Benefits to students of systematically embedding assessment for learning at UNSW through REVIEW
Thursday 4 July: Conference day two, 10:30am – 11:00am parallel session
Venue
Room 1 – 302-G20, Case Room
Presenter
Danny Carroll
UNSW Business School, Australia
d.carroll@unsw.edu.au
Background
In 2011, the UNSW Business School chose REVIEW as the assessment platform for assuring student learning against Degree Goals. It was chosen over more ‘compliance’ oriented products for its support of criteria-based marking and feedback. Providing an easy-to-use criteria-based marking platform has had significant positive impacts for both staff and students, supporting better assessment experiences and assessment for learning. Outstripping its initial remit for assurance of learning, REVIEW is now used in about 200 courses per Term at UNSW.
REVIEW is an online criteria-based marking and feedback tool suited to individual or group marking. Task criteria link to higher-order skills (e.g. competencies, program or degree goals); therefore, all atomistic assessment elements are related to longer-term skills, knowledge and aptitude development.
The clarity provided by criteria judgement approaches and the visually intuitive interfaces have led to staff and students reporting an improved experience of marking and giving and getting feedback. Staff also report they believe they give more concise and actionable feedback to students than through previous marking practices.
Evaluation of effectiveness to be presented include staff qualitative feedback, quantitative feedback of marking time-savings, student qualitative feedback, quantitative studies of student participation in self and peer assessment (via Google analytics system-tracking data), quantitative analysis of the effect of self-assessment on engagement with feedback and marks outcomes and a summary of a Masters thesis study by research into student accuracy in self-assessment.
The presentation will provide comprehensible qualitative and quantitative data snapshots of this assessment initiative. Examples include:
- staff and student feedback on experience of assessment
- student engagement with feedback
- student use of personalised analytics
- student marks gains attendant on self-assessment activity
- improved student self-assessment accuracy
Presentation topic
Students – Learning
