Effecting Sustainable Change in Assessment Practice and
Experience; the ESCAPE project
The University of Hertfordshire
Mark Russell
Dominic Bygate
Assessment (ESCAPE) themes in Action
2. The first assignment: formative feedback to aid academic writing
Contact: Helen Barefoot (h.barefoot@herts.ac.uk)
Tags: formative, large group, level 1, personal tutor, skill, academic writing, referencing, plagiarism,
biosciences
Level
1
Number of students 150
Discipline
Biosciences
Brief overview of assessment activity
A formative essay is set within the first two weeks of term and submitted online in week four. The
students write a 1500 word essay about a named infectious disease including a discussion of the
symptoms, its diagnosis, treatment and social/economic importance. The essay is marked by
personal tutors (each member of staff mark approximately eight essays).The aims of the assignment
are to; engage students with subject matter early within their programme, to provide an opportunity
for students to receive feedback on academic writing and to discuss how to use, and reference,
resources appropriately.
Description of how the assessment supports student learning
The assignment ensures early engagement with subject material, encouraging students to explore
the LRC for relevant books and to look at online resources. The assignment provides students with a
degree of choice as they get to choose a specific disease that they have a particular interest in. The
assignment is formative which reduces the anxiety associated with submitting their first university
assignment. Feedback from the assignment comes from their personal tutor with whom they have
met at least twice during their first few weeks so hopefully will have built up a rapport. Feedback
enables discussion and understanding of the level of academic writing which is expected within the
programme and how to find and use appropriate resources. Submitting the assignment online
enables students to become familiar with StudyNet.
Particular benefits of the assessment
The assignment benefits all students. It is non-threatening and facilitates discussion of academic
skills such as written communication, information seeking and consideration of feedback.
Submitted assignments are also processed through ‘TurnItIn’ – online plagiarism detection software.
The TurnItIn report is discussed with students to enable consideration of what constitutes plagiarism
and how to avoid plagiarising within future assignments.
How do you provide feedback on student submissions?
Written feedback is provided on the essay, but a mark is not given as it is purely formative. The
assignment is given back to the student in one-to-one personal tutor meeting, usually within two
weeks of submission. The essay is discussed orally and the written feedback is explained. The
TurnItIn report is shown to the student and the tutor talks through what the TurnItIn report shows
and helps the student to identify any sections that have been plagiarised and discusses methods of
how to avoid plagiarism in future. Discussion of how to find appropriate material both online and in
text books is also discussed.
How do you encourage student engagement with the feedback?
Within the one-to-one discussion, the benefits of feedback and how to make use of feedback are
explained. The second assignment that the students submit is also marked by their personal tutors
and discussed in one-to-one sessions. This enables tutors to discuss with their tutees how feedback
from the first assignment influenced their second submission. Tutors are encouraged to recognise
and praise improvements seen in the second submission as well as picking up on any consistent
problems and/or any new issues.