This document summarizes a presentation on the challenges of assessment for learning. It discusses three key themes: 1) wide variations exist in assessment patterns across degree programs, 2) many programs rely heavily on summative assessment and provide little formative assessment, and 3) feedback is often disconnected from future work. Case studies are presented that aim to shift programs towards more formative assessment, iterative feedback cycles, and assessment that supports learning. The presentation argues for moving away from a transmission model of education towards a more social constructivist model centered on assessment for learning.

1. Cracking the challenges of
‘assessment for learning’
Tansy Jessop
LSE Education Symposium
10 May 2017

2. Today’s session
• Brief overview of TESTA
• Three themes
–Variations in assessment patterns
–High summative: low formative
–Disconnected feedback
• Towards an assessment paradigm shift

4. Mixed methods approach
Programme
Team
Meeting
Assessment
Experience
Questionnaire
(AEQ)
TESTA
Programme
Audit
Student
Focus Groups

5. TESTA….
“…is a way of thinking
about assessment and
feedback”
Graham Gibbs

6. A modular degree

7. Defining the terms
• Summative assessment carries a grade which
counts toward the degree classification.
• Formative assessment does not count
towards the degree, elicits feedback and is
required.

8. 1. Variations in assessment patterns
• What is striking for
you about this data?
• How does it compare
with your context?
• Does variation
matter?

9. Characteristic Range
Summative 12 -227
Formative 0 - 116
Varieties of assessment 5 - 21
Proportion of examinations 0% - 87%
Time to return marks & feedback 10 - 42 days
Volume of oral feedback 37 -1800 minutes
Volume of written feedback 936 - 22,000 words
Variations in assessment diets (n=73 UG degrees in 14 UK universities)

10. Patterns on three year UG degrees
(n=73 programmes in 14 universities)
Characteristic Low Medium High
Volume of summative
assessment
Below 33 40-48 More than 48
Volume of formative only Below 1 5-19 More than 19
% of tasks by examinations Below 11% 22-31% More than 31%
Variety of assessment
methods
Below 8 11-15 More than 15
Written feedback in words Less than 3,800 6,000-7,600 More than 7,600

11. 2. High summative: low formative
• High summative on UK, Irish, NZ and Indian degrees
• Summative as a ‘pedagogy of control’
• Low formative: ratio of 1:8 summative to formative
• Weakly practised and understood

12. Assessment Arms Race

13. What students say about summative
• A lot of people don’t do wider reading. You just focus
on your essay question.
• In Weeks 9 to 12 there is hardly anyone in our
lectures. I'd rather use those two hours of lectures to
get the assignment done.
• It’s been non-stop assignments, and I’m now free of
assignments until the exams – I’ve had to rush every
piece of work I’ve done.

14. What students say about formative
• If there weren’t loads of other assessments, I’d do it.
• If there are no actual consequences of not doing it,
most students are going to sit in the bar.
• It’s good to know you’re being graded because you
take it more seriously.
• The lecturers do formative assessment but we don’t
get any feedback on it.

15. Case Study 1: ‘Assessment Arms Race’
climb down
• All UG courses in business school
• Change from 2 x summative and 0 formative
per module
• …to 1 x summative and 3 x formative
• Formative required by all students
• Systematic shift: experimentation is less risky
together

16. Case Study 2: Public domain
• Education, Sociology and PGCert in HE degrees
• Problem: silent seminar, students not reading
• Blogging on current academic texts
• Threads and live discussion
• Linked to summative

17. Case study 3: Authentic, research-informed
• Problem: students’ lack of discrimination about
sources
• Students bring 1 x book, 1 x chapter, 1 x journal
article, 2 x pop culture articles
• Justify choices to group
• Reach consensus about five best sources

18. Learning-oriented summative?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVFwQzlVFy0

20. 3. Disconnected feedback

21. Lose-lose situation
It was heavy, tons of marking for
the tutor. It was such hard work.
It was criminal.
Media Course Leader
I’m really bad at reading
feedback. I’ll look at the mark
and then be like ‘well stuff it, I
can’t do anything about it’
Student, TESTA focus group

22. What students say…
It’s difficult because your assignments are so detached
from the next one you do for that subject. They don’t
relate to each other.
Because it’s at the end of the module, it doesn’t feed into
our future work.
Because they have to mark so many that our essay
becomes lost in the sea that they have to mark.
It was like ‘Who’s Holly?’ It’s that relationship where
you’re just a student.

23. Turning feedback into a dialogue
• Who starts the dialogue?
• Iterative cycles of reflection across modules
• Quick generic feedback
• Feedback synthesis tasks
• Peer feedback and self-evaluation
• Technology: audio, screencast and blogging
• From feedback as ‘telling’…
• … to feedback as clarifying conversation

24. From this educational paradigm…

25. Transmission Model

26. Social Constructivist Model

27. References
Barlow, A. and Jessop, T. 2016. “You can’t write a load of rubbish”: Why blogging works as formative
assessment. Educational Development. 17(3), 12-15. SEDA.
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Toronto. University of Toronto Press.
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design’, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 38(6), pp. 698–712.
Freire, P. 1972. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Penguin Books. Harmondsworth.
Gibbs, G. & Simpson, C. (2004) Conditions which assessment supports students' learning. Learning and
Teaching in Higher Education. 1(1): 3-31.
Harland, T., McLean, A., Wass, R., Miller, E. and Sim, K. N. (2015) ‘An assessment arms race and its fallout:
High-stakes grading and the case for slow scholarship’, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education 40(4)
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Jessop, T. and Tomas, C. 2016 The implications of programme assessment on student learning. Assessment
and Evaluation in Higher Education. Published online 2 August 2016.
Jessop, T. 2016. Seven years and still no itch – why TESTA keeps going. Educational Developments, 17(3) 5-8.
SEDA.
Jessop, T. and Maleckar, B. (2014). The Influence of disciplinary assessment patterns on student learning: a
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education, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 35: 5, 501 – 517.
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Torrance, H. (2007) Assessment as learning? How the use of explicit learning objectives, assessment criteria
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