Monthly Archives: November 2010

Correspondence tuition, or is it just tuition?

We had a wonderful session  at an OU staff development meeting in Cambridge yesterday, discussing ‘Time well spent? Making the most of correspondence tuition’. Follow the links below for a copy of the handout on ‘theory’ and for a summary of our discussions.

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How students react to feedback from a computer

Returning to Lipnevich and Smith’s interesting work (Lipnevich, A.A. & Smith, J.K. (2009) “I really need feedback to learn:” students’ perspectives of the differential feedback messages, Educational Assessment Evaluation & Accountability, 21, 347-367). And for the benefit of those who attended the session … Continue reading

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Feedback, feedforward or feedaround?

This is another of those ideas that others probably thought of years ago, but I’ve been a bit slow on the uptake. In summary, findings about the effectiveness or otherwise of feedback probably depend on what the feedback is meant … Continue reading

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Correspondence tuition

At the UK Open University, the distinction between the formative and summative functions of assessment has always been blurred. This is because our tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) and computer-marked assignments (old-fashioned CMAs or modern iCMAs) frequently count towards a student’s overall … Continue reading

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What sorts of e-assessment questions do students do best at?

What do you think? Multiple choice? Short-answer free text?

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Peer assessment : is it better to give or to receive?

Listening to Patricia Cartney from Middlesex University speak at the Centre for Distance Education Conference last week made me think about peer assessment. Apologies to those who have been working in this area for year, my thoughts are probably terribly … Continue reading

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