Evaluate how you assess and/or give feedback for learning.
Introduction and background
When I first began my teaching career at LCF, I was immediately required to assess year 3 work and had not been provided with adequate training or guidance on this. I was therefore not fully aware of the grading system or how to effectively assess again the UAL marking criteria – or how assessment and feedback impacted student attainment or confidence. I have since then been fortunate enough to undertake training on this and have assessed substantial work across the 3-year groups of a BA degree and feel confident and well versed in the subject. Yet I am still faced with challenges and need to adapt my methods as we move from gen z to gen Alpha with different needs digital knowledge.
Evaluation.
In my most recent roles at LCF, I have been assessing as follows:
Formative assessment – year 1 and y3
Summative assessment for Year ones around individual brand report sand then group presentations
Summative assessment for Final Major projects for year 3
What has worked well
- Feedback tutorials – for year 3, I have been providing mandatory one to one tutorial to discuss feedback in their first y3 unit assessment in order to work with the student to maximise attainment going forward and towards their final classification
- Marking and then feeding back against learning outcomes – my assessment feedback refers to the LOs and marking criteria and is structured in this way. This enables students to understand my rationale, grading and also maybe formative for future assessments
- Referring to LOs and the summative assessment during weekly delivery. Each week, revisit the LOs and remind students how to maximise grading against these
- A guide to where you should be – each week in my units, I provide a guide to where the student should be during that time so they can remain on track
- Detailed formative assessment briefings – where students are provided with guidance on what to presents, how long and also what feedback to expect
Challenges
Understanding the brief – challenges for 1st years still unable to fully unpack assessment brief or understand the terminology
Academic rigour for 1st years – lack of professionalism in the presentation of the work which is commented on during feedback. Students still unaware how to achieve this as it is not fully presented in the Learning outcomes and so they are not working towards it.
Formative assessment – 1st years not appreciating the value of this and therefore not taking notes or questing feedback
Moving forward
Over the years, I have engaged with many resources on assessment and have followed guidelines by Rust (2002) on assessment feedback. I have ahered to a positive approach that provides in introduction summary to their work and is followed by positives and negatives that are marked against the learning outcomes. My feedback focuses on formative suggestions, ensuring students can learn from mistakes.
I believe in holistic assessment and whilst in favour of learning outcomes, I recognise the issues and limitations for a creative course like mine. ‘In art and design our challenge is greater because we work with rather more ambiguous terms such as ‘creativity’, ‘imagination’, ‘originality’ etc as well as ‘understanding’. (Davis, 2012) . Therefore assessment around the learning outcomes for our units can very subjective when we are taking into consideration overall creativity or experiemtation. As a course leader, I am able to impact assessment methods and lead on this and as we move into times of increase AI and technology, I aim to experiment with new more creative and dynamic assessment methods and its subsequent feedback. Reflecting on my assessment this term and the challenges, here is how I will translate my finding into practice.
Make the grade – make the grade and the checklist to be introduced earlier in order for students to digest the information, reflect and then return to the classroom with further questions if needed
Supervised study – introduce a study week on the final week of the unit where students can work together in a supervised classroom with a tutor and share work with a tutor and also ask questions in order to feel fully prepared for final hand in this also allows me to foster community and peer collaboration.
Formative assessment – students to be required to complete a proforma which evidences their note taking and understanding of their feedback
Where possible, showcase past student work examples to provide a guide to what is required, however ensuring that new work is unique and experimental and relevant to the current climate.
Increase formative opportunities via the introduction of weekly open office drop ins for students to drop in (online) to discuss the unit with the tutor.
In year 2 and year 3, introduce personal tutorials at the start of block one to discuss academic goals and unpack issues around student past grades or feedback
Create fun polls and quizzes at midway and end of unit to recap on key elements and criteria for the assessment
Rerferences
Writing Learning Outcomes for Assessment, Allan Davis 2012