After reading about assessments we have discussed as a group what we had taken from the readings.
Navin and James had read the piece about the 7 criteria of assessment and found it very interesting. Must have a read at it. I did struggle to get my head around how marking is done at UAL in the beginning, but it all eventually clicked and the marking criteria we use make perfect sense now. At least I think they do. It would be interesting to read more about criteria.
My piece was focused on transferring the understanding of marking criteria from tutors to students, so the students understand how they are being marked and can address. I chose this because we are currently navigating a difficult situation with year 2 students who have failed their PPI unit en mass (about 70% of students) and are questioning the marking methodology. Yesterday I briefed them for a new unit and tried to explain how the grading works and asked myself if that was helpful. I should have asked them, really!
The way I usually explain marking criteria is to show the UAL video about the marking criteria, then explain that they feel very vague because they are the same across all disciplines within UAL, from journalism to architectures to fashion design. However the Learning outcomes are a “translation” of the marking criteria in a language that is closer to students and to the specific unit they are taking. Then I explain that the checklist is full of activities that will allow the students to achieve the lerning outcomes and provide us with evidence of their achievement.
Yesterday I took a different approach, I talked about the learning outcomes, told the students to focus on those, read them often, and specified that we can only mark them on what we can see: this is particularly appropriate in a unit where we mark outcomes (a presentation and an essay) and student don’t have to document their progress. However i have pointed out to them that it may feel easier to follow checklists, as they are very clear and may feel uncomplicated, but that we mark on the LOs and Marking criteria instead.
Now, after reading Berry O’donovan’s piece “Know What I mean?” I realise that trying to explain the marking criteria to students is muddling of the waters. Yes they asked for it, but can I really expect them to understand something that has taken me ages to get my head around? And to be honest, what made me understand it was actually doing it. After time and time of going through the process of lookng at students work through the lense of marking criteria, I have eventually “seen it”. So I completely get the position of O’donovan in suggesting that students should be put through the experience of marking in order to comprehend how it works. Wheather this be through self assessment, or peer assessment, they should be able to experience it in a way that makes it “click” without need for an explenation.
I was heartened by the report of a colleague who, asked by a student “is this good anough, will I be marked down?” put the question back to the student “what do you think? Is it good, is it satsfactory?” which prompted the studet to honeslty say “I think it’s rubbish and I need to do it again”. They can be good judges of their own work, and maybe when they ask questions about marking is more a game of defining the bounderies! It’s strategic learning at play.
We need to do more work to get the students focused on their learning, rather than grades.
Last week a final year student, who really wants a first class degree, has asked me how she can make sure she achieves at lest an A- (she calculated that is what she needs). I recommended she focuses on the learning outcomes, read them often, leave no stone untunrned, take every opportunity, and the grades will come.
Going back to the group conversation, we discussed how the relationship between student and tutor can be affected by the marking: Technicians tend to have a closer relationship with students as their role is one of support without judgment. Whilst lecturers are required to keep some distance, to guarantee parity between students and ensure that judgment, in the form of assessment, grades and feedback, is understood to be objective.
To conclude, here’s my golden quote: “If you cared about your learning as much as you care about your grades, you would get better grades”.
Resources
Nicol, David J. and Macfarlane-Dick, Debra(2006) ‘Formative assessment and self-regulated learning: a model and seven principles of good feedback practice’, Studies in Higher Education, 31: 2, 199 — 218
O’donovan, Berry , Price, Margaret and Rust, Chris(2004) ‘Know what I mean? Enhancing student
understanding of assessment standards and criteria’, Teaching in Higher Education, 9: 3, 325 — 335
University of the Arts London (2025) Assessment. Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/study-at-ual/course-regulations/assessment (Accessed: 18 January 2025)