using technology to enhance student engagement with feedback

Using technology to enhancestudent engagement with feedback

Stuart Hepplestone and Helen ParkinQuality Enhancement & Student Success

Agenda

Time Agenda

13:15-13:20 Workshop opening and agenda: Welcome and introduction to the workshop

13:20-13:25 Activity 1: Reflecting on your practice

13:25-13:35 Presentation: Technology, Feedback, Action! research project

13:35-13:50 Activity 2: Technology, Feedback, Action! and the Seven Principles of Good Feedback Practice

13:50-14:00 Presentation and Activity 3: Challenging practice and action planning

14:00 Workshop closing: Participant questions and comments

Aston Business School Conference Centre18 November 2011

SEDA Annual Conference 2011: Using Technology to Enhance Learning Using technology to enhance student engagement with feedback

About this workshop

Reflect on your current feedback practice Consider:

Technology, Feedback, Action! findings1

Seven Principles of Good Feedback Practice2

Develop an action plan for transforming feedback practice

1 http://tinyurl.com/tfaproject2 Nicol, D.J. and Macfarlane-Dick, D. (2006) ‘Formative assessment and self-regulated learning: a model

and seven principles of good feedback practice’, Studies in Higher Education, 31: 2, 199-218



Activity 1: Reflecting on your practice

5 minutes, in small groups: what feedback methods or techniques you currently use,

support or promote? thinking about your current feedback practice:

what works well? what doesn't work as well?



Technology, Feedback, Action!

Potential of technology-enabled feedback to improve learning Evaluate logistical and learning benefits of:

online publication of feedback and grades via the Blackboard Grade Centre

adaptive release of marks through Assignment Handler linking feedback to assessment criteria using an

electronic Feedback Wizard Semi-structured interviews, 23 undergraduates:

Computer Networks Diagnostic Radiography Events Management Psychology



Online publication of grades and feedback/ Blackboard Grade Centre

pushes feedback to students removing the burden to seek out feedback from tutors

allows control over how, when and where feedback is received students respond to feedback when emotionally ready and in privacy

thoughtfulness and legibility of typed feedback prompt return of feedback making it current and meaningful students are more likely to revisit feedback stored alongside their

learning when completing future assignments students monitor progression and performance

You don’t have to share it with everyone whereas if you are in a seminar and everyone’s talking

about what they got you kind of have to feel the pressure to join in whereas if you get it on

Blackboard you can see it at your own leisure

It obviously makes it a lot more beneficial to me as a student to receive [feedback] in a much more legible form…typed feedback is much better than

written feedback, because you can read it. Lecturers have a tendency to scrawl



Adaptive release of grades/Assignment Handler

learning benefits acknowledged when purpose fully understood

students like to receive theirfeedback and grades in close proximity

students do produce action plans from their feedback but this is a subconscious approach; Assignment Handler provides a space to formalise this process

emphasises the importance of reflection enhances student engagement with their feedback

If I have to reflect on the feedback before receiving the grade then it sticks in my mind a bit

longer, the feedback I receive, the points that I am going to use and it’s a little bit easier to remember

when I’m working on my next assignment Yeah it’s just stored in my memory. I don’t tend to write action plans down. I tend to retain things in my memory and then if I need to look something up I can usually remember where it is that I found

it before



Linking feedback to assessment criteria

feedback grids are most effective when supplementary to ‘in-context’ feedback

identify strengths and weaknesses in a cohesive and legible way use of assessment criteria to identify learning targets

offers a level of transparency of how overall grade is calculated

You could really clearly see what you had to do for the next one and where you could actually

improve

If you just get … a percentage for a mark out of 20 or whatever then it doesn’t really give you

anything. Whereas if you understand the process that the lecturer has gone through with regards to how he’s got to that figure … it gives you a bit more of a basis as to how or why they’ve got to

that point



Seven principles of good feedback(Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick, 2006)

1. helps clarify what good performance is (goals, criteria, expected standards)

2. facilitates the development of self-assessment (reflection) in learning

3. delivers high quality information to students about their learning

4. encourages teacher and peer dialogue around learning5. encourages positive motivational benefits and self-esteem6. provides opportunities to close the gap between current

and desired performance7. provides information to teachers that can be used to help

shape the teachingNicol, D.J. and Macfarlane-Dick, D. (2006) ‘Formative assessment and self-regulated learning: a model

and seven principles of good feedback practice’, Studies in Higher Education, 31: 2, 199-218



Activity 2: seven principles of good feedback

15 minutes, in small groups: identify which feedback activities best match each of the

seven principles of good feedback practice



Best practice guides and short report

Available for download from http://tinyurl.com/tfaprojector search http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/EvidenceNet/resources



Putting into practice:Online publication of feedback and grades

Find out what tools/techniques are available for use at your institution

Who needs access: you, students, teaching team, admin staff Are you publishing provisional grades or waiting until after

assessment boards? Tell students the status of grades Ensure students can access feedback for duration of their

study, or … … tell students how long it will be available to them Provide information to students about when feedback will be

available, and the format it will be delivered in Promote effective techniques for storage and retrieval of

feedbackAston Business School Conference Centre

18 November 2011SEDA Annual Conference 2011: Using Technology to Enhance Learning Using technology to enhance student engagement with feedback

Putting into practice:Adaptive release of grades


Promote educational benefits of feedback for learning, and … … provide clear guidance to students Define the boundaries of your assessments at the outset,

outlining student responsibilities Assessment strategies should provide opportunities for feed

forward to any future assessment



Putting into practice:Linking feedback to assessment criteria


Make assessment criteria available from the outset … … enables students to complete and self-assess their work Accompany generic statements with individual comments Standard comments should not just reaffirm the grade Write feedback in the context of the students' original work



Activity 3: Your action plan

5 minutes, in small groups: how will you change your feedback practice to make it

more innovative? what support and resources will you need to make this

happen?



[email protected]

Thank you – any questions?



Adaptive release of grades

Back

Sample feedback sheet

Back

Assessment timeline

Back

using technology to enhance student engagement with feedback

Documents

enabled feedback

feedback methods

online publication of

feedback practice1 http

potential of technology

seda annual conference

enhancestudent engagement

action planning14