HEA STEM Annual Conference 2012: Proceedings - ISBN 978-1-907207-45-7
Abstract
Large cohorts of students present specific problems in relation to assessment and feedback. Engaging in any kind of dialogue with individual students is difficult to manage as is creating an effective formative learning programme which they are happy to engage with. A learning programme for first year bioscience undergraduates in their first semester is presented which addresses many issues essential to a successful formative programme: that students must want to do it that it must feed forward and that there must be place for a dialogue. Students completed and had marked and returned a first formative practical report. They received corrections but no mark. They then had a process of reflection on this piece which fed into a second formative report allowing feedback which focused on the individual needs of each student. After receiving feedback from this and a rough indication of a mark they completed a draft of the summative piece which went through a process of peer review before a final version was handed in. Over 70 % of the students engaged with the whole formative programme. The mean mark for the summative piece at the end of the semester was significantly higher (p<0.001) for those who had engaged with all formative tasks relative to students who had not fully engaged. Students appreciated the formative tasks. They were supported in their learning through a process which they found particularly difficult that of writing full scientific reports using primary literature to write well structured introductions and critical discussions correctly.
