Tutoring and Demonstrating Ch. 7

Chapter 7. ASSESSMENT, FEEDBACK AND SUPPORT

Assessment has been described as collecting evidence on, making judgement on, and reporting on student achievement. Tutors and demonstrators are seldom directly involved in designing assessment procedures, but they may have a role in assessing and reporting student achievement.

It is necessary to be thoroughly familiar with the way in which the students you teach are being assessed. This knowledge will guide your teaching, and it is very likely that students will call on you for advice as they prepare for examinations and so on. Keep in mind the powerful influence that assessment has over student behaviours. If used wisely, assessment is an important educational tool for directing students towards profitable approaches to study.

Assessment and grading

Roughly speaking, approaches to reporting student achievement fall into two categories. First, there is the concept of norm-referenced assessment, in which student achievement is determined and reported principally on the basis of where a student's performance falls among that of his or her peers. In other words, student achievement for a particular cohort is rank ordered and a performance spread is expected that is more or less the same from year to year or subject to subject (usually in the form of the familiar bell-shaped 'normal distribution'). It follows from these assumptions that limits might be imposed on, say, the number of high grades that are awarded or the proportion of students who gain a pass.

n theory, it is probably preferable to employ criterion-referenced assessment. With this approach, student achievement is reported on the basis of whether or not individuals have achieved predetermined learning objectives. It is conceivable, therefore, that all students in a particular subject will 'pass' or achieve high grades, as long as they are able to demonstrate the required knowledge. Similarly, all students might 'fail'.

Effective criterion-referencing relies on a very clear articulation of learning objectives, as well as assessment techniques that can truly reveal whether the expected learning has been achieved. It is not easy to design reliable and valid assessment instruments of this kind. In practice, approaches to assessment usually end up being a mix of norm-referencing and criterion-referencing. This is probably appropriate, since the distinction between the two concepts is not absolute in logical terms. The criteria for satisfactory performance at any given level are inevitably influenced by the capabilities of the relevant student cohort.

Assessment in senior secondary schooling usually tries to combine the two approaches systematically, by establishing clear, detailed criteria for each assessment task, then ranking and distributing student results. Students who have come through these systems are very used to working with assessment criteria and are likely to be lost at university if they are not given clear indications of what is expected on particular tasks. Some departments now have a policy that criteria should be written down and given to students; others treat the matter informally. You can do a good deal in class to clarify for students what is expected on each assignment, while also pointing out that not every kind of intellectual achievement can be anticipated and pinned down, and that some very original thinkers break the existing rules.

For 'assessment' and 'encouraging attendance', see 'Encouraging attendance', chapter 4

For 'assessment' and 'language skills', see 'Difficulties with language and comprehension', chapter 5

For 'assessment' and 'group projects', see Group projects

For 'assessment' and 'clinical teaching', see Clinical teaching

For 'assessment' as part of employment conditions, see 'Conditions of employment'

Providing students with feedback on their progress

Students' learning is enhanced when they receive regular and accurate information on their academic progress. To provide students with useful feedback you must do more than attach a grade to their work. They will benefit is you can point out the particular strengths and weaknesses in their assignments, and especially if you can advise on how they can act to improve any areas of weakness.

When writing comments on students' work or when talking to students about their work, you should keep three objectives in mind:

• to justify how a particular mark or grade was derived;
• to identify and reward specific areas of achievement; and
• to recommend areas in which improvement can be made, and, if possible, what steps might be taken.

Your grading scheme and standards should be transparent. Assessment is not a competition in which students are supposed, if lucky, to discover exactly what you are thinking. Do your best with your written comments to minimise the importance that students attach to grades, and to emphasise what can be learned from the exercise. As far as possible, make your comments constructive. Never use sarcasm. It goes without saying that you should do your best to assess and return essays and other written work promptly. Students have the right to receive feedback on one piece of work in time for them to benefit in preparing the next piece.

After assessing each task it might be a good idea to prepare a brief handout indicating your standards and noting the performance of the class overall. It can also be valuable to discuss student performance in class, in a general way, pointing out common mistakes, for instance, and exploring how to avoid them. Model answers sometimes help, but it is advisable to provide several different models, to avoid giving the impression of a 'template' that students should slavishly follow. If you give students guidance, you will get better answers. This probably means that they have learned more.

It is not possible to overemphasise how important feedback is to student progress. Feedback is not just associated with formal assessment. It can - and should - occur during the myriad of classroom interactions and it comes from peers as well as teaching staff: acknowledgment of an insightful question, congratulations given to a student on an impressive response to a question, courteous challenge of debatable positions, and so on. Feedback not only gives students information on their academic progress, but it also helps them to gain confidence in their own abilities.

Offering support

Your department may have guidelines on whether or not you are expected to be available to students outside your scheduled teaching time. Some departments have 'tutor-on-duty' or 'pit-stop tutor' schemes which provide tutors to assist students outside class time. Whether or not you wish to give students your contact phone number is up to you, but it is usually not necessary. It is probably better to give them your email address and encourage them to contact you in this way if they have any queries or problems.

In some circumstances there are important reasons why you might elect to meet with students individually or in small groups after class; sometimes it will save you a good deal of precious class time if you detect that certain students are struggling with a particular topic. You may also find that you are teaching a student who is having academic difficulties that you sense he or she would prefer to discuss privately. Some time spent on intensive one-to-one teaching can benefit students.

Be cautious, however, if particular students lean too heavily on your time and expertise. First, there are reasonable limits to your availability as a staff member employed on a casual basis. It's a good idea to inform students of the days and times when you are available for consultation. Second, students in higher education are expected to be increasingly autonomous and self-directed in their learning. You will need to make judgements on whether or not students who seek your advice are doing so because of a failure to assume sufficient responsibility for their own progress. This may rarely be the case, but it is worth watching out for and advising students accordingly.

Academic difficulties can also be related to personal issues in students' lives. It is usually a good sign if students feel they can approach you and raise matters that are bothering them; this shows that they trust you and have confidence in your judgement. But remember that you are not a counsellor or specialist in learning problems, and that the University employs professionals in this area. At all times you should refer students to appropriate services, some of which are listed below.

Services for student referral

Next chapter: Chapter 8: Improving your teaching

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