Assessment at Salford Business School

Examples and Issues

Frances Bell, Salford Business Schoolf.bell@salford.ac.ukhttp://www.business.salford.ac.uk/staff/francesbell

Agenda• SBS Context

• Why assessment is important

• Examples of (innovative) practice– Paperless Assessment– Automated Individual Feedback– Induction through to Feedback and QA

• Issues

Salford Business School Context

• Formed in August 2006• Head of School Prof. John Wilson – external

appointment• 3800 students from a range of countries• Formed from 4 previous schools – covering Information

Systems, Business and Management, Accountancy, Economics, Leisure Industries

• Diverse practices and cultures• Institutional Audit early 2007• http://www.business.salford.ac.uk/welcome/

Assessment – an issue of interest in SBS• Evidence of design, quality assurance and

student feedback essential for Institutional Audit, Student Survey, etc.– Standard forms and QA processes issued to staff– Feedback policies in effect

• Key issue for University Learning Technology Strategy (LT Implementation Plan)

• Implementation Gap exists (LT Centre review)• SBS establishing programme of L&T sharing

events – started with Assessment!• LT Fellow (FB) starting Sem 2 06/07

Examples of (Innovative) Practice

• Use of Criteria Grids / Rubrics– Paper/ automated

• Formative – Tutorial Files– Links between Coursework and Examinations

• Application of Learning Technology– MCQs– External test banks

‘Paperless’ Assessment on Research & IT Skills module

• Janice Whatley

• Continuous assessment – 6 portfolio exercises, covering topics such as

using email, MS Word and Excel, reflection on group working, using Command Prompt and XHTML coding.

– Submitted through the Blackboard Assignment Manager

– Assessed electronically, grades/feedback returned to students via Blackboard

‘Paperless’ Assessment on Research & IT Skills module• End of semester examination is also

submitted online – 2 parts– a series of multiple choice questions presented

using the Questionmark Perception software – Students produce a Word document, which is finally

submitted in Blackboard. – QM Perception linked to Blackboard, grades

available immediately to staff and students

‘Paperless’ Assessment on Research & IT Skills module• Perceived benefits

– No printouts, no hand in at the office– The submission date and time is clearly saved with the work– Students can see their grade as they logon to Blackboard,

along with feedback from the tutor.

• Possible drawbacks– Quantity of assessment– Electronic marking and feedback can be cumbersome for

(some) tutors– What is ‘feedback’ for Y1 students? Comments or mark?

Automated Individual Feedback• Polly Sobreperez

• Uses spreadsheet (for assessment criteria, student data, marks, comments)

• Merges these into individual student feedback sheets, generating criteria phrases from mark

• Mark sheets returned to student with assignment

Category Marks Student Comment 1 Comment 2Comment 3 …..

50

55

58

62

57

55

48

Fred Bloggs =HLOOKUP(A11,Table,2)

=HLOOKUP(B11,Table,3)

etc

A B C D E F G H

Category Weights 10   25   5   20

Student names here (singly or

in groups)

Description of Organisation

='Grade descriptors'!B4

W=B5*B3%or any formula that calculates the weighting contribution

Marketing concepts and tools

W Factors of production

W Organisational

Structure and

culture

Fred Bloggs Input 50 5 5514 58 3 62

Sue Smith62 6 52

13 65 3 60

This row is used in the lookup formula as the lower limit of the band 0 – 19

20 - 29 30 - 39

Weighting Criteria 0

20 30

10 Description of Organisation

There is little or no description of the organisation

There is a very poor or scant description of the organisation

There is limited or inadequate description of the organisation

25 Marketing concepts and tools

There is little or no evidence of marketing concepts models or tools. Little or no evidence of products/services or demand sources

There is very poor or scant evidence of marketing concepts models or tools. Very poor or scant no evidence of products/services or demand sources

There is limited or inadequate of marketing concepts models or tools. Limited or inadequate evidence of products/services or demand sources

Generated from

and

Names, marks and weightings

Criteria and descriptors

Student Feedback SheetFeedback Sheet

Management and Business Operations

Assignment Individual

Date March 2006

Student Name «Student»

Description of organisation «Comments_1»

Marketing concepts and tools «Comments_2»

Factors of Production «Comments_3»

Organisational Structure and culture «Comments_4»

Mission and objectives «Comments_5»

Environment «Comments_6»

TOWS analysis «Comments_7»

«Overall_Mark»

Additional Comment <<Any other comment>>

Automated Individual Feedback• Liked by staff and (some) students

• May be seen as mechanistic

• Is feedback ‘individual’?

Induction through to Feedback and QA• (Customisable, paper-based) Essay Marking

Template used as ‘Default’ on a set of MSc Programmes

• Uses ‘full range’ of marks : incl. 70-80, 80-90, 90-100• Introduced to students in Induction/Programme

Handbook• Reinforced through Reading week Essay Clinic (for

first essay)• Used on about 60% of modules, allowing students

other chances• Provides evidence for External Examiners

Issues• Student benefit – encouraging them to make

best use of support and feedback• Staff effort – how to measure benefit/effort ratio• Linkages

– Induction/modules– Coursework/exam– Module/module– Level/level– Design/assessment– Feedback/QA

• Technology – opportunity rather than silver bullet (see all above)