ASSESSMENT FOR RESILIENCE Hazel Bryan Adeela Shafi Jenny

ASSESSMENT FOR RESILIENCE Hazel Bryan Adeela Shafi Jenny Hatley Sian Templeton Richard Millican Tristan Middleton

ASSESSMENT FOR RESILIENCE Where did it all begin?

EARLY INDICATIONS As a result of a pilot study with 20 students. . Early indications are that there are 4 strong themes: § Grading – lecturer assumptions vs student action § The ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to do things § Power relations between lecturer and student – blame vs responsibility § Hard to reach students and implications for resilience

1. Grading – lecturer assumptions vs student action A narrative has evolved around challenging our own assumptions about what students find helpful/unhelpful in terms of feedback. We assumed that the grade would be most important for the students and that they didn’t look past this to the written feedback. However, whilst 63% found the grade helpful, they found other forms of feedback more helpful. The running commentary and general comments were rated at 70% and above. Perhaps this is suggesting that the students are more intrinsically motivated by their assessments than we originally thought? Are students looking more deeply in order to know how to improve?

2. The ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to do things A main theme emerging from the student’s qualitative feedback was a perception of there being a right and, by implication, a wrong way to do things. Where I go wrong A concept of right and wrong in written work. The right track A concept of the ‘right way’ Setting you right A concept of ‘rightness’ Right and wrong

3. Power relations between lecturer and student – blame vs responsibility Lecturer communication My use of literature My structure and style of academic writing My critical analysis and understanding of the task

HOWEVER… • What about their lowest grade? • Most responses are positive about taking ownership and being responsible for their own success. • A comparison between highest and lowest marks may illuminate more about how the feedback from the lowest grade. With more information here, would we still see a pattern of personal responsibility, or would we perhaps begin to see blame?

4. Hard to reach students and implications for resilience Does this indicate that there may be a group of students who are hard to reach? Are these most likely to be the least able? Does this relate to attitudes of tutors – hand holding or independence?

IN SUMMARY Challenged our assumptions with implications for our future practice Raised some questions Encouraging feedback regarding the right trajectory – our assessment has not been wasted effort! There are indications that students are not only focussing predominantly on mechanics. There may be some missed opportunities for developing assessment to build resilience

THEREFORE Main themes for exploration: § Concept of academic buoyancy § How this may differ within our students § The impact of summative assessment feedback as a risk or protective factor § How to formulate feedback in order to develop academic buoyancy

Research questions: § In what ways do undergraduate students on the Education Studies programme use feedback to inform how they approach future assessments? § What aspects of the current feedback format do students find most and least useful? § To what extent can assessment feedback contribute to developing students’ academic buoyancy? New questionnaire to all Education Studies students - 91 replies so far. Data analysis ongoing Submitted an abstract to present at BERA, with the intention to publish.