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Smashing debate, thanks Andy for starting it. Thanks Phil Davies from Glamorgan for asking 'does anyone teach exam skills?' - I did so myself there for many years until 1995, both on request in courses, and as open evening sessions (which had to be repeated sometimes when G219 was full). I'm the first to admit one can't really 'teach' these skills, but I reckon one can alert students to how and where they may choose to work at polishing them up. Thanks also Anne, for sharing your excellent materials on this. Back to the question. I too believe that students should have the opportunity to see and discuss their exam scripts. Not many in practice want to, but I think those that should deserve to see them. I'm not suggesting for a moment, though, that we should all write up exam scripts with the sort of feedback we'd put on coursework - that's just far too much work, and (more importantly) students don't need all that feedback. For most students, simply seeing where they scored and where they didn't is enough - they twig where they lost marks and how, and can ask us for detail if puzzled. My arguments for allowing students to see their scripts are of course: (1) to see what they got right (2) to see what they got wrong (and why) (3) (most importantly) to check my totalling of their marks! It scares me rigid when there remain in the system possibilities for no-one but the marker to add up the subtotals. I'm attaching a somewhat provocative little discussion paper I wrote last week for workshops at Leeds, called 'Why fix assessment?'. The paper has gone down well this week here, so I'd like to share it with you. I would of course enjoy some feedback. Cheers, Phil ----- Original Message ----- From: Dr Keith Edwards <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2002 5:47 PM Subject: Re: examination feedback > I do not know whether I have missed the plot or not, but in keeping with a student centred approach to education feedback is not only essential but surely a given. How can one not give feedback to all the students that one has responsibility for and expect them to progress? There is a danger here in setting people up to fail, students and their educational needs has to be given the highest priority. > > I am amazed to hear that such practices go on. > > Dr Keith Edwards > Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College >