Providing verbal feedback via grademark for individual pieces of coursework
This is provided on the module SOC3089 which is an optional stage 3 module in sociology. The feedback is provided by myself (Anselma Gallinat) as Module Leader and marker.
It is possible to record up to 3 minutes of verbal feedback for individual assignments in grademark. I recorded the main feedback to the student verbally. For external examiners, I additionally added some bullet points into the text box for overall feedback. After recording the feedback, you can listen back to it, but also delete it to record afresh if you got stuck or lost your train of thought. Since I had hardcopies of the assignments in front of me I'd leaf through them and talk the student through some specific examples to show what the 'generic' feedback point applied to. When trialling this last year, which was also the first time I used online marking, I benefitted from the module being quite small (15 students). I do not think this is feasible to sue on a large compulsory module. I also benefitted from the support within GPS. Colleagues in politics have used this system for some time - I thank Nick Randall specifically.
At a feedback event within HSS back in the spring 2016 I had heard that this was now possible and some colleagues were already using it and felt very positive. In sociology we always invite students to come and see us for verbal feedback after they have received their work back. However, few students take this up, although those who do, find it immensely useful. We also encourage our personal tutees to see us with examples of recent feedback at the end of semester two for a progress discussion. The option of recording verbal feedback together with the assessment, in-text annotations and the mark seemed to bring the two approaches together for me. It also had the potential t return the assessment feedback to that relationship between staff and students within which teaching and learning is based, and I thought that it may bring a certain immediacy that would encourage students to engage maybe a little more closely.
When I told the students about what I'd planned they were at first apprehensive. The prospect seemed scary: I would be their right with them telling them what they'd done wrong! They worried about hearing disapproval. Simultaneously, I felt that speaking the feedback created an immediacy for me also that meant I carefully worded my points to avoid any sense of sounding disappointed. Moreover, whilst written feedback can often become very generic or technical, talking the student through their essay meant that the verbal feedback was more directly related to their text. Once the students had experienced this for the first time, they felt more reassured. Some suggested that they did pay more attention -whilst you can skim read an essay cover page, you cannot 'skim-listen' to your lecturer, one student explained. However they were clear that the text box for generic feedback also needed to be used, despite extensive annotation. This was so they had a sense of what was heading their way when pressing the re-play button for the verbal feedback. They felt short bullet points indicating the main issues would suffice.
Verbal feedback on coursework provided electronically
Assessment and Feedback, Technology Enhanced Learning
Undergraduate (Stage 3)
Geography, Politics and Sociology
Online assessment and feedback
Individual students
Info from another School/Institute