Feedback is frequently characterised as the information that the educator imparts to the learner. Such a view diminishes the value that feedback can serve. Feedback is most useful to the learner when they have a chance to apply the feedback to another activity, and then gain feedback on their subsequent work. It is also of great value to educators to observe that a learner can receive feedback and adjust their performance accordingly. In order to achieve the maximum value from feedback opportunities, both non-graded and graded assessment tasks should be carefully staged in order to allow multiple feedback opportunities. These opportunities can iteratively develop the learner’s capacity and maximise the value of assessment to the learner.
Assessment considerations:
- How can tasks be located within a unit to provide iterative feedback opportunities?
- How can learners be given information about feedback and how they are expected to incorporate it into their activities?
- How will feedback be framed so that learners can respond to it constructively?
- How can the non-graded and graded tasks relate to each other so that learners have the chance to incorporate feedback from one task into the next?
- How can the final graded activity build upon prior tasks?
Also refer to:
Outcomes > Unit/module learning outcomes
Feedback processes > Types of feedback information
Educator experiences
Building up a task over time
I was using two big tasks in a unit: a final portfolio, and a proposal of what to put in the portfolio. I found that students weren’t acting on feedback on their proposal when working on their final portfolio. I was giving them the same feedback twice! I re-thought the tasks so that the writing from the proposal task became embedded inside the portfolio, and literally required them to act upon feedback from their proposal inside the portfolio. I had to explain to them that “yes, really you can copy-paste; I want to see how you can improve it”. They’re doing better work now that I see that work twice and require them to act on feedback. – Education lecturer
Modularisation can make feedback challenging
I inherited a unit that was really just a set of six disjointed modules, taught by six academics, each with their own assessment. There was no narrative to the assessment, and students didn’t really have a chance to get and act on feedback before they were assessed. It felt unfair. In the short term we fixed this by getting together and trying to identify a sort of progression between the tasks, but in the long term we just had to move away from that sort of modular approach. – Education lecturer
Resources:
- The ESCAPE project has a section on Assessment timelines pbworks.com/w/page/30631817/ESCAPE%20-%20Assessment%20timelines
- The University of Reading Engage in Feedback site has a set of useful resources reading.ac.uk/internal/engageinfeedback/Quicktips/efb-QuickTipsAndResources.aspx including tips on feed-forward guidance and an audit tool for teachers to self-assess their feedback practices
- The University of Reading Engage in Assessment site has a brief discussion of the challenges of modularisation reading.ac.uk/engageinassessment/assessment-design/eia-seeing-the-bigger-assessment-picture.aspx and a spreadsheet tool for assessment mapping
- Timing your assessments section on University of Reading Engage in Assessment site www.reading.ac.uk/engageinassessment/assessment-design/planning/eia-timing-your-assessments.aspxÂ
- University of Queensland’s assessment research brief Feeding Forward from Summative Assessment: the Essay Feedback Checklist as a Learning Tool edu.au/tediteach/assessment/docs/brief-39-feb2014.pdf
- The first few chapters in Boud and Molloy’s (2013) Feedback in Higher and Professional Education: Understanding it and doing it well routledge.com/books/details/9780415692298/ present a model of feedback that can inform assessment design.
