Ulster Principles of Assessment and Feedback for Learning School Board Briefing

1. Ulster Principles of Assessment and Feedback for Learning School Board Briefing [School/Dept name] [Facilitator name] [Date]

2. Aims • To raise awareness of the Principles. • To communicate school/dept events which aim to help course teams consider and plan how to embed the Principles into practice. • To raise awareness of associated support and resources.

3. Purpose of the Principles • The newly adopted Ulster Principles of Assessment and Feedback for Learningaim to promote and encourage effective assessment and feedback practice, for students and staff at Ulster. • Ulster staff are requested to familiarise themselves with the seven principles and to consider and plan how to embed the principles into their teaching, to enhance assessment and feedback practice.

4. Clarify good performanceHelp to clarify, from the early stages of a programme, what good performance means (goals, criteria, standards); Encourage time and effort on taskEncourage 'time and effort' on challenging learning tasks, which recognise the importance of learning from the tasks, not just demonstrating learning through tasks; Deliver timely high quality feedbackDeliver timely learner-related feedback information that helps students to self-correct and communicates clear, high, expectations and professionalism; Provide opportunities to act on feedbackProvide opportunities for students to act on feedback and close any gap between current and desired performance through complementary and integrated curriculum design and pedagogic practice;

5. Encourage positive motivational beliefsEnsure that all assessment has a beneficial, constructive, impact on student learning, encouraging positive motivational beliefs, confidence and self-esteem; Develop self-assessment and reflectionFacilitate the development of self- and peer-assessment skills and reflection on learning, to enable students to progressively take more responsibility for their own learning, and to inspire a lifelong capacity to learn; Encourage interaction and dialogueEncourage interaction and dialogue around learning and professional practice (student-student, lecturer-student and lecturer-lecturer) including supporting the development of student learning groups and peer learning communities.

6. Student Perspective • For students… • by students… • with students… • Students were involved in the working group that devised the Principles and received HEA funding to develop the ‘Focus on Feedback’ Student Feedback Guide. • How could we involve students in the embedding of the Principles in our School/Dept? • Student Feedback Guide • Download Guide >>

7. Raising Awareness of the Principles • Principles Website • Principles Poster • Assessment Conference • Student Feedback Guide • Suggested School/Dept activities: • Link to the website from our intranet site, etc. • Print and display the poster on our notice boards • Register for the Ulster assessment conference 2012 • Circulate the Student Feedback Guide with our students

8. Website:http://www.ulster.ac.uk/centrehep/assessment

9. Poster:http://adl.ulster.ac.uk/public/assets/af/docs/PrinciplesPoster.pdfPoster:http://adl.ulster.ac.uk/public/assets/af/docs/PrinciplesPoster.pdf

10. Ulster Assessment and Feedback for Learning Conference • Theme: Emerging Trends in Higher Education Assessment and Feedback for Learning • 26 January 2012, Jordanstown Campus • Keynotes by: • Professor David Boud (Australian National Teaching Fellow, University of Technology, Sydney) • Professor Dai Hounsell (Vice Principal for Academic Enhancement, University of Edinburgh) • Register Now >>

11. Conference:http://www.ulster.ac.uk/centrehep/conference2012.htmlConference:http://www.ulster.ac.uk/centrehep/conference2012.html

12. How could we embed the Principles in our school/dept?

13. Embedding the Principles in Practice • Suggested process: • Audit your current assessment practice • Define assessment priorities • Consider implementation ideas • Develop solutions (action plans)

14. 1. Audit your Assessment Practice • Rate your current assessment practice against the principles using the Audit Tool. • Download the Audit Tool (doc) • ACTIVITY: Audit your practice using the Audit Tool • (complete this activity in your own time, and bring along to the scheduled Initial Planning workshop event)

15. 2. Define Assessment Priorities • Consider: • What are your current assessment priorities? • At module, course, school, faculty level, etc. • What are our School/Dept’s assessment priorities? • What are the current drivers for changing assessment in our school/dept? • e.g. National Student Survey, Revalidation, Retention, Student Performance, External Examiners Report, etc.

16. 3. Consider Implementation Ideas (pdf cards) Clarify good performance Encourage time and effort on task Deliver timely high quality feedback Provide opportunities to act on feedback Encourage positive motivational beliefs Develop self-assessment and reflection Encourage interaction and dialogue

17. 4. Develop Solutions • Example possible outcomes: • Update course/module handbooks so that the assessment and feedback criteria is explicit, aligned to the principles and easy for the students to understand; • Implement regular tasks (with minimal marks) throughout the semester that build upon each other to result in a final summative task, with feedback feeding-forward between each task; • Implement self and peer assessment and feedback techniques into your course/module, to encourage critical thinking, reflection and self-regulated learning. • Provide student-friendly explicit marking criteria and performance-level definitions. • Provide students with model answers for assessment tasks and opportunities for them to make comparisons against their own work.

18. Include students? School/Dept Support Events • Initial planning (1hr workshop) • - Consider priorities, ideas and initial planning • (Please bring along your completed Assessment Audit) • [date, time, location] • Detailed planning (2hr workshop) • - Detailed planning: defining actions and timelines • (Tailored to school/dept needs) • [date, time, location]

19. Further Information • Ulster Principles of Assessment and Feedback for Learning website • http://www.ulster.ac.uk/centrehep/assessment • Ulster Assessment and Feedback for Learning Conference 2012 • http://www.ulster.ac.uk/centrehep/conference2012.html