Intro:
Teaching in the 3rd year at BA Illustration at Camberwell, I have 2 points of assessment in the year for unit 9 & 10. This assessment is done and communicated through writing, with tutorials providing space for feedback before and after hand ins.
Evaluation/Goal:
The issues I am currently facing while working with my tutor group are:
- Worries about not getting a 1st causing stress.
- Students not understanding the learning outcomes and/or the brief
- Choosing overly vague themes like “Death” over pursuing personal interests often leading to lower grades.
- Students do not understand how parity works, often thinking I have my own assessment criteria.
I have constructed a 3-point plan of action to face these challenges.
Photo of a child crying while drawing (Gersch, M. 2014)
Plan of action and context:
1: Navigating assessment before the submission deadline:
I believe that students are currently not being provided with enough information and support to understand how much agency they have in the classroom (Hooks, 1994).
To ensure that my students are intentional when around how much they want to engage with the learning outcomes I will ensure I provide the following support before the submission deadline:
- Checking in about learning outcomes at every tutorial
- Explaining how parity works during 1 on 1 tutorials
- Welfare checks around stress and anxiety about grades where needed. Signposting UAL mental health and academic support services.
- Suggest seeking help from peers by comparing each other’s projects to the learning outcomes for each unit.
This will lead to less surprised students with bad/unexpected grades and teaching students to be responsible and make sure they follow briefs or that the students who have not followed the brief have done so intentionally and not by a lack of understanding the brief.
2: Writing feedback during assessment
To provide better clarity in my written feedback, I will structure my feedback around the learning outcomes to shed light on what was good and what was missing for each point of assessment. This way the written feedback is easier for a student to process in relation to the learning outcomes.
3: Post submission dialogue and pastoral care
After grades have been released, I will take the following steps to ensure student welfare and empowerment.
- 1 on 1 check ins with students to invite dialogue around the grade and feedback
- Reference everything discussed before the submission deadline to make sure the student sees the connection between the feedback and the learning outcomes
- Provide practical advice on how to improve for the following unit
- Clarify that no feedback is “too late” and that all feedback can be applied outside of the university context (Brookes, K. 2008)
These 3 action points will support students who often end up feeling defeated and confused by assessment feedback and grades.
References/Bibliography:
Hooks, bell.Teaching to Transgress : Education As the Practice of Freedom, Taylor & Francis Group, 1994. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ual/detail.action?docID=1656118.
Brookes, K 2008, ‘Could do Better?’: students’ critique of written feedback, University of the West of England, Bristol. Available from: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1017242/could-do-better-students-critique-of-written-feedback. [25 February 2025]
Gersh, M. (2014). School days – Max Gersh. [online] Max Gersh. Available at: https://www.gershphoto.com/school-days/.