This material has been adapted from an assessment and feedback quick guide published by University College London. (McConlogue T. 2015. Assessment & feedback quick guide 1. UCL)
Why do students sometimes struggle to understand assessment?
Students come to BU from diverse educational cultures and need help to understand lecturer expectations. Students who do not understand the standards they need to reach on a programme can dramatically underperform.
There are some easy ways to help your students by:
What can you as a lecturer do to help?
It is helpful to devise a plan to gradually involve students in assessment throughout their degree programme.
The following activities can help students to understand assessment standards:
Guided Marking
This can be done using the Virtual Learning Environment (Brightspace) or face to face in class in small groups.
Choose some assignments from a previous year, and with permission of the authors, anonymise and upload to Brightspace. It is useful to do this early in the programme of study.
Students use the Generic Assessment Criteria to comment on and possibly grade the assignments. In class or in seminars discuss the comments and grades and clarify what is valued in assignments of this type. Post a summary to Brightspace for students to refer back to.
Peer Review
This can be done using the Virtual Learning Environment (Brightspace) or face to face in class in small groups.
Ask students to produce a draft assignment (in a format suitable for the assignment task). In groups invite students to read and comment on one another’s’ work.
In class or in seminars discuss the comments and clarify what is valued in assignments of this type. Post a summary to Brightspace for students to refer back to.
Peer Assessment
Once students have had practice in peer review and have developed skills of giving good feedback and become familiar with the Generic Assessment Criteria they can be invited to undertake peer assessment. It is best to do this with low stakes/low risk assessment. This might be where peer review is worth a small proportion of marks, or in the first year of the programme.
Clear guidance and robust moderation is important to enable students to feel confident that their work is being assessed fairly.
Collaborative Assessment
Once students have developed skills in peer review and have a good understanding of standards expected, they can become involved in reviewing and designing assessment tasks and developing assessment criteria (assignment specific criteria in addition to the Generic Assessment Criteria).
Promoting Students' Assessment Literacy (PDF)
What is the BU policy for marking assignments?
The policy and procedure for marking, second marking and moderation are set out in Academic Regulations, Policies and Procedures (6D). https://intranetsp.bournemouth.ac.uk/pandptest/6d-marking-independent-marking-and-moderation-policy-and-procedure.pdf
How does BU ensure fair marking?
BU sets out expectations about marking through a process of first marking, independent marking (sometimes called internal moderation or second marking), external moderation by an External Examiner and ratification of marks at an Assessment Board. Through this process we can reassure students that they will be treated fairly when their work is marked. Markers use the assessment criteria set out in the Assignment Briefing Document to arrive at an appropriate mark for the work submitted. The BU Generic Assessment Criteria (6F) can be found here https://intranetsp.bournemouth.ac.uk/pandptest/6f-generic-assessment-criteria-procedure.pdf There may be specific criteria for the assignment, and these must be made available in the Assignment Briefing document.
What about students with Disability and Additional Learning Needs?
For information about the additional learning support service and reasonable adjustments please visit the following webpages.
https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/students/learning/disability-additional-learning-support
https://intranetsp.bournemouth.ac.uk/pandptest/als-marking-guidelines.pdf
Who are the markers?
The name of the person marking your assignments will normally be set out in the Assignment Briefing document, along with the name of the second marker/internal moderator/independent marker. The first marker is normally the unit leader or another member of the teaching team. With large cohorts there may be a team of first markers.
What is independent marking (moderation or second marking)?
Samples of assignments are independently marked. The independent marker will have read the comments and seen the mark awarded by the first marker. In some situations, for example dissertations and final year projects and single assignments of 40 credits or more, all the assignments are double marked, where the markers do not see the comments or mark of the other marker.
How many assignments are independently marked?
The sample size is a minimum of 15 assignments/scripts or 50% if there are less than 30 assignments/scripts.
Where double marking applies, all the assignments/scripts are double marked.
All fails should be included in the sample when the work contributes to the final award (eg Level 5, 6 and 7). When assignments do not contribute to the final award (eg level 4) a minimum of 5 fails must be second marked (or all if there are less than 5).
What about online assessments or presentations?
For online assessments where the mark is automatically generated the sample size applies but the purpose is to confirm that the programme has operated correctly and to check for trends and anomalies. A sample of presentations (usually 25%) is normally double marked at the same time, or with the first marker present and the independent marker using a recording of the presentations.
What if the markers don’t agree?
The markers will discuss the marks and how they have arrived at the marks and aim to come
to an agreement.
If the difference is less than 5 marks or a class difference (the two marks are in different
degree classifications eg 58% and 62%) the first mark will be recorded.
If there is a trend in the whole sample, eg marking high or low, the two markers may agree to
change all the marks (not just those in the sample).
If agreement is not reached a third marker will be identified. For more details please read the
policy document.
Students receive only the agreed mark (and appropriate feedback/feedforward comments).
Who are the External Examiners and what is their role?
Each taught programme will have at least one External Examiner. They are impartial and independent of the university and their role is to help ensure that academic standards of the university are appropriate set and maintained; that student performance is comparable to those on similar programmes in other universities; that assessment has been undertaken in a sound and fair way, that learning opportunities are of good quality and that programmes meet the standards of relevant professional, statutory and regulatory bodies. They are often academics employed in other universities and will have credibility in their discipline through research and publications and will have knowledge of academic standards and quality enhancement in learning, teaching and assessment. They are normally appointed as External Examiners for a period of four years. The External Examiners look at a sample of assignments, attend the Assessment Board and submit a report to BU.
More information is contained in Academic Regulations, Policies and Procedures (6N)
https://intranetsp.bournemouth.ac.uk/pandptest/6n-external-examining-policy-and-procedure.pdf
What is an Assessment Board?
The Assessment Board consists of the teaching team and External Examiners. It normally meets at the end of the academic year and considers and ratifies all marks. The marks received are provisional until they have been ratified by the programme Assessment Board.
When will I get my feedback and marks?
The ‘turnaround’ time from submission to notification of marks is normally three weeks. Exceptions to the three week turnaround are set out in the 6D policy.
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