Response to feedback

In response to the feedback from both students and tutors, many of their suggestions have been taken on board and implemented into subsequent assessments. Marks indicating the weighting of the general sections of the assignment are now published with the rubric, as requested by the students, although marks for each individual grade are not exposed. Students are given practice, during tutorials, using the rubric to mark a section of an assignment. They practice in groups and then discuss as a whole class, which eliminates the problem of students just choosing the median mark of the three markers during the peer assessment negotiations. This semester, exemplars will be posted on Blackboard for students to practice applying the rubric in their own time. This will increase the students' confidence in their ability to assess peers' work accurately, as well as their own.

Reading time for peer assessment has been increased to 20 minutes. Each tutorial group's papers were coded with a color so students marked a mixture of papers from any tutorial but their own, thus eliminating any concerns about their peers hearing comments that they could interpret personally. This proved time consuming so that this semester tutors will simply swap tutorial group papers. For students interested in checking the accuracy of their peer assessment judgments, a spreadsheet of the coded results will be made accessible to them online. Students wishing to check this will need to remember the codes of the papers they marked.

Problems involving laptop access have been eliminated by the tutors arranging their own. Students who have been referred to the Learning Adviser in their feedback are now being tracked by tutors to monitor if they are taking responsibility for their learning and attending the recommended workshops. This will be on-going throughout the program.

The tutors are feeling more confident with ICT and are keen to trial more complex functions. It is recognized that tutors require extensive professional development and training in the full implementation of the tool to be able to use it, without any input from the ICT researcher. Although the unit coordinator is becoming more independent, she still relies on his input.

One tutor's suggestion, yet to be trialed, is after marking an assignment, just returning the rubric feedback with written comments and no marks. The marks could be issued the following week. This would alleviate the students' tendency to focus on the marks rather than the criteria. We could take this approach a step further by using the suggestion offered by Freeman and Lewis (1998) that students could submit an analysis of their feedback, together with their plans for acting on it, before receiving their final marks.

A personal reflection is to provide an area on the peer marking rubric, so students could write their justifications next to their decisions as they marked each paper, which would facilitate more informed negotiations.

To improve learning and teaching, educational assessment must be formative in both function and purpose and must put the student at the center of the assessment process (Elwood & Klenowski, 2002). The assessment process detailed above clearly exemplified this student focus.

The process described in this study fulfils all of the assessment guidelines recommended by Chalmers and Fuller (1995) for teaching and learning at university. Through the use of assessment@yourfingertips in the process, teaching and learning was enhanced. The recommended guidelines that were met included encouraging students to learn with understanding and to evaluate the quality of their own learning; making each formal assessment task a learning experience for students; setting challenging tasks that require students to work with the subject matter, and not just reproduce it; providing students with feedback on their learning; facilitating cooperation between students to promote student learning and motivation, and develop interpersonal skills and relationships; involving students in working out the marking key that will be used to assess their work; and allowing students to participate directly in the assessment process by using self and peer assessment activities, which make a significant contribution to the development of independence in learners.

Consistency of standards across tutors and students was assured when using assessment@yourfingertips. Data-base technology provided an electronic record system for results. This storage system contained detailed assessment information and facilitated the fast and flexible transfer of data. The data could be manipulated to support moderation, student feedback, assessment management and review processes.

اخر الاخبار

اخبار العتبة العباسية المقدسة

قسم العلاقات العامة يناقش مع منتدى شباب الإسكان إقامة مهرجان تكريم طالبات المدارس المرتديات العباءة في القادسية

سماحة السيد الصافي يدعو إلى توحيد الجهود في تحقيق التراث لضمان الرصانة والدقة وخدمة الساحة العلمية

المجمع العلمي ينظم محاضرة إرشادية ضمن المشروع القرآني في مدارس بابل

بذكرى شهادته.. العتبة العباسية المقدسة تشرع في تقديم خدماتها لزائري مرقد الإمام الكاظم (عليه السلام)

المزيد

الآخبار الصحية

6 فواكة تساعدك على الشعور بتحسّن عند المرض

حفاظا على صحة العين.. هذا أفضل وقت لتناول فيتامين أ

الاستخدام اليومي لسماعات الأذن.. أخطر مما تتصور !

هل توقيت نشاطك اليومي يؤثر على صحة دماغك؟.. العلماء يجيبون

المزيد

الآخبار التكنلوجية

ابتكار ألماني قد يغيّر مستقبل صناعة البلاستيك

تحديثات وأرباح عبر المشاهدات.. ما الذي تخطط له "لينكد إن"؟

"الكوكايين الوردي".. مخدر جديد يثير قلق السلطات الأميركية

دراسة: تغيّرات في أسلوب القيادة قد تكشف مبكرا عن الخرف !

المزيد

مواضيع ذات صلة

Parents with Learning Disabilities CONCLUSION

PROVISION OF SUPPORT

CARING FOR CHILDREN

EUGENICS AND ETHICAL ISSUES

PARENTING

DISCRIMINATION AND DIVERSITY

THE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Parents with Learning Disabilities

Legislation and Learning Disabilities CONCLUSION

LEGAL SAFEGUARDS

MENTAL CAPACITY ACT 2005

THE HUMAN RIGHTS ACT 1998