Are we serious about enhancing courses? Using the principles of assessment for learning to enhance course evaluation

Abstract

A series of workshops with educators at Birmingham City University about enhancing student involvement in course evaluation prompted us to consider the principles of assessment for learning as an approach to enhancing the quality and value of this evaluative activity. We focus on student enhanced learning through effective feedback which is a model designed to support the integration of ‘feedback’ and ‘feed-forward’ as a social practice in higher education. In the same way that dialogue between student and educator is now viewed as an essential part of student development we suggest that this approach should apply equally to the development of courses. In this paper we outline the principles of the model – reflection, transparency and developmental dialogue, and set out the case for using the approach to facilitate greater collaboration between students and educators to create a framework to facilitate shared ownership of course enhancement.

Keywords:

• course evaluation
• assessment for learning
• collaboration
• feedback

Notes on contributors

Rebecca Freeman is currently completing her PhD ‘Student voice in higher education’ at the University of Birmingham and has published on the theme of student engagement and student governance. Rebecca has worked extensively with staff and students to enhance course evaluation at a number of institutions and developed the ‘Students as Academic Partners’ programme which employs students at Birmingham City University to lead on educational development projects. She is an educational strategy officer at the University of Warwick and coordinates the national Student Learning and Teaching Network.

Kerry Dobbins is currently completing a PhD at Birmingham City University about the changes occurring within HE in England and their impact upon the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). She also lectures in education studies at De Montfort University. In addition to her current research interests, she has published on topics such as creativity within the primary curriculum, innovative practice in teaching, and the involvement of patients in healthcare education.