Abstracts - Earli

N 131 August 2007 16:00 - 17:20Room: -1.62Paper SessionAssessment and evaluationChair:Filip Dochy, K.U.Leuven, BelgiumStudent conceptions of feedback: A study of New Zealand secondary students within theconceptions of assessment and feedback project.S. Earl Irving, The University of Auckland, New ZealandElizabeth R. Peterson, The University of Auckland, New ZealandGavin TL Brown, The University of Auckland, New ZealandThis study investigates New Zealand secondary students’ conceptions of feedback, as part of alarger study of teacher and student conceptions of assessment and feedback, and their impact onlearning outcomes. We conducted five student focus groups, and sought student beliefs andunderstandings around three key aspects of assessment and feedback – definition, purpose andpersonal impact/response. The students felt that feedback was the critical link between assessmentand learning, and that it did not stand distinct from either. In addition, they were clear about whatcounted as feedback, and what did not. The nature of the feedback they received also impacted ontheir views of the assessment, especially whether the assessment could be considered as irrelevant.The data from the focus groups was used to develop 55 items for a conceptions of feedbackinstrument (CoF-I), which was piloted with 256 students. Exploratory and confirmatory factoranalysis of data from the pilot study revealed the presence of six different components: feedbackcomes from teachers; feedback motivates me; feedback provides information; feedback is aboutstandards; qualities of good feedback; and, help seeking. In addition, Samejima’s GradedResponse model was used to select items with optimal measurement characteristics for a secondadministration with a larger sample. In a second survey, the 47-item CoF-II was administered toover 800 students from a nationally representative sample of New Zealand schools. A further 250students completed the questionnaire and also provided standardised measures of curriculum basedlearning in either reading or mathematics (viz., asTTle - Assessment Tools for Teaching andLearning). This paper will also report on the results of the yet-to-be analysed data obtained in thisnational study.Students’ conceptions of learning: Studies of secondary students within the conceptions ofassessment and feedback project.Elizabeth R. Peterson, University of Auckland, New ZealandS. Earl Irving, University of Auckland, New ZealandGavin T. L. Brown, University of Auckland, New ZealandThis study investigates New Zealand secondary school students’ conceptions of learning in a pilotsample of 236 secondary students and then in a larger nationally representative sample of over 800secondary students. Items from Purdie and Hattie’s (2002) Conceptions of Learning Inventory andstudent focus group data was used to construct the 58 item conceptions of learning questionnaire(CoL-I). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis conducted on the pilot data revealed sevendifferent conceptions of learning including learning is: gaining knowledge; increasingunderstanding; changing as person; for practical use; for community use; a process that requires– 724 –