Developing Assessment Practices in Politics

Up until the early 1990s the traditional approach to teaching and learning in Politics was to use examinations and essays as the primary method of assessing students. This was somewhat in contrast to other subject-based disciplines, such as the Sciences, where the nature of the discipline necessitated the use of a wider pattern of assessment, including class-based tests in the form of laboratory work. Other subjects, such as Business Studies, tended to make greater use of work placements and case studies. Over the last two decades there has been a steady expansion in research on teaching and learning from a Politics perspective, with a considerable focus being attached to the dissemination of different approaches to teaching and learning. This chapter draws on one aspect of this work by focussing on the importance of the assessment regime in the teaching of Politics. In doing so, it draws on the work of a National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS) project, “It’s Good to Talk: Feedback, Dialogue and Learning” that seeks to identify, evaluate, develop and promote ways to improve feedback to students within the disciplines of History and Politics/International Relations. At the centre of the project is the issue of encouraging teacher and peer dialogue around learning by drawing on feedback approaches in three Universities: De Montfort University, London Metropolitan University, and the University of Warwick. The chapter proceeds as follows. First, it reviews the context of assessment within the teaching and learning of Politics. Second, it analyses the significance of assessment. Third, it investigates different types of assessment. Fourth, it examines the importance of assessment feedback for students. Finally, it presents a concluding argument that a central feature of any method of assessment should be the objective of developing student engagement in ‘deep’ rather than ‘surface’ learning

Feedback-Dialogues: Exploring the student perspective

There have been many recommendations for dialogue to be part of the feedback process for students in higher education. In this paper we report on the findings of feedback-dialogue practices among 17 History, Politics and International Relations undergraduate students. The study is based on findings obtained from semi-structured interviews and focus groups which sought to explore the extent to which students perceive feedback-dialogues to be part of their learning experience and subsequently the value they place upon them. The aim of the research is to develop strategies for encouraging dialogue between lecturer-student and student-student to enhance the students’ experiences of feedback. Analysis of the results indicates the existence of a ‘top-down’ approach to dialogue between lecturers and students and gaps in opportunities for these types of exchange. A range of strategies for creating models which address these two issues are proposed

Is peer feedback an effective approach for creating dialogue in Politics?

Feedback practices have recently come under increasing scrutiny, most notably because of the impact of the National Student Survey. This article draws on the work of a National Teaching Fellowship Scheme funded project that seeks to identify, evaluate, develop and promote ways to improve feedback to students within the discipline of Politics. The article contends that student dissatisfaction with assignment feedback coupled with increased pressures on teaching time calls for a new approach to feedback delivery in the teaching of Politics. At the centre of this is the issue of encouraging lecturer and student dialogue around learning by developing peer feedback. This means moving away from a ‘transmission’ approach to feedback, to techniques which involve discussion and reflection. In this article we consider the literature on one approach by focussing on student-to-student peer feedback. Through an exploration of the literature we argue it offers an effective way to support student learning