Strategies for assessment and
feedback where….
…. teachers & students may not share
Expectations (‘Why is the teacher asking for this?’)
Language (‘Doing it in English!’)
Past experiences (‘What is an essay?’)
(‘I rely on just my textbook to pass’)
(‘ .. What is a TESCO?’)
Future goals (‘I must get a top mark….’)
Standing in international students’
‘assessment’ shoes…. [especially in the beginning]
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Uncomfortable (In the Top 3 for anxiety, UCoSA, 2004)
Unexpected (‘..did not expect difference’ Pointon, 2009)
Unavoidable
Unfamiliar (a bit… very … totally)
Unclear (about Grades, Standards, criteria ….)
"Despite having earned almost exclusively very high marks, handingin always feels like a trip to the casino to me”.
[Over time], often welcome
A Postgrad student writes, [at the end of her UK
studies]:
During my studies in [names country] I had to
memorise things, which …. was tested and
nobody cared if the following day you
remembered nothing. However, during my
Masters degree [in the UK] I had to write 4,000
word assignments and read many articles from
dissimilar positions. I also had the chance to
write about topics that I was interested in,
which made the tasks more personal and
enjoyable.
Assessment: cultural differences?
different practices?
Difference, not ‘which is better? Which is worse?’
‘Fitness for function’
A shared responsibility…..
Students adjust and adapt ‘New game, new rules’
Teachers adjust, include and accommodate
‘New players, new game’
Focus for the rest of this session:
What helps and hinders both sides concerning assessment?
What contextual factors [institutional / disciplinary] need
attention?
What can teachers do about their own assessment practices?
….helps students adjust to UK assessment?
Teaching relevant skills
Provide practice, practice, practice, practice especially if it is low-risk
Explicit discussion of difference. Probe for
meaning (New xxx PG says: ‘Yes, we wrote a 15,000 word
UG dissertation using many sources’)
Exemplars
Specific, criteria-linked feedback. Lots!
Making students’ adjustments possible?
• Institutional-level factors (admissions, informal
curriculum, resourcing for advice and guidance, referral
to specialists etc)
• Programme-level planning
 Who teaches what skills
 How and where do students practice (‘assessment
literacy’)
 How do we agree on standards?
 Sharing good practice on marking
• Teachers’ adjustments
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Addressing teachers’ concerns and issues
Teachers’ concerns about assessment and
feedback [for international students]
• Time
• Standards
• What to mark?
• Fairness
• Students’ contextual knowledge when setting a
task
Focus on teachers’ time
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Planning.
Strategic feedback
Spread the load: exemplars, peer review, referrals,
Inclusive design of assessment tasks
….. ‘It does take longer’
Focus on standards [Reliability]
[What students should be doing + how well they
should be doing it]
Agreeing on :
 Criteria
 Outcomes
 Grades
 Thresholds between pass and fail
 Achievements for level (start, middle, graduate….)
… ‘good enough’ English language standards
 Plagiarism and use of sources
Focus on Validity
[What teachers should judge; aligning
judgments with learning outcomes.]
Agreeing on :
• relative importance of language, structure,
ideas/content in determining a grade
• downplaying/ overlooking less important
criteria when marking
• sustainable marking: managing frustration,
‘bug-bears’, stamina, etc
Focus on method [‘How’ ‘what’]
[What teachers ask students to do in order to show they have
met learning outcomes.]
Creating tasks which:
• give everyone an equitable chance to succeed
• permit alternatives [formats] where appropriate to
strengthen validity (for example, less language demanding
methods where content is central; more time where some
read slower; etc)
• assess students’ learning in the course, not what they bring
with them
• keep teachers’ workload realistic
• match students’ workload to the value of the grade.
Focus on Feedback
[To tell students if they are on track. In future, getting on
track and/or improving.]
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Clear (the student understands what it means)
Helpful (The student can act upon it for future benefit)
Specific (The student can see how it could be done)
Timely
Focused (The important messages)
Efficient (Teacher workload is sustainable)