Academic
Teaching
Development
Assessment - Providing Feedback and Marking
‘Nothing that we do to, or for, our students is more important than our
assessment of their work and the feedback we give them on it. The results of
our assessment influence our students for the rest of their lives and careers –
fine if we get it right, but unthinkable if we get it wrong.’
(Race, Brown and Smith (2005), 500 Tips on Assessment)
Assessment processes and methods should be valid, reliable, consistent, efficient, transparent and easy to
understand. Most importantly, they should provide a vehicle for student learning strategy. In other words,
they should provide pedagogically constructive and effective feedback to students.
So why do we assess? The main reasons are as follows:
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To determine that the learning outcomes of the module are being achieved
To provide feedback to students on their learning, enabling them to improve their performance
To motivate students to undertake appropriate work and plan their learning strategy effectively
To support and guide learning and research
To demonstrate that appropriate academic standards are being maintained
To evaluate the effectiveness of teaching and teaching support
All feedback should focus on its formative function. Formative feedback is essential if effective learning is to
take place. Students need to know how well or how poorly their learning is evolving. They want to know
where they might be going wrong, in what ways and what aspects of their learning could be improved.
Feedback can also motivate students by reassuring them when they are correct, where they might be doing
particularly well and how to develop further in those areas. Baume 1 puts forward the idea of a “Feedback
Sandwich” to motivate students: start with the good news, then tell them the bad news in a positive and
constructive way, and end on an upbeat, encouraging note.
Providing feedback on written assignments
In order to provide useful and meaningful feedback to students it is crucial to understand in all respects:
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the pedagogical aim of assessments of the module
what the assessment criteria are, and how they are implemented
how grades and marks are reached
It is important to recognise that feedback is a dialogue, a two-way process. Whether given formally, in
writing, in response to a particular assignment or task, in the classroom, in personal tutorials or even in
more informal meetings with students, effective communication is essential if feedback is to be easily
understood, absorbed and used to improve future performance in the context of the student’s learning
strategy.
Baume, D. and C. Baume (1996) Running Tutorials and Seminars Training Materials for Research Students, Oxford
Centre for Staff Development, Oxford.
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Providing effective, easily understood and timely feedback is a national and institutional priority – to
improve student satisfaction and to maximise student achievement.
For it to be of positive value, feedback needs to be:
Constructive
Feedback should focus on the positive as well as 'areas for improvement' in order to be encouraging and
motivational rather than destructive.
Timely
For it to be useful, feedback needs to occur at the appropriate point in the learning cycle. Feedback has, as
previously iterated, a very important formative function.
Prompt
If feedback is not prompt, students may lose the thread of what was required in the assessment and move
on.
Supportive of learning
Feedback should clarify to a student where he/she is in his/her learning in relation to intended learning
outcomes, what remains to be achieved and be given indications on how to achieve those objectives.
Focussed
Student achievement should be the focus of feedback, not effort. Remember that it is the work that is
being assessed, not the student!
Efficient
Feedback needs to be delivered in a way that is manageable to everyone involved. Arranging individual
tutorials for every student is simply unrealistic in many contexts – but following the return of work, using
part of a lecture or seminar to review a recent assessment, summarising some of the strengths shown by
the work as well as common mistakes or misunderstandings can be very productive and helpful.
If in doubt at any stage of the assessment process, ask for further advice from a mentor or colleague in
your Department or consult Academic Teaching Development.
Marking written work
Marking written work can be a time-consuming and nerve-wracking task, especially for new teaching staff.
The support from peers, mentors, Department and Academic Teaching Development can be very useful,
especially when marking work for the first time or for an unfamiliar module.
The following advice may be of help to you.
1. Even before setting the module assignments, make sure that
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you and the students know exactly what the expectations for the assignment are
students know what the marking criteria are, and what they mean
The criteria should give guidance about what constitutes a particular grade/percentage. Ask a mentor
or colleague in your Department for clarification should you need it.
2. Look at the ways in which colleagues in your Department mark and give feedback on similar
assignments, using the same criteria.
3. Check whether the assignments will be second marked, check marked, or moderated; make sure that
students know that any mark you may give is provisional and subject to the usual procedures of second
marking and external examining.
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4. First, read through the assignments briefly to get a sense of the range of responses and the ‘highs’ and
‘lows’ of the batch.
5. Then take one assignment at a time, and mark against the criteria. For more problematic assignments,
apply a ‘best fit’ principle - within which grade band does this assignment fit best? You can finalise the
mark later.
6. When assessing online, type your initial comments on a computer before you finalise your
observations and put them online. Keep an organised record of your feedback. You may need to refer
your comments at a later date to assess and monitor the progress of your student. Remember that
feedback is part of your dialogue with your students.
7. Depending on the size of the batch of assignments, give yourself appropriate breaks to rest your eyes
and brain. Give also yourself time to look back and check that your approach to marking is consistent
with the way in which you started marking (this is especially useful if you are marking over a few days).
8. When you’ve finished your provisional marking, put the assignments in rank order, from best to worst
according to the marks you have given. Compare assignments with similar marks – do they still seem
similar? Adjust marks accordingly where you feel you need to do so.
9. Use the full range of marks: if you have work which is very poor and/or excellent, that should be
reflected in your marking.
10. As stated earlier, make sure that when you give feedback you start with a positive, encouraging
comment. Then give specific guidance about what the student could do next time to raise their grade.
You can also ask the student what strategies he/she will adopt do to rectify any weaknesses. Finally,
end with a positive, upbeat and encouraging comment. This should help prevent students from feeling
negative about their marks.
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Useful links
http://www.polyu.edu.hk/assessment/arc/action/feedback.htm – offers some guidelines for giving constructive
feedback to students.
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/resources/resourcedatabase/id432_using_feedback.pdf
– article form Phil Race looking at many aspects of giving feedback to students.
http://www.iml.uts.edu.au/assessment/feedback/index.html – a brief discussion of how students regard the
level of feedback they receive as evidence of good teaching.
http://itdl.org/Journal/Jun_04/article06.htm – a journal article by Jason Huett, University of North Texas, which
discusses the use of email as a tool for giving feedback to students.
http://www.tedi.uq.edu.au/teaching/assessment/grades.html – a substantial (23 pages) discussion of awarding
grades and giving feedback, from the University of Queensland.
http://tlu.ecom.unimelb.edu.au/tutortraining/pdf/feedback/Characteristics_of_Good_Feedback_to_students.pd
f – the characteristics of good feedback, from the University of Melbourne.
http://www.unisa.edu.au/ltu/staff/practice/assessment/feedback/default.asp – David Jacques offers some
advice on different types of feedback and giving feedback.
Further readings
Askew, S. and Lodge, C. (2000) Gifts, ping-pong and loops - linking feedback and learning. In: Askew, S.
(ed.) Feedback for Learning. London: RoutledgeFalmer, pp.1-18.
Baume, D. (2008). First Words: Giving Feedback to Students, Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development.
Oxford: Oxford Brookes University.
Baume, D. and C. Baume (1996) Running Tutorials and Seminars Training Materials for Research Students,
Oxford Centre for Staff Development, Oxford Brookes.
Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, C., Marshall, B. and William, D. (2004). Working inside the black box: Assessment for
learning in the classroom. The Phi Delta Kappan 86, 1.
Boud, D. and Falchikov, N. (2006) Aligning assessment with long-term learning. Assessment and Evaluation in
Higher Education 31 (4) pp. 399-413.
Boud, D., Cohen, R. and Sampson, J. (1999). Peer learning and assessment, Assessment and Evaluation in Higher
Education, 24, 4, 413-426.
Cannon, R. and D. Newble (2000) A Handbook for Teachers in Universities and Colleges, Kogan Page, London.
Douglas, M.F. (2007). Enhancing Student learning using on-line submission and feedback to improve first year
learning experience. Business, Management, Accountancy and Finance Annual Conference. UK: Birmingham.
Falchikov, N. (1995). Improving feedback to and from students. In Knight, P. (ed.) Assessment for Learning in
Higher Education. Birmingham: SEDA.
Hepplestone, A., Parkin, H., Irwin, B., Holden, G., Thorpe, L. and Burn, C. (2010). A student guide to using
feedback. Learning and Teaching Institute, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK.
Jaques, D. (2000) Learning in Groups: A Handbook for Improving Group Working. London: RoutledgeFalmer.
Juwah, C., Macfarlane-Dick, D., Matthew, B., Nicol, D., Ross, D. and Smith, B. (2004). Enhancing student
learning through effective formative feedback. Higher Education Academy, Generic Centre, UK.
Liu, N. and Carless, D. (2006) Peer feedback: the learning element of peer assessment. Teaching in Higher
Education, 11(3), pp.279-290.
Nicol, D. (2007). Principles of good assessment and feedback: Theory and practice. REAP International Online
Conference on Assessment Design for Learner Responsibility, 29th–31st May, 2007.Nicol, D. (2010). From
monologue to dialogue: improving written feedback processes in mass higher education. Assessment and
Evaluation in Higher Education 35(5), 501–517.
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Nicol, D. (2009) Transforming Assessment and Feedback: enhancing integration and empowerment in the first
year. Mansfield: QAA.
Ramsden, P. (1992) Learning to Teach in Higher Education, Routledge, London.
Scott, S. (2008). Improving Student satisfaction with Feedback: Report on a Project Undertaken in the Faculties
of Arts & Social Sciences and of Law at UNSW.
Schon, D. (1987). Educating the Reflective Practitioner. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Taylor, P. (2008). How to give quality feedback: Learning through dialogue. Faculty of Business and Economics,
Macquarie University.
Velan, G.M., Jones, P., McNeil, H.P. and Kumar, R.K. (2008). Integrated online formative assessments in the
biomedical sciences for medical students: benefits for learning. BMC Medical Education 8, 52.
Winter, R. (2003). Contextualizing the Patchwork Text: addressing problems of coursework assessment in higher
education. Innovations in Education and Teaching International 40(2), 112–122.
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