The focus of this week’s #LTHE chat is one which many of us will be involved in right now – and may be breaking away from final assignments, exams, or marking in order to take part – Assessment.

This week’s Tweetchat comes from RAISE – the network for Researching, Advancing and Inspiring Student Engagement (http://www.raise-network.com/) and is coordinated by their Special Interest Group coordinator for Engaging Assessment, Dr Deena Ingham.

Assessment is an essential part of higher education life for students and staff. Whether we do it as well as we could or should, whether it does what it should, is certainly something which has been debated by many experts over the years, but tonight’s focus is on the role of assessment in student engagement.

Repeatedly since 2005 when the National Student Survey was introduced, assessment and feedback have been shown to be the area students are least happy with.  We know too individual research and case study work that many academics find much of the assessment they are asked to evaluate equally unsatisfactory. Year after year institutions ask academics what they are going to do about addressing the issues arising from the NSS in terms of assessment and feedback.

To put this in context, the 2017 National Student Survey asked undergraduates leaving their first degrees four specific questions about assessment and feedback:

8. The criteria used in marking have been clear in advance.
9. Marking and assessment has been fair.
10. Feedback on my work has been timely.
11. I have received helpful comments on my work.

There are no questions in the NSS about inspiring, absorbing, productive and thus engaging assessment, about exciting and absorbing approaches which is what we hope to hear tonight. In RAISE we are aware that many in higher education are developing hugely challenging and engaging assessment practices so tonight will be a chance to share those, together with ideas, concerns and give us all a chance to benefit from the collective power of the #LTHE community

When you answer it would be really helpful to understand your perspective – are you a student or staff? What’s your subject area too?

See the shortened Storify (the too many tweets last night, Storify couldn’t pull in) and check out #lthechat on Twitter.

Dr Deena Ingham

As a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy I have been involved in UK higher education as an academic and academic developer since 2004, joining Loughborough’s Centre for Academic Practice in February 2014.

I am the Programme Director of the Associate Teaching Programme (ATP), and deliver modules on the Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PGCAP). I am responsible for a series of teaching development workshops, mentor colleagues through Loughborough University’s Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Scheme, and have a particular interest in the areas of assessment, learning engagement and degree legacy.