Using Core Criteria to Guide Judgements about the Quality of Students’ Work
Workshop Summary and Plan
Summary of WorkshopThis workshop introduces an approach to the assessment of student essays that is based on 'core criteria'. With a range of materials, participants have the opportunity to examine central criteria for student writing and the ways in which these criteria can be evidenced in students' work.
Working in small groups, participants look at the ways in which a small number of assessment criteria can be used to guide judgements about student essays and frame the formulation of feedback to students. The workshop provides an opportunity to explore and reflect on the differences and overlaps between various approaches to student assessment, including the 'connoisseur', learning outcomes, assessment criteria grid, and core criteria approaches.
During the workshop, participants will:
Consider the ways in which core criteria may be evidenced in student work,
Examine the role that judgements about core criteria play in the process of student assessment,
Mark students' work with reference to core criteria,
Construct feedback on students' work with reference to core criteria,
Reflect on the value of specific, descriptive criteria in student assessment,
Engage in discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of the core criteria approach in relation to other approaches.
This workshop will be of interest to:
Those involved in staff development activities wishing to familiarise others with models of assessment practice,
Anyone looking to introduce or modify assessment practices at a departmental level.
Plan of Activities
Duration: 90 minutes
Participants: 20
Equipment needed:
Whiteboard/flipchart and pen,
OHP plus two transparencies (Student and Staff Comments on Feedback and Marking),
20 copies of the 8 session handouts (Case Study, The Core Criteria Approach to Essay Marking, Core Criteria Descriptions and Guidance Notes, Sample Essay, Marking Sheet, Feedback Sheet, Sample Feedback for Essay, Workshop Feedback Questionnaire)
The following symbol is used when a handout needs to be provided: 2 .
Before the session: This session works well with chairs arranged in a large semi-circle facing a whiteboard/OHP screen. Before participants arrive, place a copy of the 2 Case Study on each chair, so that as people arrive they can begin reading and thinking about the issues that will be the focus of the session. Place the transparency with the Student Comments on Feedback and Marking on the OHP so participants can read the comments as the session is beginning.
1. Introduction (15 minutes)
The first 15 minutes of the session should be used to:
Introduce the core criteria approach
Briefly explain the relationship of the core criteria approach to other approaches (i.e., the connoisseur, learning outcomes, and assessment criteria grid approaches)
Explain the aims and objectives and the format of the rest of the session
Hopefully, most people will have read the Case Study before you begin. If not, allow a few minutes for people to read through it, before explaining that this workshop will be about exploring how the core criteria approach to marking can contribute to solving common problems encountered in the assessment of student essays.
Allow time for people to read through the Student Comments on Feedback and Marking, before switching the transparency and displaying that with Staff Comments on Feedback and Marking. Both of these transparencies contain quotations taken from real interviews and focus groups held at the institutions involved in the Assessment Plus project, and they have been selected to give voice to some of the issues highlighted in the Case Study.
2 2 The core criteria approach to marking should now be introduced, with the help of two handouts: The Core Criteria Approach to Essay Marking and Core Criteria Descriptions and Guidance Notes. With reference to the first handout, briefly talk through the main features of the core criteria approach and its relationship to other approaches to marking. Explain that the second handout provides examples of how core criteria could be defined (c.f. key feature 2 on the first handout) and that this handout will be used as a guide in the activities later in the workshop.
To conclude this introductory slot, explain the aims and objectives as well as the format of the rest of the session. The aims and objectives could also be provided via an OHP or written up on a whiteboard or flipchart.
Aims:
Consider ways in which a small number of assessment criteria can be used to guide judgements about student essays and frame the formulation of feedback to students
Explore and reflect on the differences and overlaps between various approaches to student assessment, including the 'connoisseur', learning outcomes, assessment criteria grid, and core criteria approaches
Objectives:
To become familiar with the core criteria approach through:
1) applying the approach to marking an essay and discussing marks with a partner,
2) using the approach to formulate feedback on an essay
To gain an understanding of the benefits and disadvantages of the core criteria approach through discussion with other participants
Format:
The rest of the session involves two main activities that allow participants to apply and discuss the core criteria approach. The first activity is a marking exercise, which takes place in pairs and is followed by a whole-group discussion. The second activity gets participants to formulate feedback on an essay, also in pairs and followed by a whole-group discussion. This second whole-group discussion is longer than the first and should also function as a general discussion and summary session. The last five minutes of the workshop should be reserved for participants to complete the Feedback Questionnaires.
2. Participant introductions (10 minutes)
Before moving on to the session activities, take some time to allow participants to introduce themselves. Information you could ask them to provide includes: name, institution, job role(s), style of essay assessment that most closely resembles their own practice.
3. Marking an essay and discussion with a partner (15 minutes)
2 2 Distribute copies of the Sample Essay and the Marking Sheet, the latter of which is designed especially for use in marking examination answers. Ask participants to read the essay and think about the grade they might award and the strengths and weaknesses of the essay in terms of the core criteria (with reference to the Core Criteria Descriptions and Guidance Notes). In pairs, participants should discuss their perceptions of the essay and complete the Marking Sheet, with the aim of trying to agree on a mark and the ratings for the criteria. It can be helpful to provide participants with a few questions (on a whiteboard or flipchart) to aid discussion.
Questions could be selected from the following:
How close were the marks awarded?
How easy was it to agree on a mark?
Which criteria were associated with the largest differences of judgement?
What do you feel are the benefits/disadvantages of using this kind of marking form?
In which ways does this process of discussing/agreeing a mark compare/contrast with your previous experience?
4. Whole group discussion (10 minutes)
After participants have had sufficient time to work in pairs, conduct a short discussion with the whole group in order to allow participants to compare their experiences of the previous exercise. This discussion could take the form of collecting responses to the questions provided in the previous exercise.
5. Writing feedback on an essay and discussion with a partner (15 minutes)
2 Distribute copies of the Feedback Sheet and ask participants to work in pairs to discuss the essay and complete the Sheet. In completing the Sheet, all relevant boxes should be ticked, and further comments should be provided in the spaces below wherever relevant; an efficient use of the comment spaces can be to provide page/paragraph/line references to indicate where instances of the ticked items occur in the essay. It can be helpful to provide participants with a few questions (on a whiteboard or flipchart) to aid discussion.
Questions could be selected from the following:
How easy was it to agree on which boxes to tick?
What kinds of comments did you include in the comment spaces, and why?
How easy/difficult was it to provide feedback in this format?
How useful do you think this kind of feedback would be for students?
What do you feel are the benefits/disadvantages of using this kind of feedback form?
In which ways does this process of providing feedback compare/contrast with your previous experience?
2 About half-way through this exercise, provide participants with the Sample Feedback for Essay as an aid to discussion. The purpose of this sample feedback is to provide a model of how the form could be used.
6. Whole group discussion (20 minutes)
After participants have had sufficient time to work in pairs, conduct a short discussion with the whole group in order to allow participants to compare their experiences of the previous exercise. This discussion could take the form of collecting responses to the questions provided in the previous exercise.
This discussion should then lead on to a more general discussion of the core criteria approach. Questions to facilitate this discussion include:
How feasible is this system?
How easy is it to learn?
How ‘core’ are the core criteria we have been working with?
Does the core criteria approach promote feedback likely to be useful to students?
How do you think the students and/or staff you work with would respond to a marking and feedback system like this?
This discussion could also return to the objectives presented at the bottom of the Case Study, with the aim of discussing the extent to which participants think an implementation of the core criteria approach would help meet these objectives.
7. Feedback questionnaires (5 minutes)
2 During the last five minutes of the workshop, ask participants to fill in a Feedback Questionnaire.
Assessment Plus: Using assessment criteria to support student learning
HEFCE funded consortium project
http://www.assessmentplus.net