What lies beneath: exploring the deeper purposes of feedback on student writing through considering disciplinary knowledge and knowers

Heerden, Martina van; Clarence, Sherran; Bharuthram, Sharita

doi:10.1080/02602938.2016.1212985

Cited by 19 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(25 reference statements)

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“…What is clear is that in 'coming to know' the requirements of assessment, students' active engagement in the development and design of assessment, should enable them to have a much better understanding of what is required to do well (Sadler, 2010(Sadler, , 2013. To fully utilise feedback students need to be able to understand the meaning of feedback, and more specifically, what it means within the discipline (van Heerden, Clarence, & Bharuthram, 2017), and be able to evaluate accurately the strengths and weaknesses of their own work. Sadler (2013) highlights the importance of 'knowing what is worth noticing', this is a key self-regulatory skill.…”

Section: The Role Of Students In the Assessment Feedback Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing Students’ Assessment Feedback Skills Within Higher Education

Evans¹,

Waring²

2020

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education

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In higher education (HE) considerable attention is focused on the skills sets students need to meet the requirements of the fourth industrial revolution. The acquisition of high-level assessment feedback skills is fundamental to lifelong learning. HE has made significant investment in developing assessment feedback practices over the last 30 years; however, far less attention has been given to the development of inclusive agentic integrated assessment systems that promote student agency and autonomy in assessment feedback, and from an individual differences perspective. “Inside the Black Box,” a seminal work, opened the potential of assessment as a supportive process in facilitating students in coming to know (understanding the requirements of a task and context, and their own learning) through the development of formative assessment. However, overall, the assessment for learning movement has not changed students’ perceptions, on entering HE, that feedback is something they receive rather than something they can generate and orchestrate despite being predicated on a self-regulatory approach. HE promotes students’ use of self-regulated learning approaches although these are not sufficiently integrated into curriculum systems. In moving forward assessment feedback, it is important to adopt a theoretically integrated approach that draws on self-regulatory frameworks, agentic engagement concepts, understanding of individual differences, and the situated nature of assessment. Current emphases in HE focus on how we engage students as active participants in assessment, in coming to know assessment requirements as part of sustainable practices with students as co-constructors of assessment inputs and outputs. Assessment design should be challenging students to maximize their selective and appropriate use of assessment feedback skills for both immediate and longer-term learning gains. Addressing the professional development of lecturers and students in the acquisition and development of essential fourth industrial age assessment feedback competencies is fundamental to enhancing the quality of learning and teaching in HE.

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Section: The Role Of Students In the Assessment Feedback Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing Students’ Assessment Feedback Skills Within Higher Education

Evans¹,

Waring²

2020

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Whether explicit guidance on assessment criteria and the assessment process gives students entry to the nature of knowledge within a discipline and its requirements is debatable. In trying to be explicit with a transformative approach, we are aiming to improve students' "knower-ship" of a subject or context(s), but this takes interaction between disciplinary insiders and students to come to shared understandings of what disciplines want their students to become, to know, and how they want students to construct knowledge (van Heerden et al, 2017). Richards and Pilcher (2014) highlight the importance of shared negotiation of meanings as part of teacher-student dialogue in their promotion of an "anti-glossary" approach.…”

Section: Beyond Spoon-feeding: a Transformative Approach To Transparementioning

confidence: 99%

Transparency Isn't Spoon-Feeding: How a Transformative Approach to the Use of Explicit Assessment Criteria Can Support Student Self-Regulation

et al. 2018

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If little care is taken when establishing clear assessment requirements, there is the potential for spoon-feeding. However, in this conceptual article we argue that transparency in assessment is essential to providing equality of opportunity and promoting students' self-regulatory capacity. We begin by showing how a research-informed inclusive pedagogy, the EAT Framework, can be used to improve assessment practices to ensure that the purposes, processes, and requirements of assessment are clear and explicit to students. The EAT Framework foregrounds how students' and teachers' conceptions of learning (i.e., whether one has a transactional or transformative conception of learning within a specific context) impact assessment practices. In this article, we highlight the importance of being explicit in promoting access to learning, and in referencing the EAT Framework, the importance of developing transformative rather than transactional approaches to being explicit. Firstly, we discuss how transparency in the assessment process could lead to "criteria compliance" (Torrance, 2007, p. 282) and learner instrumentalism if a transactional approach to transparency, involving high external regulation, is used. Importantly, we highlight how explicit assessment criteria can hinder learner autonomy if paired with an overreliance on criteria-focused 'coaching' from teachers. We then address how 'being explicit with assessment' does not constitute spoon-feeding when used to promote understanding of assessment practices, and the application of deeper approaches to learning as an integral component of an inclusive learning environment. We then provide evidence on how explicit assessment criteria allow students to selfassess as part of self-regulation, noting that explicit criteria may be more effective when drawing on a transformative approach to transparency, which acknowledges the importance of transparent and mutual student-teacher communications about assessment requirements. We conclude by providing recommendations to teachers Balloo et al. Transparency Isn't Spoon-Feeding and students about how explicit assessment criteria can be used to improve students' learning. Through an emphasis on transparency of process, clarity of roles, and explication of what constitutes quality within a specific discipline, underpinned by a transformative approach, students and teachers should be better equipped to selfmanage their own learning and teaching.

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“…Such feedback guides students to understand requirements in terms of their understanding and demonstration of knowledge and promotes development through reflection, thinking, reading and writing [51]. In the case of distance learning students, feedback is a source of intrinsic motivation [52].…”

Section: Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Group Assessments to Help Build Online Learning Communities in Biomedical Science Distance Learning Programmes

Millar,

Purkis,

Moore

et al. 2023

Br J Biomed Sci

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Introduction: Biomedical Science distance learning courses offer flexibility in study while in employment. Asynchronous and self-learning approaches are common within such courses and often student-student interaction is limited. The aims of this study were to establish learning communities, develop confidence in participating in online teamwork and foster an appreciation of transferable skills including digital capabilities through remote group activities.Materials and Methods: Two cohorts of students (n = 20/n = 21) were enrolled in a microbiology module of an IBMS accredited MSc distance learning course. Groups of 4–5 students produced a digital output relating to current global infection-related issues, namely, assignment 1, production of a slide deck, which peers could use as learning resources and assignment 2, a voiceover PowerPoint debate, and infographic, voting assessment and peer/self-marking. Students also prepared reflections using written format and a FlipGrid video-recording. A qualitative content analysis was conducted on reflections from all students. Students completed a pre- and post-assignment survey focused on the development of transferable skills for the biomedical sector.Results: Students’ skills and confidence increased following completion of the group assignment, as evident from the pre- and post-questionnaire responses, namely, possession of digital skills and digital creation abilities (29% v 83%), applying for jobs which require digital skills (54% v 89%), talking about examples of using digital media during job interviews (21% v 78%) and demonstration of creativity during assignment tasks (33% v 90%). Critical thinking was more commonly demonstrated during the debate in comparison to the slide deck activity (p = 0.001). The importance of developing digital skills, was higher following completion of the group activities (p = 0.03). Students reflected on the value of the group activities in relation to knowledge acquisition (85%, 86%), collegiality (70%, 71%), digital skills development (80%, 90%), the fact that the activities were enjoyable (70%, 67%) and the development of peer interaction and support (50%, 67%) in relation to assignment 1 and 2, respectively.Discussion: Increasingly digital technologies are being used in the healthcare sector resulting in updated HCPC Standards of Proficiency. This study highlights that virtual group activities promote the establishment of supportive learning communities and the development of transferable skills including digital capabilities for application within the biomedical science workplace.

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What lies beneath: exploring the deeper purposes of feedback on student writing through considering disciplinary knowledge and knowers

Cited by 19 publications

References 28 publications

Enhancing Students’ Assessment Feedback Skills Within Higher Education

Enhancing Students’ Assessment Feedback Skills Within Higher Education

Transparency Isn't Spoon-Feeding: How a Transformative Approach to the Use of Explicit Assessment Criteria Can Support Student Self-Regulation

Group Assessments to Help Build Online Learning Communities in Biomedical Science Distance Learning Programmes

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