Assessment and feedback in large classes

1. Assessment and feedback in
large classes
Professor David Carless,
@CarlessDavid
University of Hong Kong,
PHELC, June 2, 2020
https://sites.google.com/dcu.ie/phelc
The University of Hong Kong

2. Overview
1. Beyond teacher transmission
2. Assessment & feedback designs
3. Enhancing student internal feedback
4. Teacher feedback literacy
The University of Hong Kong

3. Goals
Reduce unproductive teacher marking
Design feedback processes
that enable student action
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4. Feedback as telling is overrated
“Learners do not always
learn much purely from
being told, even when they
are told repeatedly in the
kindest possible way”
(Sadler, 2015, p. 16)
The University of Hong Kong

5. Teacher workload
“The generation of information to students
about their work is time-consuming. It
cannot be justified if there is no explicit
expectation that it will be used”. (Boud &
Molloy, 2013, p. 206).
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7. The University of Hong Kong
DISCOUNT CODE:
FLR40

8. Chapter 5:
Enabling feedback through assessment
design
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9. Tort Law
Core 1st year course: 200+ students
The University of Hong Kong

10. Professor Rick Glofcheski,
HKU
The University of Hong Kong

11. Tort Law Assessment
Reflective Media Diary (30%)
+ Tests / Exams
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12. Reflective Media Diary (RMD)
• Identify relevant legal cases; track
developments; provide analysis;
• Portfolio-style: collecting, selecting &
editing material over time.
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13. RMD features
Steady student engagement
Promotes reading habits
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14. Marked online exemplars
Exemplars of past student work of different
levels to clarify expectations
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15. Internal feedback
What learners generate for themselves
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Meta-cognitive processes deployed when
working on a task

16. External  Internal feedback
Internal feedback is inherent in any use of
external feedback (Nicol, 2019)
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17. Exemplars as proxies for feedback
High quality exemplars act as inputs which
stimulate students’ internal feedback
(Carless, 2020, under review)
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18. The University of Hong Kong

19. Integration & coherence
Exam questions also based on authentic
sources from news media
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20. Wider applications
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RMD adapted & taken up by colleagues in
other disciplines

21. Implications
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22. (Carless & Winstone, 2020)

23. Key implications
1. Develop effective assessment &
feedback designs;
2. Stimulate the development of student
internal feedback;
3. Involve students in generating, seeking
and using feedback
The University of Hong Kong

24. References
Boud, D. & Molloy, E. (2013). Decision-making for feedback. In D. Boud & E. Molloy
(Eds.), Feedback in Higher and Professional Education. London: Routledge.
Carless, D. (2015). Excellence in University Assessment: Learning from award-winning
practice. London: Routledge.
Carless, D. & Boud, D. (2018). The development of student feedback literacy: Enabling
uptake of feedback. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education,
doi:10.1080/02602938.2018.1463354
Carless, D. & N. Winstone (2020, forthcoming). Teacher feedback literacy and its
interplay with student feedback literacy, Teaching in Higher Education.
Nicol D (2019) Reconceptualising feedback as an internal not an external process. Italian
Journal of Educational Research. Available at:
https://ojs.pensamultimedia.it/index.php/sird/article/view/3270
Sadler, D.R. (2015). Backwards assessment explanations: Implications for teaching and
assessment practice. In D. Lebler et al. (Eds.), Assessment in music education: From
policy to practice (pp.9-19). Cham: Springer.
Winstone, N. & Carless, D. (2019). Designing effective feedback processes in higher
education: A learning-focused approach. London: Routledge.
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25. The University of Hong Kong

26. The University of Hong Kong

27. Transforming assessment
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28. Defining teacher feedback literacy
Knowledge, expertise & dispositions to
design feedback processes to enable
student uptake and seed student feedback
literacy
(Carless & Winstone, forthcoming in
Teaching in Higher Education)
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29. Student feedback literacy
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Making
Judgments
Appreciating
Feedback
Managing
Affect
Taking Action
(Carless & Boud, 2018)

30. Deploy teacher workload wisely
Reduce teacher commentary at times when
it cannot be taken up (Boud & Molloy, 2013)
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31. https://www.dylanwiliamcenter.com/feedbac
k-for-learning-make-time-to-save-time/
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“Feedback should
be more work for
the recipient than
the donor”

32. Potential workload savers
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Increase Decrease
Feedback on student requests Unsolicited comments
Within module guidance Terminal comments
Comments on first task Comments on final task
Feedback in first year Feedback in final year

34. The University of Hong Kong