While I can see the potential in this kind of reflection on writing, I've got some reservations. My main concern would be that students need to have a clear understanding of academic expectations and language before undertaking such an exercise - the fact that they very seldom do is what currently keeps me in a job!



I can imagine quite a bit of anxiety, for instance, over what might qualify as 'analytical', or what an 'appropriate number and range of sources' might be. In the past, we have had a lot of difficulties with students on one particular course which recruited an overwhelmingly non-traditional cohort, and tried to develop their study practices by giving them long checklists of criteria for their assignments. This just increased anxiety and fear that they 'weren't good enough' for the course, because they didn't understand how to apply these criteria. (Let's be honest, there are plenty of tutors that don't know how to apply marking criteria, so why should we expect students to do so?) Feedback to the dept on student concerns just prompted longer lists of criteria - one of my personal favourites was a fourteen-slide text-heavy PowerPoint presentation for a single essay. Quite frankly, it was a disastrous case of miscommunication all round.



So, I can see the value of this kind of student reflection on writing, but *only* if it is used in conjunction with support to develop a clear understanding of expectations and terms.



Kim





________________________________
Dr Kim Shahabudin, FHEA, Study Adviser, Study Advice & Maths Support
1st floor Carrington Building, Whiteknights, University of Reading, RG6 6UA
• 0118 378 4236/4218 • www.reading.ac.uk/studyadvice<http://www.reading.ac.uk/studyadvice>
Winner of Student Nominated Award for Outstanding Contribution to Teaching and Learning, 2010
________________________________
From: learning development in higher education network [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of John Hilsdon [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 10 March 2011 11:35
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: students and formative feedback


Hello Martin and all



This is a fascinating theme! My colleague Joe and I are running an LD module on our Post Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice. Our (one!) participant, Natalie, a Tourism lecturer, chose to work on assessment for learning as her project. We recommended  some reading (including John Cowan's On Becoming an Innovative University Teacher - still an excellent source of ideas!) and a copy of a checklist we use to get students to think about assessment. She used this to devise an activity similar to ones described by others in this thread, whereby students are not given their grades immediately ... Natalie gave permission for us to forward the details below:



In her activity, Natalie allocated a session where students were given a set of questions and then asked first to re-read their assignments and rate themselves before receiving their feedback and grade. Here is part of the exercise:



1.     Read the assignment brief.

2.     Now, on your own, read your assignment.

3.     On reflection, consider the following questions and tick only those which apply to your assignment: (if you are not 100% certain that your assignment does what is asked in the question, leave the box blank)


Does the essay answer the question/deal with the topic that was set?





Does it cover all the key points and a range of arguments or viewpoints?





Have you covered the main points in sufficient depth?





Is the essay analytical in style and questioning in approach?





Have you developed and sustained the argument throughout the essay?





Is the argument logical and realistic?





Is the content accurate and relevant?





Is the material logically arranged?





Is there a sense of direction, a reason why one paragraph follows another?





Is each main point well supported by examples and argument?





Do you acknowledge all sources, in the main body and at the end?





Have you used an appropriate number and range of sources?





Is the essay the correct length? (check the brief)





Have you written the work in an appropriate style, and simply and clearly? (Would an academic who wasn’t a specialist in your subject understand it?)





Is the grammar, punctuation and spelling correct?





Have figures and tables (if used) been used appropriately and referenced?





Is the essay well-presented, with the right spacing, font, font size and cover sheet?









Students were then given the feedback comments (but not their grades) and asked to consider if they felt the mark was fair.



4.     Now consider the comments which have been marked on the script, and answer the following questions:




Yes





No

Do you understand the comments which have been made?










Do you have questions that you feel you should ask?











Have you asked those questions and received clarification?











Are you aware now of some of the pitfalls in your assignment?












5.     Considering the answers to all of these questions, read the marking criteria, and give yourself a mark that you feel reflects your completed and assessed assignment:

Suggested mark:






Is there anything that you think you believe you can do to improve this assignment? (Reflect on the marking criteria e.g. Knowledge and Understanding, Synthesis, Analysis, Communication and Presentation)



Then the students were given their grade and offered an opportunity to discuss it if they wanted to.

Finally they were asked to record their key learning points from the session – and how it would affect the way they might do their assignments in future.



The students’ comments were overwhelmingly positive and showed that this had been a really powerful learning session. Almost all felt their grade was fair and, since tutorials were on offer, those who were less happy had opportunities to go over any issues arising.



This was really good learning development practice, I think! I’m hoping to persuade Natalie to write a paper about all of this & submit to the JLDHE – (when she has finished writing up her PhD!!) and to present to one of our conferences about it …  and we will certainly be building on these ideas in discussion with other lecturers …





V best


John

John Hilsdon
Head of Learning Development
Room 102, 3 Endsleigh Place
University of Plymouth
Drake Circus
Plymouth
PL4 8AA
01752 587750

[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
www.learningdevelopment.plymouth.ac.uk<http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/learn>














-----Original Message-----
From: learning development in higher education network [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Hepplestone, Stuart
Sent: 10 March 2011 10:15
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: students and formative feedback



Hi Martin



At Sheffield Hallam University we have worked with Blackboard Inc to develop a custom Assignment Handler extension to our Blackboard system. One feature of this system is that students see feedback to assignments without their grade (although both the feedback and grade has been uploaded to the Grade Centre by the tutor at the same time). Once students have responded to this feedback by submitting a short reflective account or action plan is their grade automatically made available to them.



The report from a research project looking partly at the impact of this can be found at: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/EvidenceNet/TFA_report_final.pdf



and there will be opportunities to find out more about the Assignment Handler extension at the forthcoming Blackboard Learning and Teaching Conference in Leeds next month: http://www.bbworld.com/2011/TeachingAndLearning/content.asp?id=1798



Regards,

Stuart



Stuart Hepplestone

Senior Lecturer in Curriculum Innovation (Assessment)



Learning and Teaching Institute

Student and Learning Services

Sheffield Hallam University

City Campus, Howard Street

Sheffield S1 1WB

Tel: 0114 225 4744



-----Original Message-----

From: learning development in higher education network [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Foster, Ed

Sent: 09 March 2011 17:38

To: [log in to unmask]

Subject: Re: students and formative feedback



Hello Martin



Try 'Harnessing assessment and feedback in the first year to support learning success, engagement and retention' by Sally Kift and Kim Moody available at http://eprints.qut.edu.au/28849/



it contains lots of examples of interesting feedback practices







Ed









-----Original Message-----

From: learning development in higher education network on behalf of Martin Hampton

Sent: Wed 09/03/2011 5:35 PM

To: [log in to unmask]

Subject: students and formative feedback

Hello all

I seem to recall hearing somewhere about an institution or department

somewhere making strides in effective use of formative feedback by

establishing a system where students have no access to grades until they

have 'collected' (materially or virtually, I cannot recall) and

responded to (again, can't remember exactly how) their markers'

comments.

Does anyone know of any such system in use? And if so, does anyone have

any useful contacts?

thanks!

Martin Hampton

ASK

University of Portsmouth.









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