Teaching and Assessing at Scale: The Use of Objective Rubrics and Structured Feedback
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| Title: | Teaching and Assessing at Scale: The Use of Objective Rubrics and Structured Feedback |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Simon Grey, Neil Gordon |
| Source: | New Directions in the Teaching of Natural Sciences. 2024 19(1). |
| Availability: | University of Leicester Open Journals. University of Leicester Library, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK. Tel: +44-116-252-2043; e-mail: openaccess@le.ac.uk; Web site: https://journals.le.ac.uk/index.php/new-directions |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 9 |
| Publication Date: | 2024 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Descriptive |
| Descriptors: | Student Evaluation, Evaluation Methods, Scoring Rubrics, Feedback (Response), Error Correction, Student Behavior, Scaling |
| ISSN: | 2051-3615 |
| Abstract: | It is widely recognised that feedback is an important part of learning: effective feedback should result in a meaningful change in student behaviour (Morris et al., 2021). However, individual feedback takes time to produce, and for large cohorts -- typified by the North of 300 challenge in computing (CPHC, 2019), it can be difficult to do so in a timely manner. On occasion it seems that many academics lose sight of the purpose of feedback, and instead view it to justify a mark, rather than an opportunity to provide meaningful tuition. One strategy to provide feedback at scale is to share the workload across multiple staff, but this introduces an additional problem in ensuring that the feedback and marking are equitable and consistent. In this paper we present a case study from teaching programming that attempts to address two distinct, but related issues. The first issue is to make feedback more meaningful. We attempt to achieve this by providing detailed feedback on a draft submission of programming coursework allowing students time to make changes to their work prior to the final submission date. We present an analysis of the data generated from this approach, and its potential impact on student behaviour. The second issue is that of scalability. This feedforward approach creates a significant pressure on marking and on the necessity to provide feedback on a draft submission to large numbers of students in good time so that students can act upon it. To achieve this, we consider an approach based on creating an objective, reusable marking rubric so that the work can be reasonably spread across multiple members of staff. We present an analysis of the data generated from this approach to determine whether we consider the rubric to be objective enough to remove individual interpretations and biases, and where discrepancies exist attempt to determine where those discrepancies arise. This work was carried out through an analysis of impact on student assessment, as well as from the academic staff involved in using the rubrics. Preliminary results from this work show that the more objective rubric used by several did enable a scalable solution for rapid feedback on submissions, and this did indicate some improvement in student outcomes. However, the work also illustrated the problems of subjective interpretations and some variation in outcomes by marker. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2025 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1470146 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| FullText | Text: Availability: 0 CustomLinks: – Url: https://eric.ed.gov/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=EJ1470146 Name: ERIC Full Text Category: fullText Text: Full Text from ERIC |
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| Header | DbId: eric DbLabel: ERIC An: EJ1470146 AccessLevel: 3 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Teaching and Assessing at Scale: The Use of Objective Rubrics and Structured Feedback – Name: Language Label: Language Group: Lang Data: English – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Simon+Grey%22">Simon Grey</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Neil+Gordon%22">Neil Gordon</searchLink> – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22New+Directions+in+the+Teaching+of+Natural+Sciences%22"><i>New Directions in the Teaching of Natural Sciences</i></searchLink>. 2024 19(1). – Name: Avail Label: Availability Group: Avail Data: University of Leicester Open Journals. University of Leicester Library, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK. Tel: +44-116-252-2043; e-mail: openaccess@le.ac.uk; Web site: https://journals.le.ac.uk/index.php/new-directions – Name: PeerReviewed Label: Peer Reviewed Group: SrcInfo Data: Y – Name: Pages Label: Page Count Group: Src Data: 9 – Name: DatePubCY Label: Publication Date Group: Date Data: 2024 – Name: TypeDocument Label: Document Type Group: TypDoc Data: Journal Articles<br />Reports - Descriptive – Name: Subject Label: Descriptors Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Student+Evaluation%22">Student Evaluation</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Evaluation+Methods%22">Evaluation Methods</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Scoring+Rubrics%22">Scoring Rubrics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Feedback+%28Response%29%22">Feedback (Response)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Error+Correction%22">Error Correction</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Student+Behavior%22">Student Behavior</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Scaling%22">Scaling</searchLink> – Name: ISSN Label: ISSN Group: ISSN Data: 2051-3615 – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: It is widely recognised that feedback is an important part of learning: effective feedback should result in a meaningful change in student behaviour (Morris et al., 2021). However, individual feedback takes time to produce, and for large cohorts -- typified by the North of 300 challenge in computing (CPHC, 2019), it can be difficult to do so in a timely manner. On occasion it seems that many academics lose sight of the purpose of feedback, and instead view it to justify a mark, rather than an opportunity to provide meaningful tuition. One strategy to provide feedback at scale is to share the workload across multiple staff, but this introduces an additional problem in ensuring that the feedback and marking are equitable and consistent. In this paper we present a case study from teaching programming that attempts to address two distinct, but related issues. The first issue is to make feedback more meaningful. We attempt to achieve this by providing detailed feedback on a draft submission of programming coursework allowing students time to make changes to their work prior to the final submission date. We present an analysis of the data generated from this approach, and its potential impact on student behaviour. The second issue is that of scalability. This feedforward approach creates a significant pressure on marking and on the necessity to provide feedback on a draft submission to large numbers of students in good time so that students can act upon it. To achieve this, we consider an approach based on creating an objective, reusable marking rubric so that the work can be reasonably spread across multiple members of staff. We present an analysis of the data generated from this approach to determine whether we consider the rubric to be objective enough to remove individual interpretations and biases, and where discrepancies exist attempt to determine where those discrepancies arise. This work was carried out through an analysis of impact on student assessment, as well as from the academic staff involved in using the rubrics. Preliminary results from this work show that the more objective rubric used by several did enable a scalable solution for rapid feedback on submissions, and this did indicate some improvement in student outcomes. However, the work also illustrated the problems of subjective interpretations and some variation in outcomes by marker. – Name: AbstractInfo Label: Abstractor Group: Ab Data: As Provided – Name: DateEntry Label: Entry Date Group: Date Data: 2025 – Name: AN Label: Accession Number Group: ID Data: EJ1470146 |
| PLink | https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=eric&AN=EJ1470146 |
| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Languages: – Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 9 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Student Evaluation Type: general – SubjectFull: Evaluation Methods Type: general – SubjectFull: Scoring Rubrics Type: general – SubjectFull: Feedback (Response) Type: general – SubjectFull: Error Correction Type: general – SubjectFull: Student Behavior Type: general – SubjectFull: Scaling Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Teaching and Assessing at Scale: The Use of Objective Rubrics and Structured Feedback Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Simon Grey – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Neil Gordon IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 01 Type: published Y: 2024 Identifiers: – Type: issn-electronic Value: 2051-3615 Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 19 – Type: issue Value: 1 Titles: – TitleFull: New Directions in the Teaching of Natural Sciences Type: main |
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