EDDG meetings on the topic of Assessment

This week we had two well attended lunchtime meetings of our EDDG group. Assessment was chosen as our focus partly because the SCE Assessment Policy is currently undergoing review and also to lead us into the Curriculum for Excellence vision of creating an 'Assessment is for Learning' college.

As always, at these meetings the attendees shared examples of good practice such as:

• Starting a unit by setting a mock summative assessment and allowing the learners to find out how many gaps there are in their knowledge and privately discover how much they need to learn to be successful
• Using quiz type formative testing throughout the course which can be peppered with 'pub quiz' type questions which tend to lighten an otherwise stressful experience
• Using feedback stickys at the end of a lesson to let the lecturer know of gaps and successes in the learning
• Using Quizdom linked to a presentation -this is an electronic voting tool given to the learners that then allows the lecturer to monitor the understanding of their lesson
• Peer assessing and peer reviewing and the 'two stars and a wish' approach where students give feedback to one another about what they've done well and what they might do differently
• Regularly sharing in staff meetings what is happening in the classroom that seems to work well
• Involving students in decisions about how they want to be assessed
• Using regular informal testing at the end of a lesson. This appears to lead to the learners paying greater attention throughout the class
• Using Flip cameras to video group work
• Using D2L and various fora (Blogs, Wikis etc) to feedback to the learners. This creates a platform for further group discussions and collabarative learning
• Students developing assessments for one another can help them to look at a topic from a different perspective

These are some of the techniques that are being used across college and the value of each was discussed. It was agreed that it wasn't always easy to balance the academic content with useful formative assessment and strive to keep our learners engaged along the way.

Also discussed were the problems faced with plagiarism and academic dishonesty and how sanctions can and are being used. Some lecturers draw up a contract with their learners regarding plagiarism at the start of each course. This is explained to each student and they are asked to sign and agree to its content. This approach doesn't always work with individuals but it can be revisited if a student is thought to be contravening it.

It was put forward that students may plagiarise material because they have not been able to, or had the support to develop essay or report writing skills in their already packed curriculum. Help with accessing the correct materials, effectively reading these, taking appropriate notes then personalising and presenting their findings would be very useful especially to those going on to study at University but also as a skill to take through life.

As always the discussions could have continued longer but ended on how important good feedback is in the journey of a learner and what is helpful to allow progression.

Thanks to all who gave up their time to attend.

Carole