[Academic] NSS Feedback and Assessment

[Nigel Langford]

Dear All,

For those who were unable to make the DC last week when the NSS results were discussed and as a reminder to those who attended the DC I emphasised the importance of managing the expectations of students with respect to Assessment and Feedback. This is a key area of the NSS and the university sector and Strathclyde does particularly poorly in this area. In light of this the University have released the attached NSS Improvement plan.

The Department did well in terms of the NSS Assessment and Feedback questions, 1st in the Faculty, 3rd in the University and joint 6th for all Physics departments , but we cannot relax on this key area. You as staff are responsible for our success in this area of the NSS and it is your responsibility to ensure that we maintain our position. To do this we must continue to manage the students' expectations with respect to Assessment and Feedback. To help with this staff must

1. Adhere to Faculty policy of returning feedback within two weeks of the work being handed in. If you cannot meet this deadline then please let the students know and explain why. The two week deadline applies to all handed in work, for example lab reports, essays and homework etc.

2. For work that has been handed in avoid just giving a tick and a mark. Give the students an indication of what they did wrong and how they can improve. For lab classes this can be done relatively easily by the use of a pro-forma and can be aided by allowing the students to see the marking scheme and how the marks are awarded. In the case of tutorial / homework release the solutions and explain ti the students that this is feedback. For examinations remember to complete the 1 page “common mis-conceptions” document and post this to Myplace.

3. For the class questionnaires look at the comments for Assessment and Feedback and take on board and ask the students how you can improve.

4. Issue the class information sheets at the start of each class and make sure that they contain details of the assessment pattern.

When I get back from travelling the Teaching Committee will discuss a couple of other things that we can do to further improve our Assessment and Feedback scores

Nigel

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N. Langford
SUPA
Department of Physics
John Anderson Building
University of Strathclyde
107 Rottenrow East
Glasgow
G4 0NG

Tel: UK (0)141 548 3077
Fax: UK (0) 141 552 2891
eMail: n.langford at strath.ac.uk<mailto:n.langford at phys.strath.ac.uk>

The University of Strathclyde is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC015263
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