Feedback starts with the assignment question

The communication process of giving feedback to students about their work begins with the communication process of setting the work that you will assess and on which you will provide feedback. The sole-authored, written university assignment is a very contextually specific cultural artefact. For most university lecturers it is so familiar that they have lost the ability to see how difficult it is for many students from non-mainstream backgrounds to understand the full range of the assignment’s requirements and the assumptions (about the purpose of setting assignments, the reasons for referencing etc.) on which the assignment question is based. The AKO Aotearoa website has a wide range of resources focussing on assessment and feedback.

Clarity in writing assignment questions

'The wording of assignments makes a big difference. Sometimes assignments have to use technical wording but then the tutorial should provide an opportunity to discuss that wording. Assignment wording has to be clear and I really like it if there are lots of options because if I don’t understand one area then there is usually another one I do understand.' [International student from Japan, female, graduated with BA/BTM]

'Lecturers should explain assignment questions thoroughly and put extra back up material on Blackboard about how to do the question. Students need to know what kind of referencing system they should use, what the word limit is, approximately how many references are needed and what the most useful resources are. Some courses do this but others just throw the question at you.' [Refugee background student, first year at university, female]

Teaching staff also commented on the importance of clarity around assessments.

I’m careful when I set an assessment. I try to make sure that I don’t use language that poor English speakers would have problems with. David Mason, Undergrad Programme Director

I write comprehensive guidelines for assignments, maybe two A4 pages to accompany the actual assignment questions. Karen Smith, Senior Lecturer

One of the issues that arises is how to assess in a culturally fair way. Issues such as how to grade students who have poor English expression but good ideas are constantly coming up. I make sure I discuss this with tutors prior to the start of the course and during moderation. What I try to do is design assessment that separates out these two issues. I make it explicit that this piece of assessment is focussing on ideas and content and that piece of the same assessment is focussing on clear and accurate English expression. We have clear marking criteria and grade sheets and these help to communicate these values to students. Chris Bowden

The CAD guidelines on The Mechanics of Assessment provide a good checklist, that covers many of these points and the VUW Assessment Handbook provides more information about how to conduct assessment at VUW.