Throughout their degree programmes students will face continual assessment. Students who can engage with the feedback, positive or negative, have an insight into the expectations for the future and have a chance to reflect on their learning styles and habits. An activity was designed to be conducted with 60 non-standard mature learners and school leavers undertaking an interdisciplinary science foundation year in order to engage the students in the process of writing and receiving feedback as part of an induction activity week. Students were asked to choose criteria and assess a series of cakes made to a specific brief. In a light hearted, yet informative way, the activity allowed for relatable and obvious modelling of giving and receiving feedback, encompassed a plagiarism element, and demonstrated the need to appreciate priorities and weightings when completing a task. The approach could be readily adapted to other learning situations.

1. Have your cake and rate it:
modelling feedback and
assessment
Felix Janeway
ViCE/PHEC 2014
Lifelong Learning Centre

2. What is a Lifelong Learning Centre?
 Mature and school
leavers
 Widening participation
backgrounds
 Mixture of academic and
life skills
 Mixture of academic,
technological and
practical abilities

3. Aims – Assessing and giving feedback
To assess!
 Increase the quality of future work
To reflect on their methods of learning
 Red-flag any other concerns

4. Task 1
“Make a chocolate cake to
welcome our new students”
What qualities would you
want to see in this cake?

5. Task 2
“Make a chocolate cake to
welcome our new students”
Assign weightings to each
of your criteria – which are
the most important?

6. Task 3
“Make a chocolate cake to
welcome our new students”
Give each cake a mark out
of 100% and give feedback

7. The Cakes
7

8. Work Quality Spread
8

9. Work Quality Spread
9

10. Modelling Collusion
10

11. Modelling Plagiarism
11

12. What is a failure?
12

13. What is a failure?
13

14. Benefits
• Even the least confident student had input
• Students did not feel ‘tested’
• Element of ‘giving’ from
the instructors
• Light-hearted and fun 

15. Limits
• Not all students like cake
• Not all students can marry the analogies
to the real world assessment
• Time cost

16. Measurements of Success
• 94% ‘Useful’ or ‘Very Useful’ Rating
“The cake [activity] was fun, didn’t take up too
much time and had a clear point to it”
“I am a hands on learner and from the cake activity
with Felix I remember what the aim was.”

17. Measurements of Success
• Springboard for comfortable
discussion throughout year
• More honest discussions
about feedback
• Student appreciation
of workload

18. Have your cake and rate it:
modelling feedback and
assessment
Ellen Avery
Katy Dobson
Linda Forbes
Felix Janeway
ViCE/PHEC 2014
Lifelong Learning Centre
Stephen Maw
Sheryl Meskin
Emma Pittard