Enhancing Assessment and Feedback in the First Year Workshop with David Nicol 24.01.11

Professor David Nicol (University of Strathclyde) visited UCD on 21st January to present a workshop on Enhancing Assessment and Feedback in the First Year.  He emphasised a broader interpretation of feedback, beyond the normal understanding of feedback being provided by a teacher to a student on their assessed work.  Instead, he argued that good feedback should be dialogical, that is, it should involve students actively engaging in the feedback process as a means of understanding their academic performance and their learning needs. 

His key message was that strategies which encourage students to work with assessment criteria, internalise them and understand them can have a powerful effect on improving student learning and enhancing feedback. A range of processes of peer review, where students evaluate (not assess) the work of others can be an effective way of developing students understanding of the standards required, and their own learning.  

Another example provided for engaging students in a dialogical feedback process, was the “1 Minute paper”, where students at the end of a lecture are invited to write down on a slip of paper concepts that remain unclear for them.  This provides staff with immediate feedback on student learning and allows the next lecture to recap and address issues raised by students. 

Professor Nicol’s work is based on data from a strategic assessment change project REAP (www.reap.ac.uk) conducted across the 3 universities in the Glasgow area.  In addition he has written extensively on improving assessment and feedback, and is author of “Transforming assessment and feedback” - a publication of practical approaches and case studies in changing assessment and feedback approaches, available at http://www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/themes/FirstYear/outcomes.asp . 

Following his presentation, Professor Nicol participated in a UCD Assessment workshop, which showcased the outcomes of the Choice of Assessment Methods project led by Dr Geraldine O'Neill, UCD Teaching & Learning.

Professor David Nicol, University of Strathclyde, Enhancing Assessment & Feedback in First Year