Presenation from a Centre for Distance Education seminar 'Writing course materials and formative assessment for successful flexible learning', held at the University of London in June 2014. Conducted by Gwyneth Hughes, Reader in Higher Education, Institute of Education, CDE Fellow. Audio from the session is available at www.cde.london.ac.uk.

1. Assessment Careers: Enhancing
Learning Pathways through
Assessment
Dr Gwyneth Hughes

2. The importance of assessment
“Assessment procedures have a major impact on
students’ approaches to learning”
(Ramsden, 2003)
“Learning is so driven by assessment that the form and
nature of assessment often swamps the effect of any
other aspect of the curriculum” (Boud,1990, p. 103)
“Students learn what they think will be tested” (Biggs
and Tang, 2011)2

3. Some current problems with feedback
• Lack of learner engagement with and understanding of
feedback (Lizzio & Wilson, 2008)
feedback given feedback received and acted upon
• Generally, the feedback ‘fed back’ more than ‘forward’ so
feedback does not encourage dialogue
(Nicol & Macfarlane-Dick, 2005).
• Feedback rarely scrutinised, when it is practice is inconsistent.

4. • Lack of continuity of feedback
assignment 1 assignment 2 assignment 3
• Critique and advice are content focused on the current
assignment. Often too late to be helpful.
• Feedback on generic and discipline skills is often lacking.
• Feedback is not stored and readily accessed over time.
• Lack of information about progress, but this could be
motivating (Hughes, 2014).
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5. Assessment Careers
• 3 year project funded by JISC with the aim of using technology to
enhance assessment and feedback
• Project video
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6. Assessment Careers Project
• Year 1: Baseline reporting and feedback analysis
• Year 2 (2012/13): Five programmes pilot a Student
Response form (cover sheet)
• Year 3 ( 2013/14) Institutional implementation including a
Moodle feedback reporting tool and Feedback policy
Assessment Careers: Institute of Education website:
www.ioe.ac.uk/assessmentcareers

7. Student Feedback Response Forms
Thinking about the feedback on your draft (or previous)
assignment, please indicate what the key points were:
For each point state what action you took to respond to this
feedback in preparing the draft/final version of your
assignment. Your response will help your assessor identify
the progress you have made and suggest further action to
help you develop.
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8. Pilot programmes
Pilot 1 MA Education, Health Promotion and International Development
Pilot 2 MRes in Educational and Social Research
Pilot 3 MA Clinical Education
Pilot 4 MA/MSc Psychology of Education
Pilot 5 PGCE Primary
Approx. 400 students and 30 staff in total.

9. Student responses
I like being able to ask the tutor quite directly the area that need work
and [what] to focus on (MRes student)
Particularly as I'd taken a long break between this and the previous
module so it actually made me go back and consider feedback from
earlier assignments.(MA in Health Education student)
I just created a list of the things that I changed and it didn’t take me long
but I did do it after I’d changed everything, I didn’t do it as I went
along. I thought it was more of an exercise I’m going to hand my
essay in and I need to do this. (PGCE student)
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10. Staff responses
I found it easier but not necessarily quicker to provide the feedback
because I had a sense that I was providing feedback to someone
about something rather than on a piece of written work... it brought it
to life in some way.
I have endeavoured to be still more specific about what the student
should change to further improve their assignment and in giving
examples about how they might change the assignment in this way.
(PGCE tutor)
It seemed that many students needed to be taught how to use feedback,
what it could be for, and the role it could play in the learning
process.(MRes tutor)10

11. Greater transparency over feedback
and assessment processes in general
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13. References
Hattie, J. & Timperley, H. 2007. The Power of Feedback. Review of
Educational Research 77 no. 1: 81-112.
Hughes, G. (2014) Ipsative Assessment: Motivation through marking
progress Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Lizzio, A. & Wilson, K. 2008. Feedback on assessment: student’s
perceptions of quality and effectiveness. Assessment & Evaluation in
Higher Education 33 no.3:263-275.
Nicol, D. & Macfarlane,-Dick, D. 2006. Formative assessment and self-
regulated learning: a model and seven principles of good feedback
practice. Studies in Higher Education 31 no. 2: 199-218.
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