Assess and/or give feedback for learning
Background
I support students with their research and referencing for their dissertation level project, Unit 9 Element 2, during the first term of Year 3. In my first year this support consisted mainly of 1:1 tutorials on request by students, and to a lesser extent on request by academic tutors. Due to the demand for 1:1s being unsustainable in 2023 (the cohort has 400+ Year 3 students and one librarian, so I had 40+ requests) I added weekly research support drop-ins, a video tutorial on the unit Moodle page and co-tutored writing cafes with Academic Support services for 2024. O’Donovan recognises the difficulty of communicating ‘academic standards and assessment requirements… [becoming] increasingly difficult as class sizes increase’ (2004).
Current provision
In 2024 I requested feedback from students and academic teams on the provision for the unit, including the newly added elements. However feedback aside, I had very low attendance at the drop-ins and an even higher rate of 1:1 requests, at 50+, and so it is clear that the support is still not adequate. Further evidence includes feedback from the academic tutors detailing gaps in academic resources referenced versus expectations, both at formative and final stages, with a continued trend of over-reliance on online content sourced through search engines. As Burns Gilchrist (2016) attests ‘researchers can find media and information about contemporary artists and art movements solely on the Internet… [but] it is a chaotic mix of websites with wildly varying organizational structures and without any discernible logic’, at once helpful in terms of speed of access and the opposite in terms of context and criticality.
Moving forward
Part of the change already made in 2025 Spring and Summer terms has been to build up my level of involvement and presence in earlier units through the student journey, particularly Units 3 and 4 in Year 1, and Units 7 and 8 in year 2, reflecting the ‘cumulative’ nature of learning (Shuell, 1986). The coming Year 3 cohort in October 2025 will have benefited from more research skills teaching in their Year 2.
Two key challenges for 2025 Autumn term are the timing and the length of Unit 9. Element 2 has an earlier deadline than Element 1, so students are expected to have an initial piece of text work drafted on return from summer break, or very soon after. This means briefing stage support for research skills needs to be delivered concurrently with unit 8 in the summer term. Many students have disengaged somewhat towards the end of summer term and so some come into Autumn term with no real research done and no first tutorial draft, and in many cases no clarity of research question.
Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick quote ‘research on formative assessment and feedback… [showing] how these processes can help students take control of their own learning’ (2006). Having gained a clearer perspective of formative assessment (cite) I will plan to embed library video tutorial provision from briefing stage, and offer small group tutorials (as a more sustainable alternate to library 1:1s) as key follow-up elements available for tutors to highlight as next steps to formative feedback from the first tutorial. This is something I can bring to the unit lead to share with the tutors as actionable support outcomes from these tutorials.
Having had peer feedback on my video tutorial for Unit 7 I am planning to position a suite of shorter more focused videos supporting Unit 8 into 9. I want to develop the alignment with common elements of both learning outcomes and formative feedback so that students can clearly see which skills track to which elements of their learning and work, and take ownership of their focused next steps to maximise their potential for achieving assessment expectations. O’Donovan et al. highlight the ‘increasing student hunger for and expectations of high grades’ (2004, quoting Ecclestone, 2001). By providing these focused next steps to formative feedback all students looking to attain skills, whether to deepen or broaden research achievements, or to react to a deficit identified in formative feedback, are enabled to progress to assessment stage with more skills confidence.
References
Burns Gilchrist, S. (2016) ‘Rediscovering Renaissance Research: Information Literacy Strategies for Success’, Portal: Libraries & the Academy, Vol.16(1), pp. 33–45.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2016.0005.
Nicol, D. J. and Macfarlane‐Dick, D. (2006) ‘Formative assessment and self‐regulated learning: a model and seven principles of good feedback practice’, Studies in Higher Education, 31(2), pp. 199–218.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/03075070600572090.
O’Donovan, B., Price, M., and Rust, C. (2004) ‘Know what I mean? Enhancing student understanding of assessment standards and criteria’, Teaching in Higher education, Vol.9(3), pp.325-335.
Shuell, T. J. (1986) ‘Cognitive Conceptions of Learning’. Review of Educational Research, Vol. 56(4), 411–436.
doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/1170340.