This document summarizes a session on formative assessment, feedback, and feedforward. The session aimed to introduce these principles and practices, and help participants evaluate and develop their current use of formative assessment and feedback to support student progress. Participants engaged in activities to share their current practices, identify strengths and areas for development, and consider challenges to evidencing their teaching practices. The document provides guidance on a summative assessment task requiring participants to critically evaluate examples of their teaching and assessment methods with reference to literature, and identifies learning outcomes of understanding formative assessment and engaging learners more effectively with feedback.

1. Principles of Active Learning 2:
formative assessment, feedback and
feedforward

2. Why is assessment useful?
On tables, in small groups: list all the reasons for
assessing learners’ progress.
November 6, 2017

3. Formative and Summative assessments
Assessment – if a student does something and then reveals what
they have done, this can be assessed.
Ashwin et al. 2015, p.250

4. Ashwin, et al. 2015.

5. Ashwin, et al. 2015.
Summative
Assessment of learning
3, 5, 6, 8
Formative
Assessment for learning
1,2, 4, 7, 10
Sustainable
Assessment for long-term
learning
2, 10, 11, 12

6. Session Aims:
1. To introduce you to the principles and practices of formative
assessment, feedback and feedforward
2. To help you to evaluate and develop your current practice in using
formative assessment and feedback/feedforward to support
student progress
November 6, 2017

7. Session Learning Outcomes:
By completing this session, you should be able to:
LO1 Evaluate your current practice in using formative assessment, feedback
and feedforward
LO2 Identify methods to enable your learners to engage more effectively with
feedback
November 6, 2017

8. Your practice
What formative assessment methods do you use already?
•Individually: Describe current practices THINK
•In pairs: PAIR
•As a group: SHARE

9. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
AND FEEDBACK
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10. What is it?
• NTU (2013) explains a formative task/assessment is one which is
developmental for students’ learning but does not contribute to
credit points. We could call this assessment for learning.
• Aswin et al. (2015, p. 69) quotes Yorke’s (2008) definition:
“Formative assessment is intended to help students improve their
performance”
• Robinson and Udall (2006, p. 93) use Biggs (2003) and Knight
(1996) to argue that formative assessment activities need to
provide learners with feedback on their progress towards
achievement of the intended learning outcomes from the unit
(module) being studied.
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11. Why is it important?
• Make sense of criteria;
• Practice assessment skills/knowledge or entire assignments;
• Receive and generate feedback on progression towards specific
summative assessment tasks;
• Engage with content and/or develop skills needed to achieve
learning outcomes;
• Receive and generate feedback on general learning progression;
• Create and experiment in a low stakes environment;
• Foster a sense of scholarly identity.
CADQ Guide | Formative assessment and feedback
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13. Assessment and feedback plan: example
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14. student-centred learning process
Without information about their work being taken up and used by
students, it is hard to justify the use of the word feedback at all. Boud
and Molloy (2013a) call this ‘hopefully useful information.
Ashwin et al, 2015, p.265.
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15. O'Donovan, Price and Rust 2004
student-centred learning process
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5

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17. How can I use it?
• CADQ Guide to
formative assessment
and feedback
• Ashwin – page 271
• https://www.reap.ac.u
k/
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18. What have I learnt?
• One-minute paper
• Write for one-minute on the topic of formative assessment, what
have you learned or what do you need to do to develop your
understanding and skills next.
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19. Evaluate own FA
practice
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Individually look at the
leaflet, Donavan model and
examples sheet and identify
strengths and areas for
development in your own
practice.

20. • Share findings across your table and: Determine explicit and tacit
knowledge transference.

21. BREAK
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22. Summative Assessment – PGCAP
module 1
Assessment Brief

23. Summative assessment task and
guidance
This summative assessment has one element.
Task brief:
With reference to a range of relevant supporting literature and
evidence, critically evaluate two examples of your recent
teaching practice, focusing on:
The methods you use to teach/support learning
The methods you use to assess and give feedback to students
The length of this assessment is 3500-4000 words.
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24. Summative assessment further guidance:
•In this task you will reflect on and evaluate your own academic
practice in relation to the methods you use when teaching or
supporting learning (UKPSF - A2: K2, K3, K4) and the methods you
use to assess learning (A3: K2, K3, K4). You will demonstrate and
evaluate your practice, by looking back at this practice during the
module, and possibly before your started the course. Your thinking
should be underpinned by a thorough understanding of relevant
theory, scholarship and/or evidence which supports the rationale for
the methods you have used, and critically evaluates these in light of
that literature (K5, V3).
•IMPORTANT: One of your examples must focus on the methods you
use when you teach or support learning, and the other must
focus on assessment and/or feedback methods that you have
used; you may use examples from the same module for this work,
but they must be clearly presented as addressing the two areas of
activity.
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25. Assessment criteria:
•Engagement with the context of academic practice and application to
own practice
•Engagement with current research/ evidence/
•scholarship in academic practice, and application to own practice in
teaching and assessment
•Engagement with appropriate methods for teaching and
assessment/feedback, and evaluation of the effectiveness of these
•Quality of written communication and presentation of ideas
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26. Triad activity: evidencing your practice
Using the question prompts, take it in turns to be the
•Speaker: share your practice example (be very specific)
•Questioner/listener: ask the questions to guide this practice
example
•Observer: listen to the responses to the questions, and consider
whether the response evidences their practice fully in relation to
– What they did
– Why they did it
– Impact on the learners
– Evidence of this impact
– 5 minutes per example, 2 minutes for observer to feedback what went well, and
what needed more detailed evidence

27. What are the challenges of evidencing
your practice?

28. Session Learning Outcomes:
By completing this session, you should be able to:
LO1 Evaluate your current practice in using formative assessment,
feedback and feedforward
LO2 Identify methods to enable your learners to engage more
effectively with feedback
November 6, 2017

29. In the critical reflection you should:
– identify the context in which you teach/support learning and the impact of this
on your practice
– apply and explore the impact of relevant theories /research/
– scholarship on your practice
– demonstrate the currency of your subject knowledge and how this impacts on
your practice
– explore your use of appropriate digital technologies to support teaching and/or
assessment practices
– evaluate the effectiveness of your practice to date, including the identification of
areas for your ongoing CPD in teaching and supporting learning
– The two examples can be from the same module or area of practice.
– Remember that you should use evidence from your Professional Portfolio to
support the choice of materials you reflect on in this task.
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