Whose responsibility is it? Encouraging student engagement in the learning process

Abstract

This article presents the results of an action research project that focused on giving students more sense of control and responsibility over their own learning by engaging them more fully in assessment and helping them to understand the principles underpinning assessment criteria. The course is a second-year music module with approximately 85 students. I formed the class into groups to grade model answers and compiled a list of what they believed the assessment criteria should be based on this experience. I then used this list to compile a self-assessment criteria sheet, which the students filled out themselves and attached with each subsequent assessment. When I completed my analysis of data from the first cycle of action research, I implemented the learning from that cycle into a second and third cycle of action. This involved re-evaluating my initial plans in light of my findings; building on what was successful and changing what was not, and refocusing my research. The findings were significant, as their assessment results improved dramatically. Involving students throughout the assessment process, from initially setting the criteria right through to self-assessing their work, improved their grades, reduced student passivity and increased their self-confidence.

Keywords:

• action research
• self-assessment
• group work
• student learning
• student confidence
• deep learning

Notes

1. With thanks to Dr Seamus Lillis who alerted me to the similarity between their approach and mine.

2. Further information on the work carried out by ASKe can be found at http://www.brookes.ac.uk/aske

3. Other research into assessment in the area of performance has been carried out by Desmond Hunter (1999) at the University of Ulster in ‘Developing peer-learning programmes in music: group presentations and peer assessment’, Martin J. Bergee and Lecia Cecconi-Roberts (2002) in ‘Effects of Small-Group Peer Interaction on Self-Evaluation of Music Performance’ and Ryan Daniel (2004) in ‘Peer assessment in musical performance: the development, trial and evaluation of a methodology for the Australian tertiary environment’.