elpp, 15 november 2010 e-feedback meeting students’ needs & expectations yuhua hu & paul...
TRANSCRIPT
ELPP, 15 November 2010
e-FeedbackMeeting Students’ Needs & Expectations
Yuhua Hu & Paul McLaughlinThe School of Biological Sciences
ELPP, 15 November 2010
Since 2007, feedback has become the centre of attention in Edinburgh Biology …
e-FeedbackMeeting Students’ Needs & Expectations
• Promptness• Detailed comments• Helpful feedback
ELPP, 15 November 2010
Channels for ‘feedback’?
• Written assignment feedback (e.g., essays, lab practical reports)
• Exam feedback• In/Post-class Q & A (e.g., after a lecture, during a
lab practical)?• Tutorials?• Emails?• Online synchronous/asychronous discussion?
e-FeedbackMeeting Students’ Needs & Expectations
ELPP, 15 November 2010
Definition of ‘feedback’:
“Feedback is information about the gap between the actual level and the reference level of a system parameter which is used to alter the gap in some way.”
“if the information on the gap is merely stored without being utilized to alter the gap, it is not feedback.” ---Ramaprasad (1983, pp4-5)
e-FeedbackMeeting Students’ Needs & Expectations
ELPP, 15 November 2010
Criteria for effective feedback:
e-FeedbackMeeting Students’ Needs & Expectations
About the Gap Conducive Factors
Where is the gap?
What is the gap about?
How to alter the gap?
Timeliness
Legibility
Quantity
Clarity
Tone
ELPP, 15 November 2010
e-FeedbackMeeting Students’ Needs & Expectations
Technology-Aided Marking Solution
The Hardware:
• PC tablet
• Stylus pen
• Headset with microphone and earphones
ELPP, 15 November 2010
e-FeedbackMeeting Students’ Needs & Expectations
Submit
Download
Allocate
Students
Marking TeachersCourse Organiser
Return
Upload
Retrieve
ELPP, 15 November 2010
So what did the students say…
• Promptness
• Detailed comments
• Helpfulness
e-FeedbackMeeting Students’ Needs & Expectations
ELPP, 15 November 2010
Promptness
Expectations: received e-feedback within 2 weeks after submission, more prompt than expected
Needs: chose quality over promptness; for higher quality feedback, they would rather wait for longer
‘I’d rather have my essay feedback a bit later, knowing that the marker had thought about it a bit more than just going through them in a really really quick time and then just read them once.’
e-FeedbackMeeting Students’ Needs & Expectations
ELPP, 15 November 2010
Detailed Comments
Expectations: only expected a mark and a few lines of general comments; surprised and delighted to find very detailed, specifically marked corrections and comments
‘… throughout the actual essay, you had a lot of commentary on the side of your essay so you could relate to where you’d gone wrong.’
‘I was impressed. They marked the essay with the little comments, but they also gave overall feedback of that marker’s group. So you got a lot of feedback …’
e-FeedbackMeeting Students’ Needs & Expectations
ELPP, 15 November 2010
Detailed CommentsNeeds: more feedback, especially more feedback on how to improve for their next assignment, e.g., more examples to model on [this was mentioned by both high-achieving students and less able students] and more guidance on scientific writing
‘If one has really really good essays, … [the marker should] still try to give points where one could improve.’
‘You can’t have too much feedback, whether it’s praise or criticism. … It’s been enough, what I’ve had so far, but obviously I would like more.’
e-FeedbackMeeting Students’ Needs & Expectations
ELPP, 15 November 2010
Helpfulness
Expectations: expected only brief and general comments, but instead received understandable and constructive feedback
‘It explained to me like, where I’d lost marks on and how I could improve them and how my essay all tied together.’
‘… it’d say, ‘you could leave this out in the future’ or ‘this bit’s not right and you maybe need to change your graph slightly’.’
e-FeedbackMeeting Students’ Needs & Expectations
ELPP, 15 November 2010
Helpfulness
Needs: distinct differences in perceptions as for what counts as ‘helpful’ feedback
Comments on skills development Comments on content
‘I would rather have them to talk about actual biological aspect of what’s going on rather than scientific writing sessions.’
‘I would much rather have a feedback that’s negative to help
you improve.’
e-FeedbackMeeting Students’ Needs & Expectations
ELPP, 15 November 2010
Other strengths mentioned:
• Easy access• Legibility• Privacy • Likely feedforward
… the interviewees almost unanimously agree that this e-Marking practice should be implemented for the other courses as well.
e-FeedbackMeeting Students’ Needs & Expectations
ELPP, 15 November 2010
2009 NSS results (Biology):
• Overall, the School has achieved a higher rating (89%) [the top quartile of Scottish universities is 89%]
• The assessment and feedback scale showed improvement (35%), but the three feedback items still scored less than the midpoint.
e-FeedbackMeeting Students’ Needs & Expectations
ELPP, 15 November 2010
But … …
Can we do without the technology?
e-FeedbackMeeting Students’ Needs & Expectations
ELPP, 15 November 2010
e-FeedbackMeeting Students’ Needs & Expectations
source: http://www.tla.ed.ac.uk/feedback/staff/resources.html
ELPP, 15 November 2010
What we’d like to do in future (technical):
• Automated downloading of student assignments and allocation to different markers
• Automated uploading of e-feedback to the virtual learning system
• Scalability: from dedicated PC tablets to markers’ work stations or laptops?
e-FeedbackMeeting Students’ Needs & Expectations
ELPP, 15 November 2010
Similar e-Marking Cases:
• Aitken, A. M. 1998. All in a Word: Complete Electronic Assignments with Microsoft Word.
• Cargill, M. 2001. Enhancing Essay Feed-Back Using 'MindTrail' Software: Exactly What Makes the Difference in Student Development?
• Bancroft, P., J. Hynd, F. D. Santo and J. Reye. 2003. Web-Based Assignment Submission and Electronic Marking.
• Campbell, A. 2005. Application of ICT and Rubrics to the Assessment Process Where Professional Judgement is Involved: The Features of an E-marking Tool.
e-FeedbackMeeting Students’ Needs & Expectations
ELPP, 15 November 2010
e-FeedbackMeeting Students’ Needs & Expectations