A reflection on assessment literacy and group cohesion

The MA Film Studies course was launched at the University of Leeds in September 2020. It was designed to be team taught by staff across the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures, as well as by external industry professionals, providing a wide range of expertise. As the MA was expected to appeal to an international student cohort, as well as those from practice-based rather than academic backgrounds, an Academic Literacies (AL) programme was embedded into one of the core modules (Film Arts and Industries). This was to ensure that ‘all students, whatever their diverse academic experience or backgrounds, will be able to fully engage with the variety of topics taught’ (University of Leeds Module Catalogue, 2019). The AL programme was also intended to be a point of consistency within the core module, providing regular contact with a familiar face, given that lectures and seminars were delivered by different colleagues each week.  

I have been working on the AL programme for MA Film Studies since its beginning, delivering a 2-hour seminar per week across 2 semesters. We have completed the second iteration of the course with 40 students, but had a cohort of 13 in the first year. There are a variety of needs within the group, due to the mix in academic, cultural and linguistic backgrounds (approximately 20% British/ Home students and 80% predominantly Chinese/ international students), so group cohesion can be a challenge at times.   

As I have been working on this AL programme since the beginning, I had the opportunity to set up the syllabus, create the materials, and be involved with assessment development. This has been facilitated by the MA Film Studies team, as they are willing to work in a collaborative manner and understand the nature of the AL approach. In addition to supporting students with their other assessments, the AL programme is currently responsible for an assessed presentation worth 10% of the core module. In the following, I will outline how the marking criteria were created for this assessment, how the assessment is marked collaboratively, and the resulting benefits and challenges this has created.  

Co-creation of Marking Criteria 

The Film Studies Programme Manager had envisioned the MA as incorporating a variety of assessment formats (e.g. videoessays, real world artefacts, reflective accounts) and was encouraging of trying new approaches. In the programme proposal, an assessed presentation (worth 10%) had been approved as part of the core module, but there was flexibility on the nature of the task and how it would be assessed. We decided on a group presentation, to develop group-work skills and communicative competence, and to involve students in co-creating the marking criteria to help with their assessment literacy. 

I had created marking criteria before, but had not done so in collaboration with students, so looked for examples in the literature for guidance. Meer and Chapman’s (2015) article outlined their approach of co-creating marking criteria in terms of: considerations before setting up a collaborative task; variations in assessment language use between lecturers and students; evaluating and negotiating differences in language use; approaches to peer assessment; the impact of including students in the academic community of practice etc. 

Based on this article, I set up my own seminar sessions to guide students through areas such as: 

- reflecting on previous group presentations 

- understanding the aims of the collaborative task (to include students in the decision-making process and develop their assessment literacy)  

- understanding the links between learning outcomes and assessments 

- discussing what students thought they should and should not be assessed on based on their prior knowledge of group presentations (e.g. should team-work be assessed? If so, how?) 

- deciding on which aspects should be marked individually, which should be marked as a group, and how the criteria should be weighted based on their perceived importance  

- analysing the language of existing marking criteria in terms of clarity (e.g. what marks did they think equated to ‘excellent’, ‘satisfactory’, ‘poor’ etc.)  

Following these scaffolded tasks, students were then grouped to edit a set of draft marking descriptors (based on existing School of Languages, Cultures and Societies MA presentation examples) to add to/ delete ideas, modify the language, and decide on the weightings of components. They decided: how to weight each component, concluding that 60% group and 40% individual was fair; that the questions and answer segment should be awarded a group mark as their research could contribute to each other’s answers; and that ‘team work’ should be assessed by peer marking.  

Their ideas were compiled, then reviewed by me, the Module Leader and Programme Manager for approval. The final version (see attachment) of the marking criteria was produced as a result of this process.   

Co-Marking Assessed Presentation 

The assessed presentation task involved students (in pairs or groups of 3 or 4) delivering a response to a taught core module lecture and seminar theme. Students researched their chosen aspect, then delivered it to the lecturers (AL leader and Module Leader) and peer group to further their understanding and critical engagement in the theme.  

The presentations were double marked by the Module Leader and me as the AL leader using the co-created criteria; I focused more on ‘effectiveness of communication’, my Film Studies colleague led on ‘Content/ Use of Sources’, while the ‘team work’ descriptor was peer assessed by student group members. We felt the criteria worked well for our purposes, particularly in highlighting links between the AL strand and the content module, though some minor clarifications were needed in the accompanying assessment instructions (e.g. timings, submitting slides). 

Benefits & Challenges  

On reflection, I was surprised by how engaged the students were with co-creating the marking criteria and how much they had to contribute. In the end of semester feedback, students highlighted the marking criteria task as being interesting and very useful for them. I believe this task contributed to the students’ understanding of how marking criteria are constructed, the thought processes behind them, and gave them the opportunity to reflect on what is important for them in terms of being assessed. The Module Leader also commented that the work on assessments during the AL strand was invaluable in supporting students to deepen their understanding of their assignments and achieving their potential.  

The main challenge in setting up such a collaborative task is that it needs to be done at the inception of a new programme; it is more often the case that we inherit modules which are already set up, with structures in place that do not allow for such flexibility. To overcome this, this approach in co-creating marking criteria could be used for formative assessments if the summative assessments have already been set up. 

Impact of Academic Literacies 

Now that I have completed 2 years on the Academic Literacies programme, I can see more clearly the areas where I have helped students and colleagues. At first, I thought it was with assessments and writing, but I now think it is more with facilitating intercultural communication. For example, in the first year of the assessed presentation, students chose their own groups, which resulted in monolingual/ mono-cultural groupings. This year, I chose the groups to ensure there were opportunities to work with others from differing cultural and linguistic backgrounds. In the recent end of semester feedback, students ranked ‘working more effectively with others from a different cultural/ linguistic background’ as the number 1 area they noticed the greatest improvement in (12/19 respondents), with writing skills and research skills development taking joint second place. The Module Leader has also remarked that ‘the community aspect of the sessions seemed so impactful... particularly given that this core module is team taught and so could otherwise leave the students with a fragmented experience’, describing the AL programme as ‘the life buoy in the stormy MA’. 

Having worked on other in-sessional programmes, I know from experience that the battle is half won when working with colleagues who are willing to collaborate and understand the AL approach. I am very grateful to the Film Studies Programme Manager and Module Leader for their continued support with the AL programme, and look forward to working with a new group of students next year.     

Reference 

Meer, N. & Chapman, A. 2015. Co-creation of Marking Criteria: Students as Partners in the Assessment Process. Business and Management Education in HE. 0 (0), pp. 2-15