{"id":4564,"date":"2018-10-30T12:00:41","date_gmt":"2018-10-30T12:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/?p=4564"},"modified":"2018-10-29T15:38:51","modified_gmt":"2018-10-29T15:38:51","slug":"assessment-and-feedback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/2018\/10\/30\/assessment-and-feedback\/","title":{"rendered":"Assessment and Feedback"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Helen Webster, Head of the Writing Development Centre<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe structure doesn\u2019t flow\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to engage more critically with the literature\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMore detail and greater depth of discussion needed\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHard to follow \u2013 make sure your points are clearly expressed\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s frustrating both to give and receive feedback repeatedly on the same issues and not see any improvement. Feedback is highlighted in the NSS and NUSU campaigns so we know that students see it as a priority. We also know that academic staff don\u2019t always feel that students are engaging with their feedback or even recognise it as such.<\/p>\n

In the Writing Development Centre, our team of Learning Developers spend a lot of time talking about feedback, working with students in one to one appointments to help them understand what it means and how to act on it. In a neutral space, we\u2019re able to sit down with a student and spend an hour really exploring their learning in depth to identify what\u2019s going on and find a way forward.<\/p>\n

Sometimes the issue is located in the product \u2013 the written assignment. It\u2019s understandable that students might be uncertain of how to best articulate their learning. There\u2019s no such thing as generic \u2018academic writing\u2019 \u2013 each subject has different, characteristic writing conventions and genres of text, and each stage of study raises the bar with new expectations. We\u2019re not subject experts, but we can help a student figure out how to think and express themselves as a member of that discipline community so their learning is clearly demonstrated. We might discuss planning, drafting and editing, signposting and structure or integrating scholarship.<\/p>\n

Very often, though, the issue is located somewhere further back in the process, only indirectly visible to the marker through the written product. We can spend time with a student exploring their perceptions and assumptions about what they\u2019re being asked to do for an assignment or task, evaluate their current study strategies, and develop new understanding or approaches that will suit them as an individual learner. We might look at reading and note-taking, critical thinking, planning, time management, revising or how to use lectures and seminars effectively.<\/p>\n

We also offer bespoke workshops on request, embedded in your module or course and tailored to the stage of study and discipline. Here too, we draw on feedback, meeting with you to discuss the aims of your teaching, your expectations in assessment and the issues you most commonly see arising. To help us make the workshop as tailored as possible, we request samples of assignments, essay questions, marking criteria etc so we can help students understand our guidance with concrete examples and authentic activities. We can also co-develop sessions, consult on teaching study skills or provide teaching materials for your own teaching.<\/p>\n

To refer students to our one to one provision, you might signpost them to our appointments via our website: https:\/\/www.ncl.ac.uk\/library\/subject-support\/wdc\/<\/a>\u00a0 To request a workshop, contact us at wdc@ncl.ac.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Helen Webster, Head of the Writing Development Centre \u201cThe structure doesn\u2019t flow\u201d \u201cYou need to engage more critically with the literature\u201d \u201cMore detail and greater depth of discussion needed\u201d \u201cHard to follow \u2013 make sure your points are clearly expressed\u201d It\u2019s frustrating both to give and receive feedback repeatedly on the same issues and … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Assessment and Feedback”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3007,"featured_media":4565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":[82,471,605],"class_list":["post-4564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-assessment-2","tag-assessment-and-feedback","tag-writing-development-centre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3007"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4564"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4569,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4564\/revisions\/4569"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}