Dear colleagues,
Many thanks to the many colleagues who responded to my request for
information on examination feedback - and apologies that I have not
responded individually to all of you.
It was useful to hear about the many different approaches and the wide
differences in opinion on the matter. This makes things difficult to
summarize. But, for anyone interested, it seems that the key question is
whether students see scripts or examiners' comments, which are not
necessarily the same thing. To avoid students seeing actual scripts, some
institutions have chosen to introduce a feedback sheet which can be handed
back to the student. Some institutions offer photocopies of scripts and, in
some cases, make a charge for doing this to cover the admin costs. Another
approach seems to be to ask students to submit a formal request and then
let them see their script in the presence of an administrator or unit
convenor.
A number of those who responded also pointed out that the law has a bearing
on this, given that individuals now have a right to see what is written
about them by institutions. This factor, along with student pressure, seems
to be motivating many universities to take action.
As I said, colleagues expressed a range of opinion on the usefulness of the
exercise, but I have to say that a clear majority felt it was a useful
thing and not as scary or umstaendlich as they had first imagined.
Best wishes,
David
Dr David Clarke
Senior Lecturer in German
Director of Undergraduate Programmes
Department of European Studies and Modern Languages
University of Bath
Bath BA2 7AY
Tel: +44 (0) 1225 386244
http://germanstudiesblog.wordpress.com/
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