Assessing the impact of skills development through formative assessment on student retention and success in S294

Project leader(s): Katja RietdorfJane Loughlin
Theme: Innovative assessment
Faculty: STEM
Status: Current
Dates: September 2021 to May 2022

This project will investigate the impact on student performance and module results of engagement with specific question types in formative assessment and with resources designed to support skills development. Specifically, we will analyse if:

engaging with resources and accessing feedback affects student retention
students improve their ability to answer a certain type of question in successive TMAs …
… and if this affects the scores in the respective exam questions
accessing the training resources helps students with the respective questions in the exam
these results differ between students accessing their tutor feedback for their TMAs compared to those who do not access the feedback.

We will take a quantitative approach to analyse engagement with the formative assessment by scrutinising TMA submission rates and scores as well as individual question attempts and scores. We will also include the TMA04 and exam submission rates and scores in the analysis, and correlate all of those with data on student access of the various resources. These measures will be examined by qualification aim, study intensity and demographics including ethnicity and disability.

If our hypothesis that students who engage with the formative assessment, with AL feedback, and with the training resources provided have a higher retention, pass rate and a better module result, and, more specifically, demonstrate improved skills development, the results can be used to inform students how engaging with the formative assessment can be beneficial for their results. It will also help to evaluate the effectiveness of our resources, which, if effective, could be used in other modules.

This project could inform the design of a follow-up project to gather data on student perceptions of their skills development and the value of feedback on formative assessment opportunities, through real-time surveys of S294 students as they engage with the formative assessment and skills resources.