10. Briefing Paper Template - Higher Education Academy

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Briefing Paper 5. Research findings/new evidence: please describe any new findings or evidence reported in the seminar. Case study 1: Measuring the impact of formative e-assessment and feedback on learning. Dr Liz Carpenter, Department of Clinical Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Bradford. This case study drew a number of findings about the impact of formative e-assessment, which can be summarised as follows: Students do value feedback-rich formative e-assessments and especially appreciate having the feedback immediately. There is a significant association between student progress and engagement with formative tasks; that is to say, the students who engage with the e-feedback task make more progress than those who do not (although the number of times they do so does not make a significant difference). The quantity of engagement with the formative feedback is not significantly influenced by the student’s initial level, which suggests that this is not simply a case of the stronger students exhibiting higher levels of autonomy and learning skills. Student engagement is greatest during the period immediately prior to the summative examination. Access to formative tasks tends to be via laptops at home or in halls. Students who view the formative and feedback as part of their learning show the greatest amount of progress; students who see the formative tasks as mere preparation for the summative exam, or as an evaluation tool for their other revision, tend to benefit less. In conclusion, computers can deliver quality feedback. Case Study 2: Activity-based student-centred teaching and learning. Dr Darwin Liang, School of Engineering, Design and Technology, University of Bradford. The findings emerging from this case study can be summarised thus: Students enjoyed learning at their own pace and liked receiving automatic immediate feedback on their work. E-tutorials, with automated generic feedback, provide one more method to enable students to learn, with more opportunity for practice, greater flexibility and can be repeated on demand. Whilst there was no immediate statistically significant increase on student achievement, the impact of this teaching method is more likely to be seen in longer term student development. There were mixed reactions among students to the innovative teaching method, due to the diversity of students within the cohort. Students are sometimes more concerned about marks than about learning, and EvidenceNet is a Higher Education Academy resource. www.heacademy.ac.uk/evidencenet Page 4 of 9
Briefing Paper need to have a tangible reward for their efforts. There is a risk that too many different e-assessment tasks during the semester may lead to “over-assessment” and a negative impact on student perceptions and learning. E-feedback tasks should not be too long or over complicated, because students tend to give up if the task is too time-consuming. Students are keen to be allowed to take responsibility for some of their learning and to support one another during learning. Students do appreciate the personal, face-to-face contact with the lecturer and do not want this to be replaced by automated tasks. 6. Outcomes of research /evaluation evidence and the implications for policy and practice: please identify any application or outcomes of research/evaluation evidence and detail the implications for policy and practice for different stakeholder groups such as: academics, learning technology practitioners, professional developers, senior managers, policy makers, students, sector organisations, employers and professional bodies. The main conclusion of the research emerging from these case studies is that by following the Black and William (2009) definition of formative assessment, using automated feedback to create “moments of contingency”, there is certainly a suggestion that this can direct learners towards improved learning in the higher education sector. This is especially the case in foundation degree and first year undergraduate courses, where the course content may lend itself better to this kind of learning; also, incidentally, this is often where the largest student cohorts are to be found, so the efficiencies in terms of time saving will also be maximised. The main implication is that academics, learning technologists and senior managers should work together to place a greater emphasis on the potential of e-assessment for learning, not just e-assessment of learning. The most effective impact of e-assessment for the higher education sector may not in fact be for large-scale invigilated summative assessments in vast computer clusters, but rather for more flexible delivery of formative e-assessment tasks, where large numbers of students can receive immediate generic feedback. 7. Emerging themes: please detail the discussion topics or themes that were raised by delegates during the course of the seminar - suggesting areas that would merit further investigation. The case studies prompted an interesting and wide-ranging discussion of themes related for e-assessment for learning. Much of the discussion focused on how to engage learners with the e-feedback: it is not sufficient to provide the feedback, but there must be a deliberate effort to develop a second reflective stage which transforms passive feedback into active “feedforward”. This concurs with the findings of the University of Strathclyde’s REAP project (Re-engineering Assessment practices in Higher Education) and the Australian Learning and Teaching Council’s Assessment 2020: Seven propositions for assessment reform in higher education , which both stress the importance of feedback being a EvidenceNet is a Higher Education Academy resource. www.heacademy.ac.uk/evidencenet Page 5 of 9
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10. Briefing Paper Template - Higher Education Academy

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