Module 5

Feedbacking and Communicating Assessment Results

At the end of this module, you are expected to:

a. make value judgements on assessment results based on empirical evidence;

and;
b. demonstrate strategies to communicate learner needs, progress and
achievement to intended stakeholders.

Lesson 1. Qualitative Evaluation

From learning outcomes to learning evaluation

Course objectives are what you want your students to learn, while
course outcomes are the actual demonstration of their new knowledge and skills.
Course objectives and course outcomes are the basis for evaluation and verification at
the end of a course.

A learning objective is formulated as what your students will learn, will

understand, will think about, and so on. For example: “Students will understand
fundamental principles of counting” On the other hand, a learning outcome is formulated
as an end result that can be measured, evaluated, or observed, such as that students
will demonstrate knowledge, will be able to explain and use knowledge, will be able to
apply knowledge, will give examples, and so on. For example: “Students will be able to
apply the fundamental principles to problem solving.”

Activity as a tool for evaluation

Activities are a crucial part of teaching and learning. They are when students
become actively involved in their learning. They create a great opportunity to link the
course content with real life and personal experiences in order to demonstrate skills of
analysis, evaluation, and creativity. At the same time, students demonstrate their skills,
knowledge, and thinking, which you can evaluate and verify.

The activity, in essence, can be seen from two perspectives:

a) As a crucial aspect of learning: developing students’ higher-level thinking and

deep learning based on experience; and
b) As feedback and information for the teacher: how the student understood the
content and how they’ve been able to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate the
content. The type of information the teacher gathers in this time depends on
the instructions of the activity.
 Activity instructions can be presented in two ways, as follows.

a) Quantitative (measurable) Methods of Evaluation: “Tell me WHAT

you learned.” Examples: questionnaires, revision questions, quizzes,
and so on.
b) Qualitative Methods of Evaluation: “Show me HOW you can apply,
synthesize, evaluate, and design what you’ve learned.” Examples: essays,
focus groups, scenarios, projects, case studies, artifacts, personal
experiences, introspection, visual texts, portfolios, direct observation, role play
or simulation, and so on.

Example: Learning to drive. Let’s take the case of a course that contains
the theory of driving — traffic signs, traffic rules, providing first aid,
and so on. As a method of evaluation, you implement an exam
consisting of revision questions. If your student scores 100%, this
indicates that the content of the course was clear, understandable, and
efficient. It indicates the knowledge your student has acquired. So
what is the indicator of skills in the above example? Direct
observation of real driving.

Holistic Approach to Student’s Learning

Through the years, many believed that quantitative evaluation forms are more
reliable and valid than qualitative ones because they are easier to replicate and
administer. However, they do not provide a holistic overview of a student’s learning and
thinking since they focus on knowledge. If you decide to go further and implement
qualitative methods, you can see how your students can use and apply their knowledge.
You not only gain a deeper insight, but you also help students develop higher-level
thinking skills.

The table below illustrates the comparison between quantitative evaluation and
qualitative evaluation.

QUANTITATIVE QUALITATIVE
Focus on numeric values Focus on text/narrative from respondents
Who, what, where and when Why, how
Match with outcomes about knowledge Match with outcomes about application,
and comprehension analysis, synthesis, evaluate
Allows for measurement of variables Seeks to explain and understand
Uses statistical data analysis Ability to capture elusive evidence of
student learning and development
May be generalize to greater population
with larger samples
Easily replicated
 Using both methods can be extremely beneficial for students and teachers in
terms of effective learning and teaching. Both of these approaches provide students
with different experiences, as well as providing you with different information about
students’ knowledge and skills. However, implementing qualitative methods of
evaluation can significantly enrich your students’ experience, as well as their learning.

Lesson 2. Constructive Feedbacking

Constructive feedback is providing useful comments and suggestions that

contribute to a positive outcome, a better process or improved behaviours. It provides
encouragement, support, corrective measures and direction to the person receiving it.
Knowing how to give constructive feedback is a valuable skill. Constructive feedback
can be positive (letting someone know they're doing well), negative (letting people know
about ways in which things could be improved), or neutral (just an objective
observation).

Feedback should be a dialogue rather than one-way

communication. It should clearly link to the learning outcomes and
encourage students to reflect on their learning. A constructive
feedback dialogue enables the student to take control of their own
assessment by making them active participants in the process.

Feedback is often confused with criticism, but feedback should NOT be viewed
as a personal assault or a list of errors, mistakes or mishaps. While the content of the
feedback can be negative, its delivery can always be constructive.

There are TWO main elements that make feedback constructive;

1. The content of the feedback: Constructive feedback is specific, issue-focused
(rather than a value judgement about the individual) and based on what is
observable (rather than assuming anything about the person's attitude or
motivation). It also includes some specific direction on how to make improvements
(where needed).
2. How the feedback is delivered: To be constructive, feedback should not be
delivered in a way that provokes hurt feelings, shame, defensiveness, resistance or
a sense of failure. Honest does not mean tactless.

Feedback can be categorized as qualitative or quantitative:

Qualitative feedback can be provided in the form of annotated comments on

students' assessment tasks, assessment task advice and commentary, audio files or
video files. Qualitative assessment feedback can be provided by the teacher, the
student (self-assessment), peers (peer- assessment) or experts. Most qualitative
feedback is provided to students by their teachers.
Quantitative feedback is often provided in the form of numeric marks, rating
scales, grades or percentages. Like qualitative assessment feedback, quantitative
assessment feedback can be provided by the teacher, the student (self-assessment),
peers (peer- assessment) or experts, or it can be provided as automated responses
within online assessment tools such as feedback of multiple choice quiz questions. Most
quantitative feedback is provided to students by their teachers.

Principles of Feedbacking

a. Clarify what good performance is

In most cases, student’s unsatisfactory performance relates to the fact

that they have not fully understood the assessment criteria. It is important to first and
foremost make clear what good performance is. It is where feedback needs to explicitly
state: (1) what was done well (or badly) and why; (2) where there is room for
improvement and why; and (3) what steps to take to improve. Good feedback is fair,
honest and clear. The feedback wording, the mark and the aspects of the work the
feedback refers to, need to be aligned or consistent.

b. Facilitate the development of reflection and self-assessment

Many students find it hard to self-assess and reflect critically. So it is vital that the
feedback and comments provided to them highlight how they shall interpret the
feedback and reflect upon their learning development. When suggesting what to
improve, it is a good practice to pick out no more than three aspects of the work. Giving
students a longer list can lead to them just 'shutting down' and ignoring all your advice.

These three aspects should:

  be the key things that would make a difference to the quality of the work
 be achievable within the students' time and other work constraints
 refer to material which the student can reasonably access.

c. Deliver high quality information to students about their learning

Feedback of good quality is timely (delivered soon enough after the hand in so
that it can be acted upon), relevant (to the student and the context), informative (not
only focusing on strengths and weaknesses or spelling but also more abstract academic
concepts like strength of an argument) and understandable (this relates to both the
language used as well as the quantity of feedback) and allows students to close the gap
between where they are and where they need to be with their work.

d. Encourage dialogue

Feedback should be considered more as a discussion, rather than a one-way

channeling of information from the tutor to the student. Active involvement in a
discussion around students' work helps students to challenge their knowledge and belief
and reassess what they know.

e. Encourage positive motivational beliefs and self-esteem

Feedback influences how students feel about their course, their performance and
themselves. It is important then to structure feedback in such a way as to maintain or
increase students' motivation and to encourage them to focus on learning goals rather
than performance goal.

f. Provide opportunities to close the gap

The value of feedback is assessed in terms of action, i.e. feedback has to lead to
changes in student behavior. The aim of the tutor and peer feedback is to encourage
students to respond to the comments to complete the feedback loop (Saddler, 1989).

g. Provide information that teachers can use to shape their teaching

Feedback practice not only refers to teachers commenting on students' work but
also learners providing their tutors with information. Student feedback is useful for
teachers since it provides a clearer understanding of students' learning process and
difficulties they might have. This helps to structure feedback so that it caters to the
needs of the learners.

Characteristics of Effective Feedback

a) Actionable frustration is only increased when a person is reminded of some

shortcoming over which s/he has no control.
b) Based on observable behavior. Telling people what their motivations or intentions
can alienate them and contribute to a climate of resentment, suspicion, and distrust.
c) Communicated clearly. No matter what the intent, feedback is often threatening and
thus subject to considerable distortion or misinterpretation.
d) Descriptive Evaluative language can leave the recipient feeling judged and defensive,
and thereby less likely to respond positively to feedback.
e) Focused on behavior. When feedback is focused on behavior it allows for the
possibility of change; when it is articulated as a personality trait it implies that the
feature is fixed.
f) Followed by discussion of next steps The person who is giving feedback may greatly
improve their helping skills by becoming acutely aware of the feedback’s effects.
g) Formulated to serve the needs of the recipient Feedback can be destructive when it
serves only our own needs and fails to consider the needs of the person on the
receiving end.
h) Manageable To overload a person with feedback is to reduce the possibility that s/he
may be able to use what s/he receives effectively.
i) Presented as information By sharing information, we leave people free to decide for
themselves, in accordance with their own goals and needs.
j) Solicited feedback is most useful when the receiver actively seeks feedback.
l) Timely in general, feedback is most useful at the earliest opportunity after the given
behavior.

https://ctl.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/documents/PD-fundamentals/week_4_-
_microteaching_1_effective_feedback.pdf

Strategies

Feedback strategies
Use the following feedback strategies with students:

 Use feedback sandwiches:

o positive comment
o constructive criticism with explanation of how to improve

o positive comment or contextual comment: X was good … because

…. now/next time …
 Build reflection time into each lesson for feedback – teacher to student, student to
student, student to teacher.
 Use catchy abbreviations:
o EBI: Even Better If
o HTI: How to Improve
o YNS: Your Next Steps

o WWW: What Went Well.

 Use a feedback sheet for students to record ‘What I did well’ and ‘What I need to do to
improve’.
  Give students the opportunity at the feedback stage to write 1 or 2 questions they would
like answered to support them in making the identified improvements.
 Record comments in a Learning Log - students can then refer to these comments before
they complete similar exercises.
 Use symbols instead of writing too much.

 Use a feedback structure such as:

o find 2 successes against the success criteria: what students have achieved in
relation to the learning intention/success criteria
o find the part of the work that has most scope for an immediate ‘jump’ (not simply
the worst part)
o write a short prompt telling the student exactly what to do to this part of their work

o provide time for them to read, process and respond to your prompt.

Written feedback
Written feedback is a powerful tool for helping students to move forward in their
learning. However, if students are bombarded with too much feedback, the students will
shut down. Do you remember ever getting a term paper with more red marks than your
original writing? Did you feel that it was hopeless to try to write? Written feedback has
the advantage that the student can refer to it over and over again. With oral feedback,
the student may forget what was said.
Some techniques for effective written feedback:

1. Sandwich your improvement feedback between what the student did well in
terms of the standard.
2. Focus on one to two critical aspects only. Do not comment on all five
components of your Science lab report rubric.
3. Word process your comments so that students can read them! If students
hand in their work in digital format, you can add your comments in the
appropriate places
4. Word your feedback in student understandable talk.
5. Instead of telling , asking questions
6. Be positive or neutral, never negative.
7. Be very concrete about what the student needs to do to improve. Avoid “Write
better”, “Enlarge ideas,” and “Be specific.” Create a word processed list of
concrete suggestions so that you can easily cut and paste.
8. Review your written feedback notes for students to see if you need to do whole
class, small group, pair or individual focused instruction.
9. Allow an opportunity for the student to re-do the work. Student learning is the
purpose, not a summative grade.

Oral feedback
 Oral feedback is one of many communication forms where students
receive feedback from their teacher who either corrects them implicitly or explicitly or asks them
to clarify what they say.
Oral feedback is therefore a natural part of verbal interaction between students and teachers, or
students and students. Oral feedback is mostly considered to happen between a teacher and a student,
but some researchers (Yang, Badger and Yu, 2006) note that a great deal of verbal feedback also comes
from peers

Successful Oral Feedback

Oral feedback is regular and interactive. Oral feedback can be direct (targeted to
individuals or groups) and indirect (others listen in and reflect on what is said).
Works in three directions: - teacher to child - child to teacher - child to childThe
teacher can model the language of feedback that children can employ
themselves, in discussions and paired peer assessment.

10 Successful Oral Feedback

Oral feedback should be:positive – recognising the children’s efforts and
achievements to datedevelopmental – offering specific, detailed advice to help
children progressFeedback is for all children, not just those who seem to be
struggling. This is often where we tend to focus most of our energies.These
could be during:Guided sessionsGroup workPlenaryEnd of unit prior to new unit

Lesson 3 Self-Assessment

In social psychology, self-assessment is the process of looking at oneself in order to assess

aspects that are important to one's identity. It is one of the motives that drive self-evaluation, along
with self-verification and self-enhancement. Sedikides (1993) suggests that the self-assessment
motive will prompt people to seek information to confirm their uncertain self-concept rather than their
certain self-concept and at the same time people use self-assessment to enhance their certainty of
their own self-knowledge.[1][2] However, the self-assessment motive could be seen as quite different
from the other two self-evaluation motives. Unlike the other two motives, through self-assessment
people are interested in the accuracy of their current self view, rather than improving their self-view.
This makes self-assessment the only self-evaluative motive that may cause a person's self-
esteem to be damaged.

If through self-assessing there is a possibility that a person's self-concept, or self-esteem is going to

be damaged why would this be a motive of self-evaluation, surely it would be better to only self-verify
and self-enhance and not to risk damaging self-esteem? Trope in his paper "Self-Enhancement and
Self Assessment in Achievement Behaviour"[3] suggests that self-assessment is a way in which self-
esteem can be enhanced in the future. For example, self-assessment may mean that in the short-
term self-assessment may cause harm to a person's self-concept through realising that they may not
have achieved as highly as they may like; however in the long term this may mean that they work
harder in order to achieve greater things in the future, and as a result their self-esteem would be
enhanced further than where it had been before self-assessment.
Within the self-evaluation motives however there are some interesting interactions. Self-assessment
is found a lot of the time to be associated with self-enhancement as the two motives seem to
contradict each other with opposing aims; whereas the motive to self-assess sees it as important to
ensure that the self-concept is accurate the motive to self-enhance sees it as important to boost the
self-concept in order to protect it from any negative feedback.

Overview
Student self-assessment occurs when learners assess their own performance. With
practice, they learn to:

 objectively reflect on and critically evaluate their own progress and skill development
 identify gaps in their understanding and capabilities

 discern how to improve their performance

 learn independently and think critically.

Use self-assessment to develop the learning skills students will need for professional
competence, and to make them aware of and more responsible for their own learning
processes.

Sometimes teachers use self-assessment and peer assessment together. For example,
they might require students to use a rubric to provide critique on the work of their peers,
and then to apply the same criteria to their own work. Nulty (n.d.) argues that students
must first learn to peer assess if they are to self-assess effectively.

Skilled self-assessment can be as reliable as other forms of assessment, but you must
provide students with training and practice if you want results to closely align with other
assessors' results.

When to use
You can introduce students to the idea of self-assessment using:

 ongoing structured formative learning (for example, by using online quizzes that give
students immediate feedback on their performance) or
 summative assessment (for example, requiring students to grade their own
performance).

The literature suggests that self-assessment may be more useful as a formative

learning tool than for summative assessment.
Benefits
Self-assessment benefits the learner by:

 helping develop important meta-cognitive skills that contribute to a range of important

graduate capabilities. All professionals must be able to evaluate their own performance,
so this practice should be embedded in higher education learning as early as possible.
 increasing their self-awareness through reflective practice, making the criteria for self-
evaluation explicit, and making performance improvement practices intrinsic to ongoing
learning.

 contributing to the development of critical reviewing skills, enabling the learner to more
objectively evaluate their own performance—and others', when used in conjunction with
peer assessment. With peer assessment they become more practised in giving
constructive feedback, and receiving and acting on feedback received.

 helping students take control of their own learning and assessment, and giving them the
chance to manage their own learning and development more independently.

 giving students greater agency regarding assessment, thus enriching their learning.

 possibly, in the long run, reducing the teacher's assessment workload—although on its
own this benefit is not sufficient to introduce student self-assessment.

Challenges
Although studies have shown that most students are fairly capable self-assessors,
introducing self-assessment can raise dilemmas and challenges. For example:

 Lower performing and less experienced students tend to overestimate their

achievements. As with peer assessment, students' ability to self-assess accurately must
be developed over time, and with substantial guidance. It is definitely not a time-saving
exercise for the teacher, initially.
 Students may resist self-assessment, perceiving assessment and grading to be the
teacher's job, or having no confidence in their ability to assess themselves.

 Issues can arise if students' self-assessments are not consistent with peer or staff
assessments.

Strategies

Design self-assessment
Students often readily accept the use of self-assessment as part of a formative learning
process. It satisfies their need for formal self-reflection on their progress, and gives
them agency when they are planning their learning. It may also give them valuable
experience for self-assessment that contributes to their grade later in the course.

Design self-assessment carefully, and ensure that you integrate its use into the
assessment plan. This way you optimise the benefits to learning, appropriately engage
students in the process by giving them clear directions and explanations, and ensure
that contingency plans are in place for if issues arise.

Here are some factors to consider when designing for student self-assessment:

 How experienced are students in self-assessing?

o It is unreasonable to expect students to become experts in self-assessment after
a single course.

o It is reasonable to expect that they will be capable self-assessors by the end of

their undergraduate program.

 How will we introduce students to self-assessment?

o Consider students' different experience levels when designing tasks, and support
the development of their self-assessment capabilities accordingly.

o For less experienced students, provide more guidance and facilitation.

o Make clear to students the rationale for self-assessment and its intended benefits
to their learning, so that they do not misconstrue the strategy as evidence of the
teacher being lazy.

 Who should develop the assessment criteria?

o At first, you can provide pre-determined assessment criteria for students to use in
self-assessing their work. In some areas and at higher levels of study these may
be best determined by the teacher.

o Students may find it significantly more interesting and motivating if you involve
them in developing the assessment criteria. This also encourages their autonomy
and self-management as learners.

o Helping develop assessment criteria develops students' assessment literacy and

promotes a shared understanding of tasks and assessment standards.

 How can I support my students as they develop their self-assessment skills?

o Students can be capable assessors of their own and their peers' performance.
Build their meta-awareness about this capability so that they can articulate and
defend their critiques of their own work, and clarify what they can do to improve
their performance.

o Providing an expert assessment of students' work allows them to cross-check

their self-assessment, as does combining self-assessment with peer
assessment.

o Use assessed examples of students' work to illustrate different levels of

achievement. This will clarify the standards and show how criteria are applied.

 Should students' self-assessment contribute to the summative grade?

 o This is a complex decision. Self-assessment for grading may be more
appropriate in high-level undergraduate or postgraduate courses, especially
where class sizes are smaller.

o If you decide that self-assessment will contribute to the grade, precisely state to
both students and assessors, at the outset, how much it will contribute.

o Introduce self-assessment for practice and familiarisation before you use it to

contribute to grading. For example, have students attach a self-assessment
report to their submitted work.

 What processes will we use to moderate student self-assessment?

o Assessment of learning is intrinsically inexact and subjective. Use assessment

rubrics, whether pre-determined by the teacher or negotiated with students, to
specify expected standards of performance against stated criteria.

o Shared use of a rubric by staff and students can prompt valuable conversations
about assessment principles and quality standards.

o The more a student's self-assessment contributes to the grade, the greater will
be the need for the teacher to moderate the grade with their own assessment.
Remember, though, that "if tutors moderate student self-assessments with
anything other than a light touch, students do not put their hearts into being
objective in their self-assessment" (Race, 2001:14). But if self-assessment
results are not moderated, the fairness of the process will be questionable, no
matter how capable the students may be as self-assessors.

A moderation process can simply consist of comparing the tutor's and/or peer's
grade and the student's self-assessed grade. Where they are very different, you
can discuss the discrepancy with the student, with an eye to possibly reviewing
the grade. Such processes are more difficult to manage in very large classes.

Practical methods
Reflective journal
Having students produce a reflective journal about their own learning and achievements
is a logical way to engage them in self-assessment, as it gives both them and their
assessor(s) insights into the process.

Extend the reflective journal task to include their thoughts on how they can and/or
intend to improve their performance.

You can assess the reflective journal, or the students can. That is, they can reflect on
their reflections, or assess their peers' journals and give feedback.

One version of this type of assessment task is the "self-assessment schedule" (Boud,
1992), a formal document prepared by the student that presents their achievements
alongside their learning goals and comments on what they feel they have achieved.
Self-assessment prompts for students
You can incorporate self-assessment into almost any assessment task, either at or after
assignment submission time.

Race, (2001) suggests structuring the self-assessment by prompting students, asking

them, for example:

 What do you think is a fair grade for the work you have handed in?
 What did you do best in this assessment task?

 What did you do least well in this assessment task?

 What did you find was the hardest part?

 What was the most important thing you learned in doing this assessment task?

 If you had more time to complete the task, would you change anything? What would you
change, and why?

Self-assessment in group work

Self-assessment can focus on aspects of a task that only the student can comment on,
such as their contribution to teamwork and the collaborative production of a group's
outputs. When students are allowed to do this, they see it as reducing the risk of being
judged unfairly (Nulty, n.d.).

Self-assessment of class participation

Assessing students' participation in class discussions and activities is often seen as an
overly subjective process. If students can see that you value their perceptions of the
quality of their own and their peers' contributions, they are likely to become more active
in the classroom. Combining student self and peer assessment with tutor assessment
makes for a more reliable grade (Dancer & Kamvounias, 2005).

Use technology
Use online tools such as journals or blogs to manage self-assessment based on
reflective activities. You might, for example, require students to publish regular
reflections in response to question prompts. Both you and they can then assess their
learning process. You can set up a private journal for this purpose, or a blog that can be
shared with other students (or made public) and comments invited.

For more objective tasks, such as scientific or mathematical calculation, you can
provide online automatically marked tests where students can test their skill. Invite
students to create questions to contribute to the test database; this adds a meta-
cognitive layer to the exercise. Online tools such as Peerwise are being developed for
this purpose, but the Moodle Learning Management System allows the compilation
of question banks, and self-assessment can be incorporated into a Workshop activity.
https://teaching.unsw.edu.au/self-assessment#:~:text=Student%20self%2Dassessment
%20occurs%20when,in%20their%20understanding%20and%20capabilities

Lesson 4. Peer Assessment

Chapter 5 – Feedbacking and

Communicating Assessment Results
A. Qualitative Evaluation
B. Constructive
Feedbacking
1. Principles and
characteristics
2. Strategies
- Written feedback
- Oral feedback
C. Self-assessment
D. Peer assessment

References:

Chmolova, Katarina (11 January, 2016) Qualitative Vs. Quantitative Methods of

Verification and Evaluation. Retrieved from
https://www.classcentral.com/report/qualitative-vs-quantitative-methods-verification-
evaluation/

Education with Technology Harry G. Tuttle (n.d.) Written feedback: Improving Student
Learning.Retrieved from https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/10/26/written-
feedback-improving-student-learning/