Assessment in university teaching

Kieron Flanagan

Outline

1. University teaching and learning styles

2. Purposes of assessment3. Group exercise!

2

What do we teach our students?• We teach them things

(“subject knowledge and understanding”)

• However, in the course of learning those things they should also develop a range of skills

• Students tend to forget about the latter 3

A university education should encourage students to build…• Subject-specific skills (e.g.

accounting conventions, techniques)

• General (transferrable) skills• General critical thinking and

analytical skills

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General (transferrable) skills

• Team-working• Time/task management• Active reading and active listening• Critical thinking• Document preparation• Communication skills (oral/written)• &c.

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Critical thinking and analytical skills• These are the skills necessary to

analyse information, weigh up evidence and arguments, draw (own) conclusions and justify them

• We shouldn’t let our students think that these are just obscure or useless scholarly skills

• Typically these are the skills most employers are looking for from graduates

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Critical thinking skills…

• Of course they are also the skills that will get them good marks…

• What does critical thinking mean in practice?

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Critical thinking• Critical thinking means thinking

about the positions taken by authors, about the validity of their evidence, the strengths of their arguments

• This includes the student being critical (critically appraising and reflecting upon) their own stance

• Clearly, it does not mean blindly criticising everything – it is an informed process 8

Critical thinking FAQsQ: How can I be critical of academic

experts or people in important positions? They know more than I do…A: We are trying to develop critical

skills…• They may be biased in some way• They may have ignored important evidence• They may have overdone their conclusions

Q: But isn’t it disrespectful to criticise your teachers?A: If a student disagrees with us but backs up

their argument with evidence then we will always give them credit for it!

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Uncritical thinking is…

• Accepting (and repeating) the arguments of authors - or lecturers/tutors - without question

• Putting forward own personal views without reflecting critically upon them, or otherwise taking a position without explaining why

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Evidence of uncritical thinking…• Stating in assessed work that something

is ‘obvious’ or ‘clearly correct’ without providing an explanation

• Regurgitating lecture notes in assessed work

• Basing assessed work entirely on one or two readings (or on the results of a Google or Wikipedia search)

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We expect our students to take responsibility for their own learning• The style of learning that takes place at

a university is very different from school or college. It is largely self-directed (i.e. most of the learning is meant to be done outside contact time).

• Lectures are intended to guide this learning.

• Seminars are supposed to help students discuss what they are learning, and to receive feedback.

• We need to encourage students to develop an active learning style.

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Active learning?• Active listening in lectures (taking detailed

notes, not relying on handouts)• Taking an active part in seminars, the most

important part of their contact time: taking notes, contributing, and listening actively and respectfully to others

• Making the time to do the necessary reading and preparation beforehand (this is part of the total study time)

• Reading actively: with a pencil, taking notes, not using a highlighter, not using a PC to cut-and-paste.

• Active reading can also be selective reading – use of abstracts, tables of contents, indices, introductions, summaries etc to help find and focus on what is important to the task in hand 13

If they don’t do these things?• Seminar attendance is compulsory

(poor attendance goes on their record and could potentially be reflected in the references we write for them)

• More importantly, lack of preparation or participation and lack of active learning will mean they are wasting their (and your) time in lectures and seminars

• …and that will lead them to FAIL….

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How can students become more active learners?• They need to understand their own

attitudes to learning• They need to understand their own

study and critical thinking skills (audit) and how they can be improved (guides, help)

• They need to practice! Encourage them to take advantage of their strengths and work on their weaknesses

• Encourage them to seek help and support (student guidance service, ELC, etc. etc.)

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Purposes of assessment?• The purpose of assessment is ultimately

to demonstrate learning from the course (i.e. subject knowledge + skills)

• Assessment can have both formative (to build confidence & improve performance) and summative elements

• Some assessment is mainly formative (e.g. practice essays, presentations)

• Some assessment is mainly summative (e.g. final exams)

• Mostly it is some mixture of the two…16

Formative and Summative Assessment

FORMATIVE• To help students

understand how they are doing

• To encourage better work in the future

• Subject knowledge and understanding• To correct errors of

understanding (or of omission)

• Skills• To identify strengths

and weaknesses in skills

SUMMATIVE• To measure and accredit

learning• To accredit skills

development• To reward good work

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Some important considerationsValidity – does assessment really

measure the intended learning outcomes?

Reliability – is assessment consistent from student to student, examiner to examiner? (Hence need for explicit learning outcomes, grading criteria, and for safeguards such as moderation)

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Example learning outcomes“At the end of the course students should be able to:

• Define management and explain how management differs according to level and whether a manager is a line manager or an enabling role.

• Briefly describe and contrast four models of management; rational goal, scientific, human relations, open systems.

• Describe and attain some elementary level of skills in the main management processes: planning, organizing, staffing, deciding, controlling and budgeting.

• Outline the notion of a management function and be able to name, briefly describe and appreciate the role of the four main management functions: marketing, production (including quality and other technical services), finance and personnel.

• Discuss and identify the implications of wider management issues such as managing technology, managing diversity, globalization and ethics. “ 19

Example learning outcomes“By the end of the course unit, you should be able to:

• Understand the difference between financial accounting and management accounting.

• Analyse financial information in such a way as to help a business make both short term and long-term business decisions.

• Prepare budgets, explain the interlinking of various budgets within a business and conduct variance analysis.

• Use several specified techniques to appraise a business's investment opportunities and make recommendations based on relevant financial information.

• Consider non-financial information for different types of industries and scenarios and use this information to inform your recommendations and decision making“

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S&W of assessment methods?Oral – viva examinations,

presentationsPractical –simulations, tests,

problem-solving exercises, etc.

Written – examinations, essays, reports, etc.

Individual versus group assessment

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Group Exercise!

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A few words about plagiarism…• Despite warnings, lectures, etc.

many of our students have a poor understanding of plagiarism

• Experience suggests this is often related to a poor understanding of good academic practices (and why they are important)

• Lecturers and GTAs have a crucial role in reinforcing positive messages here…

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A few words about plagiarism…We should encourage our students

to:• Develop their critical

thinking/reading skills• Think about what resources are

appropriate/reliable (information literacy)

• Develop good note-taking practices

• Develop good referencing, quotation, citation practices 24

A few words about plagiarism…• Individual assessment requires

that students demonstrate their own learning

• They must do this by critically appraising evidence, sources and by constructing their own argument to answer the question

• And not by assembling an essay from quotations or close paraphrases of others’ arguments and conclusions 25

A few words about plagiarism…• Plagiarism does attract serious (life-

changing) penalties and MBS students are caught and disciplined!

• Tutors can play an important part in positively encouraging students to better understand the purposes of assessment, develop good practices - and avoid risky ones

• Tutors can also look out for signs of personal problems, non-attendance etc. which are sometimes associated with plagiarism 26

Thank you for your attention!Questions? Feedback?

kieron.flanagan@mbs.ac.uk