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Ready for University: Helping A level and Access students understand university assessment criteria

The Ready for University project aims to improve student progression from further education (FE) to higher education (HE), and improve HE student retention, by improving FE students' understanding of university assessment criteria. The project is being conducted at Thames Valley University, a dual-sector university with both FE (Reading campus) and HE (Ealing campus) provision, and focuses on psychology students in both cases. The project is funded by a National Teaching Fellowship awarded to James Elander.
 
Psychology is an increasingly popular A level subject, especially at Colleges of further education (1). However, many students struggle in the transition from FE to HE, and students with progression difficulties encounter their most serious obstacles at assessment points. Many students report that differences in assessment between FE and HE contribute to the difficulties they encounter. Initiatives to improve the retention and progression of students at university include attempts at closer alignment and integration of FE and HE teaching, in order to prepare students more effectively for university study.

The project has developed workshop materials for students on Access and A level psychology courses, which can also be used with university students and adapted for subjects other than psychology. If you are interested in using the material or have any queries, please contact us. The only conditions for using the material are that you inform us before doing so, use the materials only for educational purposes, and acknowledged the Ready for University project as the originator of the materials (see teaching materials below).

Project team and contact details
James Elander, University of Derby, j.elander@derby.ac.uk
Anna Jessen, Thames Valley University, anna.jessen@tvu.ac.uk

Background to the Ready for University project

Research on university learning and achievement has focussed on students’ understanding of assessment and assessment criteria (2), and on differences between staff and student understandings of assessment criteria (3 & 4). That research has led to interventions in the form of workshops to help university students understand the criteria that will be applied to the work they submit.  For example, in first year university modules in geography and psychology, students undertook marking exercises, resulting in generally positive student feedback (5 & 6). In the best controlled evaluation of a programme of this kind, workshops with marking exercises improved student performance in a first year business module, and there was evidence that the benefits could endure over time and transfer to some extent to other modules (7).

In psychology, an approach developed by the Assessment Plus project focused on ‘core criteria’ for university student writing (8).  What students have to develop to meet those criteria have been described as ‘complex skills’ (9). Workshops aiming to help university students understand those criteria have been evaluated positively (10 & 11; see also assessmentplus). 

The Ready for University project aimed to evaluate an extension of that approach to students in FE. The workshops and materials developed for the Assessment Plus project (10 & 11) were adapted for delivery in FE settings, based on a qualitative and quantitative comparison of FE and HE students’ beliefs and understandings about university assessment. The workshops were then delivered to FE students, and evaluated in a longitudinal study that compared students who did and did not receive the interventions, with before-and-after measures of student beliefs and knowledge about assessment criteria, and measures of student achievement in formal assessments, as well as direct student evaluations of the workshops.

Ready for University workshop materials

The workshop materials are available below. There were two workshops, each lasting an hour. In the first workshop, students discussed assessment criteria using the Seven Core Assessment Criteria worksheet. At the end of the workshop, students were given two specimen essays (one relatively weak, one much stronger) relevant to their current study programme, and instructed to read these at home and evaluate them using Essay Worksheet1. In the second workshop, students worked in groups to apply the assessment criteria to the essays using Essay Worksheet2, and then discussed their evaluations of the essay.

Guidance notes about the core assessment criteria and specimen essays are also available below.  These are intended as a guide for staff considering using the materials themselves in workshops to help students understand essay assessment criteria. The notes on the specimen essays indicate some of the ways in which the essays correspond to the core criteria for academic essays, and highlight some of the points and issues that might be raised in discussions with students about the essays. Please note that the notes do not provide a definitive analysis of the essays, which could also be discussed or analysed in different ways.

The materials have been designed for workshops with psychology students, and the specimen essays address the following questions: “To what extent are individuals influenced by the majority and how can this be explained?” and “Compare behaviourist and cognitive explanations of learning, using evidence and examples from both fields.” The materials could be adapted for use with different specimen essays, and in subjects other than psychology. We would be interested to hear from anyone interested in using the materials, and please let us know us if you plan to adapt or evaluate the materials – it might be possible to share or pool data for analysis and publication.

The materials can all be downloaded and used free of charge, provided that:

  • You inform us about how you intend to use them;
  • They are used for educational purposes only;
  • The materials are acknowledged in the following way: “These materials are based on those designed and produced by the Ready for University project (http://www.writenow.ac.uk/readyforuniversity.html)
     

Materials for workshop one

Material for students to take home:            

Materials for workshop two

Ready for University evaluation materials

The questionnaires used to evaluate the workshops are also available below. These include baseline and follow-up questionnaires about students’ understanding of assessment criteria, questionnaires for direct student evaluation of the workshops, and HE and FE staff questionnaires.

The baseline questionnaires were used before the workshop, and the follow-up questionnaires a couple of weeks after the workshop. Data was collected from students who attended the workshops and those who did not, enabling us to assess changes among student who attended, and compare attending and non-attending students.

The evaluation of workshop questionnaires were handed out to students in the second workshop, to collect direct student evaluations of the workshop. Students who took part in the first workshop but not the second were also encouraged to fill in the evaluation form. Questionnaires were also given to HE and FE staff before the workshops to assess their perception of students' understanding of the assessment criteria.  

Downloadable materials:

Findings

The findings were presented at the Higher Education Academy Conference, 3-5 July 2007 in Harrogate and can be accessed in the powerpoint presentation below.

Any reference to this material should be cited as:

Elander, J. & Jessen, A. (2007). Longitudinal, comparative evaluation of workshops to help Access and A’ level students understand university assessment criteria. Paper presented at the Higher Education Academy Conference, 3-5 July 2007, Harrogate, UK.

References:

(1) Woodward, W. (2003). Heads hit out at easy courses as A-level passes rise again. Retrieved from the www 16/04-07 http://education.guardian.co.uk/alevels2003/story/0,,1018386,00.html

(2) Norton, L.S. (1990).  Essay writing: What really counts? Higher Education, 20, 411-442.

(3) Merry, S., Orsmond, P. & Reiling, K. (1998). Biology students’ and tutors’ understandings of “a good essay”. In C. Rust (Ed.), Improving Student Learning: Students as Learners.  Oxford, Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development.

(4) Harrington, K., Norton, L., Elander, J., Lusher, J., Aiyegbayo, O., Pitt, E., Robinson, H., & Reddy, P. (2006). Using core assessment criteria to improve essay writing. In C. Bryan & K. Clegg (Eds), Innovative Assessment in Higher Education, London: Routledge, pp. 110-119.

(5) Pain, R. & Mowl, G. (1996). Improving geography essay writing using innovative assessment. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 20, 19-31.

(6) Elander, J. (2003). A discipline-based undergraduate skills module. Psychology Learning and Teaching, 3, 48-55.

(7) Rust, C., Price, M., & O’Donovan, B. (2003). Improving students’ learning by developing their understanding of assessment criteria and processes. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 28, 147-164.

(8) Elander, J., Harrington, K., Norton, L., Robinson, H., Reddy, P. & Stevens, D. (2004). Core assessment criteria for student writing and their implications for supporting student learning.  In C. Rust (ed.), Improving Student Learning 11. Theory, Research and Scholarship (pp. 200-212).  Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development.

(9) Elander, J., Harrington, K., Norton, L. Robinson, H. & Reddy, P. (2006). Complex skills and academic writing: a review of evidence about the types of learning required to meet core assessment criteria. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 31, 71-90.

(10) Harrington, K., Elander, J., Norton, L., Reddy, P., Aiyegbayo, O. & Pitt, E. (2006). A qualitative analysis of staff-student differences in understandings of assessment criteria. In C. Rust (Ed.), Improving Student Learning 13. Through Assessment (pp 235-247)  Oxford, Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development.

(11) Norton, L., Harrington, K., Elander, J., Sinfield, S. Lusher, J., Reddy, P., Aiyegbayo, O. & Pitt, E. (2005). Supporting students to improve their essay writing through assessment criteria focused workshops. In C. Rust (Ed.), Improving Student Learning 12. Diversity and Inclusivity (pp 159-174).  Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development.