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Forward thinking feedback at UEA
The University of East Anglia is focusing on improving the quality of student feedback through the integration of Blackboard's interactive tools, aiming to transform feedback into a dialogic process rather than just a product. The presentation discusses both positive and negative experiences from academic staff regarding the feedback process and digital tools, while also outlining initiatives to enhance student satisfaction with assessments. Recommendations include simplifying assignment administration, creating a bank of test questions, and fostering a supportive environment for e-assessment among academics.
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Forward thinking feedback at UEA
- 1. Forward thinking feedback HelenaGillespie – Academic Director of Learning and Teaching Enhancement @helenauea Alicia McConnell – Head of Learning Technology @aliciamcconnell University of East Anglia
- 2. Feedback to studentson their work and attainment is at the centre of successful learning in higher education….. However many top rated universities find it hard to match high levels of student satisfaction with teaching and learning in general with levels of satisfaction in assessment and feedback. There are many factors which impact the quality of the feedback, and at UEA we are keen that the opportunities to enrich through digitisation are not constrained to the replication of previously paper based practices. For this reason we have initiated a project to harness all of Blackboard’s interactive tools to raise the quality of feedback. The overall aim of the project is to embed assessment and feedback in teaching and learning, so that feedback becomes a dialogic process and not a product in itself
- 3. This presentation…… ….is areport on our progress so far and looks at a range of interventions and their results, as we scale up to campus wide integration of Blackboard assessment and feedback tools. The evidence of impact comes from the academic community and students. We welcome interaction from fellow delegates during the presentation, as we discuss how Blackboard supports us to move forward with feedback
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- 5. What the UEAUnion will be campaigning for…
- 6. NUS assessment benchmarkingdocument
- 7. Consider the NUSA&F benchmarking tool – which do you think your students would put as their top 3 priorities? • Diverse forms of assessment • Clear marking criteria • Smooth electronic submission process • Well spaced deadlines • Fair and anonymous marking • Marking consistency • Timely feedback • High quality feedback • Opportunities for formative feedback • Opportunities for self and peer reflection and learning
- 8. Learning from ourexisting (non Bb) project
- 9. What’s going well(and not so well) so far? Comments about admin process postive negative neutral Comments about support and Health and saefty issues postive negative neutral Comments about access and technical issues postive negative neutral Comments about giving feedback and annotation postive negative neutral
- 10. Academic voices… • Onadministration ….. The process of adding moderators and markers lacked intuition, but once I was talked through the process it worked. That means the process requires training, which many people don't have time for, whereas a good system would be simple and efficient for someone with no special training. • On writing feedback for students….. Overall online marking went well and the process is simple. No real problems were seen during the marking, however it should be noted that when students receive their feedback that they cannot always see the comments provided if using a mobile device such as a phone or tablet. We ideally need to accommodate for this as we should anticipate that many students are now using this as their primary source of accessing online data. 10
- 11.
- 12. Which Bb toolsare you using in your institutions for formative assessment? Automated Test Assignment Including: .docx .xlsx .pdf .pptx .mp4 Blog Discussion board Journal Wiki
- 13. Benefits • Automated testing(eg MCQs) can provide quick feedback to student learning • Handles large numbers of scripts safely and efficiently • Range of files that can be marked (from word to video) and range of assessment types useful • Formative use of Text Matching Software can useful if integrated into submission process • Gives academics greater control over assessment process so it relates better to teaching and learning process
- 14. Barriers • Screen resolutionand marking tools not always suitable for maths/computer code/science work • Worries that students may gamify Text Matching Software • Time needed looking at screens for both students and staff
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- 16. Give me someadvice…. • Give academics control of setting of assignments and minimise administration • Create a bank of test questions and sample assignments • Provide support to cautious colleagues, stressing that e- assessment doesn’t need high levels of technology competence • Have a ‘champion’ for e-assessment in each faculty, providing support and ideas for those subjects and disciplines • Make the process simple for staff and students 16
- 17. What is youbest piece of advice for us and each other?
- 18. 18 Helena Gillespie –@helenauea Alicia McConnell – @aliciamcconnell
- 19. Forward thinking feedback HelenaGillespie – Academic Director of Learning and Teaching Enhancement Alicia McConnell – Head of Learning Technology University of East Anglia
Editor's Notes
- #2 Introductions
- #3 The project we will be talking about
- #4 Out brief for today
- #6 We know that students want more e-learning, we know that they want better feedback – including typed feedback and online marking. Here are the election manifestos from the candidates for Undergraduate Education Officer in the Union of UEA Students. It’s a sabbatical post with real influence, and our commitment as a leadership team to helping students achieve what they want means we have adopted the National Union of Students Assessment and Feedback benchmarking document to guide or future direction with assessment and feedback
- #7 (title hotlink to weblink) Run though highlights
- #8 5 minute activity – votes for top 3
- #10 So far we have had: detailed feedback from 3 academics, responses from 24 via a survey and a meeting. To get a sense of what was going well and what wasn’t I read and coded the comments from the survey into 5 categories (look at speed of turnaround in a moment) In terms of number – the most positive comments are about technical and access issues (generally it worked and they liked being able to mark remotely without having to collect paper scripts) Least positive were about the administration of the process – surprisingly academics don’t seem to like admin ;-)
- #11 Some useful insight here – for the move to Bb – the admin needs to be as low key and clear as possible. One academic suggested a dashboard for the academic to track progress of scripts though from submission to moderation and marking. Any reduction in time and effort with an intuitive system for administering scripts in likely to be well received. Training and support was offered face to face and online – online take up was much higher and well used. We’ll continue with this approach and offer training ‘as needed’ and ‘on demand’ online. Staff found using the pdf annotation relatively simple – many said they gave more detailed feedback in margins and many also mentioned they felt students welcomed typed rather than handwritten feedback. However some students needed help in accessing their feedback. This shouldn’t be a problem in the Bb system but a wider roll out needs to include effective communication with students. Some markers use or would like to sue comment banks which could enhance the quality and amount of feedback.
- #12 Alongside the first steps in using an all electronic route for summative assessment, we have also been promoting the use of Blackboard tools or formative assessment. We recently met with a group of academics who have taken this up. The insights were useful and enlightening. We need to make sure that as more and more assessment moves to Bb
- #13 Question for audience.
- #14 The question I’m asking is does this really transform learning? Are we using the full power of technology to improve the assessment and feedback process or are we simply digitising analogue processes? I think there is some promise here – r assessment and feedback processes which are embedded in the learning process both in time (quicker feedback) and in place (situated amongst other learning materials).
- #17 We asked for some advice about what we should do to move the project forward. Here it is….
- #20 Introductions