Chapter 4: Assessment in Higher Education 4.1 Introduction
4.2 Participative assessment and its contribution to student learning .1 Introduction
4.2.6 Participative assessment and enhancing feedback to students
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graduates are likely to be expected to work with limited supervision in tackling unfamiliar tasks. Work will become learning and learning will become work (Barnett, 2000). In preparing students for such an environment, participative assessment offers students opportunities to become “self-initiating seekers of formative assessment for their ongoing learning and tasks throughout their lives” (Boud, 2000: 159) and to equip them to “develop their own skills in putting together assessment schemes of formative assessment” (ibid.).
They must also develop discernment in deciding how to utilise feedback they have received, and this discernment forms part of the process of self-assessment. Unless students recognise the value of seeking out formative assessment (feedback) and critically applying it to their work, they will be ill-prepared for professional careers. Boud and Tyree (1995: 93) agree, warning that the “lack of self assessment ability may eventually produce effects which will meet the adverse assessment of the person by his or her peers, but such peer assessment may be too late to have the necessary corrective effect” .
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that they all involve an element of self-assessment in which students draw on feedback they have received in assessing their own performances and learning. Such approaches are in keeping with views expressed by both Boud (1995: 15) and Gibbs (2003: 127) who argue that regardless of who is involved in the assessment process, the primary objective should be to develop the learner’s own ability to self-assess.
In this regard the literature supports the use of combining peer and self-assessment approaches. Many theorists argue that there is direct link between the skills students develop as peer assessors and the development of their self-assessment skills. Liu and Carless (2006:
280) contend that there is a significant overlap in the skills sets required for peer-assessment and self-assessment, while Boud (1995) argues that the involvement of peers in assessment processes can provide students with important feedback they can draw on in self-assessment.
Furthermore, the reciprocal nature of peer-assessment processes means that students not only benefit from the insights of their peers, but they also derive valuable benefits from giving feedback to peers. These benefits include the following: 1.) In considering how to provide feedback to peers, students need to spend time enhancing their understanding of task outcomes and assessment criteria (Liu and Carless, 2006: 280); 2.) Students get to see how another student has approached his or her work and to consider alternative ways of approaching tasks (Fallows and Chandramohan, 2001: 232); 3.) In providing feedback on problem areas students can identify errors in their own work and take steps to correct these in the future (ibid.); 4.) Students get to place themselves in the shoes of assessors, which allows them to deepen their understanding of assessment processes.
A further feature that many of these studies have in common is the view that feedback and grading should be kept separate, particularly when it comes to the involvement of peers in commenting on each other’s work. Liu and Carless (2006: 280) distinguish between the terms peer feedback and peer assessment, suggesting that peer feedback implies the provision of
“rich detailed comments but without formal grades” (ibid.) while peer assessment “denotes grades (irrespective of whether comments are also included” (ibid.). They suggest that peer feedback offers greater potential for learning when students do not have to consider the question of grades. This view is shared by Boud (1995: 201), who argues that grades can be
“disruptive of cooperation between students and lead to jealousies and resentment” (ibid.).
These views do not, however, suggest that students should be excluded from the grading
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process, but rather that the formal judgments and assignment of marks should be left to teachers and the students themselves.
In addition to the potential benefits mentioned above, there are several other ways in which the literature suggests participative assessment might contribute to students’ learning by involving them in assessment communities. These benefits include the following:
Increasing the quantity and frequency of feedback – Increasing class sizes and work commitments can limit the amount of time teachers can dedicate to providing feedback. By involving students in participative processes, teachers can increase the quantity of feedback students receive (Race, 2001: 7). Gibbs (2003) argues that many of the learning outcomes expected in higher and professional education today relate to skills and for these to develop students need continuous practice and to receive regular feedback as they progress. The involvement of students in feedback processes can reduce the workload for teachers and allow for more frequent feedback. Notably, neither of these writers suggests that peer-assessment should replace teacher feedback, but rather that it is a valuable supplement.
Ensuring that feedback is timely – Gibbs (2003: 126) suggests that students are far more likely to pay attention to feedback if it is given soon after the submission of work. By involving peers in reciprocal feedback situations, teachers can ensure the immediacy of feedback. Such feedback can precede the submission of finished products and thus impact on the learning process itself.
Ensuring feedback is understood – Bloxham and West (2004: 729) suggest that subject experts often experience difficulty in expressing feedback in a way that is comprehensible to students. The straightforward way by which the students seemed to understand and articulate their feedback can be a powerful aid in enhancing understanding (ibid.).
Encouraging continuous dialogue about criteria, outcomes and learning – Liu and Carless (2006: 281) suggest that the process of “articulating and expressing to others what we know and understand … [can lead to] an evolving understanding of increasing complexity” (ibid.). Involving students in face-to-face feedback situations can enhance learning, while simultaneously encouraging them to engage jointly with criteria and standards (Fallows and Chandramohan, 2001: 234; Liu and Carless, 2006:
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287). Such processes also prepare students for encounters they are likely to face in their professional lives.
Enhancing the value of teacher feedback – It is recognised that, while students can offer each other important insights, they may not always have the depth of understanding required to recognise errors and gaps in their own or their peers’
learning. Teachers, as subject experts, still have a contribution to make in helping students identify these gaps. However, when students have been through both peer- and self-assessment processes they are often better placed to engage with feedback provided by teachers (see, for example: Taras, 2001). Having already identified areas for improvement in their own work, students are also better placed to retain ownership of their work than they would be in purely unilateral situations.
Encouraging students to pay attention to feedback – Involving students in processes where they are expected to compare and contrast their own assessments with those provided by teachers can ensure that students engage deeply with the feedback received from both peers and teachers. Gibbs and Simpson (2004-05: 23) note that there is evidence that students frequently focus only on the marks they have been awarded and ignore the carefully crafted feedback teachers provide. However, Race (2001: 14) suggests that “students who have engaged conscientiously with self- assessment, and then receive feedback from a tutor … take feedback very seriously”.