Programme:
High level of module choices
5. Student Portfolio align to programme or
institutional outcomes
2.
Progressive
Assessment
6.
Capstone
linked to
portfolio
institutional outcomes
Final
Year
4. Student Portfolio align to programme or
1. Capstone Assessment
7. Work,
community,
volunteering
and other
learning
experiences
Extra and CoCurricular
Curriculum
*(Ashford-Rowe et al, 2014; Swaffield, 2011;
Mueller, 2006; Gulikers et al. 2004)
Authentic Assessment
Example from Health Care
‘Creating a Patient
Information Leaflet’
22
1. Need for a better understanding of assessment and
feedback
2. Ideas for developing students as partners
3. The impact of assessment overload on student
engagement and need for ‘slow time’
4. The need for integrative, diverse and authentic
assessments to engage students
Knowing these are National
assessment and feedback
challenges and directions for the
sector:
• How can you make
sustainable changes in your
institution for your students?
• How can you also become a
partner in this change?
[email protected]
National Forum for the Enhancement of
Teaching and Learning,
19 Dawson Street, Dublin, 2, Ireland.
Website:
http://www.teachingandlearning.ie/
Ashford-Rowe, Kevin, Herrington, Janice & Christine Brown (2014) Establishing the critical elements that determine authentic
assessment, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 39:2, 205-222, DOI: 10.1080/02602938.2013.819566
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Washington
Carless, D. (2015) Excellence in University Assessment, Routledge, Oxon. UK.
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National Forum, (2016a) Assessment OF, FOR and AS Learning: Continuing the Debate and Creating a Focus, National Forum
for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, Assessment Enhancement Theme Insight No 1.
National Forum, (2016b) Assessment OF, FOR and AS Learning: Students as Partners in Assessment, National Forum for the
Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, Assessment Enhancement Theme Insight No 2. DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.4487762
National Forum (2016c) Profile of Assessment Practices Irish Higher Education. National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching
and Learning. DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.4592089.v1
National Forum (2017) Enhancement Theme 2016/18 Assessment OF/FOR/AS Learning webpage
Nicol, D (2010) From monologue to dialogue: Improving written feedback in mass higher education. Assessment and Evaluation in
Higher Education. 35(5), 501 -517
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