Jim Baxter's case study focuses on Basic Psychology at Strathclyde University, currently the largest psychology class in the UK. The student roll has in some years totalled 610 students and has never fallen below 520 students in the last 12 years. Although successful in terms of student enthusiasm and engagement with the lecture course, one persistent problem with the class was that more material was presented in lectures than was referred to by the majority of students in their examination answers. This imbalance was, of course, the reverse of what should be the case when students take responsibility for their learning. Another difficulty was that no system of early assessment - summative or formative - was available to Basic Psychology students. Setting conventional essays was not practicable given the size of the class with the result that students got no feedback on their performance in each semester except for multiple choice class tests held in December and April. This paper presents details of an initiative designed to provide early and regular formative assessment opportunities to this large class. An example of the scheme working is presented and students’ ratings of the scheme are reported and discussed.

In this case study Bates describes an assessment design for collaborative group working of first year students in Physics, implemented in teaching activities we call ?workshops?, that were originally introduced 5 years ago as a replacement for the standard tutorial-plus-laboratory format. These workshops comprise a variety of different group activities, but here I focus on collaborative problem-solving and the way that the workshop activities feed into the assessments for the course. The case study addresses themes 1 and 2 of this conference (1st year experience and assessment designs). I also describe the spread of this activity throughout first and second year teaching in Physics and how it has led to a reconsideration of the importance of variety in teaching accommodation at an institutional level.

Crossouard and Pryor's case study describes a task designed to support formative assessment in doctoral contexts. It was conducted within the collaborative EU-funded project ‘Internet-Based Assessment’ (2002-2004). Formative assessment was conceptualised from the perspective of sociocultural learning theories. These emphasise learning as becoming students’ construction of new identities (here as researchers) through engagement in authentic tasks. The task design involved a series of peer and tutor formative assessment activities in a blended learning setting. The study has added interest from having been implemented by a tutor whose own research area was formative assessment (see Pryor and Torrance, 2000; Torrance and Pryor, 1998; 2001) and for its contribution to formative assessment theory from a sociocultural perspective.

In this case study Taylor describes a major initiative in providing feedback to students engaged in writing activities in a first year science unit. The Writing in Biology program has provided interesting challenges, mainly associated with the large number of students and staff involved (n=1000 and 50 respectively). We have however persisted in this endeavour since we consider writing an essential component of the undergraduate curriculum, which must be integral to learning from the beginning of the degree program.

Activities include a series of opportunities for practicing writing, individual face-to-face feedback sessions for all students, and an online discussion forum during the writing process. Students and staff have actively engaged with the activities, and evaluations have consistently indicated enthusiasm for more practice and feedback opportunities. We have also incorporated a series of educational research projects into this program so that we can better understand how students learn while writing.

Requesting reflective essays instead of technical reports has led to students observing more, writing more, developing their own personal writing style, and becoming more self-aware and self-critical. The essays complement a course taught using Collis? Contributing Student Approach by providing a rich source of material for use in subsequent learning resources such as course notes and self-evaluation quizzes. They also provide timely feedback, both for the students and for the lecturer, and help foster a collaborative, supportive learning environment.

Commentary on: Hamer "Laboratory Reports, Reflective Essays, and the Contributing Student Approach" and Taylor "Integrating Feedforward on academic writing into an undergraduate science course"

This case study examines a coursework assessment design, largely formative, aimed at improving students? writing and reviewing skills. The assessment makes use of an on-line assignment system that supports essay submission, blind reviewing of those essays by students, and then blind summative assessment of the reviews again by students. Students additionally write a formal response-to-reviewers, and then summatively assess these. The students are required repeatedly to evaluate the arguments of other students in essays, in reviews, and in response-to-reviewers and compare them with their own viewpoints. The aim is to move them from a Perry-like stage where only their view counts and there is only one correct viewpoint, to a higher stage where multiple viewpoints are valid and they need to find their own position within them. Rather than relying on staff to make judgements, they need to take a step forward in practising and employing their own ability to make judgements about work.

This case study fits into Theme 2, Great designs for assessment. It is ideally fitted to the overall conference title of Assessment Design for Learner Responsibility, since engendering a responsible attitude among the students is a key attribute of the design.

Das and McGugan's case study reports on an English assessment where editorial teams of students work with a passage from a Shakespearean play and prepare the text either for publication in a modernised, scholarly edition, or for a modern theatrical performance. The assessment demands that the results be presented in the form of the annotated ?edition? of the chosen passage and a properly referenced, 3000-word commentary on editorial and directorial decisions. Introduced in the academic year 2005-2006, the assessment represented significant innovation in a research led School which places small group tutorial teaching at the heart of the educational experience. The case illustrates how imaginative assessment design can be used to develop the skills of critical reasoning and independent group decision making.

Commentary on: Cutts "Essay Writing with Peer Reviewing and Marking" and Das & McGugan "Shakespeare: Page Stage Screen"

Bali and Keney's case report on the American University in Cairo (AUC) piloting the use of clickers (also known as personal response systems) from fall 2006. Most instructors piloting this new technology were from economics, science or engineering disciplines, as it was found easier to create multiple-choice questions for their classes. In spring 2007, however, clickers were piloted in a history class. We present a unique case of a one-off use of technology in assessment - a graded activity in which students worked in teams to answer questions using clickers. Prior to this activity, instructors at AUC had succeeded when following ?best practice? of using clickers for non-graded formative assessment only, however, this graded activity showed improvement in student learning, and 95% of them said they would like to use clickers in a similar activity again.

Sharp and Sutherland's case evaluates the experience of a group of Vision Science students exposed to Audience Response System (ARS) technology. Uniquely students were given ownership of the (ARS) software. Students constructed knowledge on several pre-allocated themes with the aim of engaging peers in self-learning, peer-to-peer learning, discourse and assessment of peer responses using (ARS). Guidance was given on question design, engagement and formative assessment. Findings demonstrate both immediate informal and delayed formal feedback, is significant in assisting students deepen their learning, whilst improving motivation, enjoyment and engagement. Evaluations indicate that students using (ARS) to generate questions can be effective in developing higher order learning.

Commentary on: Bali & Keaney "Collaborative Assessment Using Clickers" and Sharp & Sutherland "Learning Gains My (ARS) The impact of student empowerment using Audience Response Systems Technology on Knowledge Construction, Student Engagement and Assessment"

By Dr Steve Draper, University of Glasgow

Gardner-Medwin and Curtin's case study focusses around Certaintly Based Marking. Certainty Based Marking (CBM) involves asking students not only the answer to an objective question, but also how certain they are that their answer is correct. The mark scheme rewards accurate reporting of certainty and good discrimination between more and less reliable answers. This encourages reflection about justification and soundness of relevant knowledge and skills, and probes weaknesses more deeply. It is easily implemented with existing test material, popular with students, grounded firmly in information theory and proven to enhance the quality of exam data. We report our experience with CBM and raise questions about constructive, fair and efficient assessment.

Case study overview
The hidden nature of dentistry and the rapidly changing practice environment require our graduates to be effective self-assessors, to ensure that they are competent life-long learners. The assessment literature indicates that if students do not develop an understanding of assessment processes then their learning outcomes will be limited. Therefore, this showcase focuses on how we support our first-year dental students to understand our assessment processes, particularly related to development of their selfassessment capabilities. Students participate in weekly self-assessment of their clinic performance using current criteria/standards and in a series of specifically designed workshops, involving observation of videos depicting ?peers? completing relevant clinical activities. They also practise applying criteria to assess performance of 'peers' in the videos, supported by discussion with peers and tutors, and reflection through critiquing their own assessments. The outcomes from these activities will inform how our selfassessment/ feedback activities can be designed to support development of dental graduates as effective life-long learners.

Review for Session Topic:

Raising students’ meta-cognition (self-assessment) abilitiesCommentary on: Gardner-Medwin & Curtin "Certainty-Based Marking (CBM) for reflective learning and proper knowledge assessment" and Winning et el. “Developing clinical self-assessment skills in first-year dental students”

by Dr Nigel Watson, University of Strathclyde, UK

This case study describes the process of engaging students in the development of criteria to be adopted in teacher, peer and self-assessment practices. The study was undertaken with undergraduate students of Hispanic Studies participating in a semester-long module whose main aim is the development of students? written competence in Spanish. The involvement of students in the development of assessment criteria was an attempt to move into a student-centred approach to teaching and learning, and to integrate alternative assessment practices with the teaching experience. This case study is interesting because the involvement of students in the development of criteria to be adopted for self-, peer, and teacher assessment of their learning, is an influential exercise that empowers learners to take an active role in the assessment process. This exercise also contributes to the development of students? ownership of their learning through assessment.

Commentary on: Hernandéz "Students engagement in the development of written criteria to assess written tasks"

Atlay et al's case study describes the assessment strategy used on a module as part of a postgraduate certificate in academic practice for tutors at HE level. The module has a focus on making the links between pedagogies and practice.

Two apparently opposing factors influenced the design of the assessment strategy. Firstly, since the participants were all academic staff (albeit with varying degrees of experience of teaching) an important aspect was to draw on participants? own experiences and to develop the notion of collaborative learning and a community of practice (Lave and Wenger). Secondly, the nature of the subject matter, which involves extensive reading, and the geographical spread of the twenty or so participants suggested more of a distance-learning emphasis. A third factor, encouraging participants to think creatively about the assessment strategies they use for their students and their relevance to students? needs, provided a sub-plot to the strategy implemented. The assessment strategy implemented combined the development of a collaborative Wiki with an analysis of critical incidents drawn from participants' own practice.

Cubric's case study describes a wiki-based assessment strategy and the underlying "blended learning" process, that have been formulated and implemented in a series of ?trials at University of Hertfordshire Business School (Cubric, 2006; 2007). The main motivation for use of wikis was to gain regular insight into students' understanding, so to enable more targeted and frequent feedback. The common characteristic of all (four) trials was that they were based on weekly wiki updates by students, that were triggered by tutor-set questions and assessed. The results of the trials have shown that students like the idea of using wikis for learning, particularly if supported by well-defined learning and teaching process.

Commentary on: Atlay, Lawrence and Gamble “A Wikied Assessment Strategy” and Cubric “Using Wikis for Summative and Formative Assessment”

By Peter Kandlbinder, University of Technology Sydney, Australia

Case study overview:
One of the biggest challenges is for a campus community to go from viewing assessment as an innovation engaged in by a relatively small number of early adopters to its institutionalization as part of the campus culture. This case study describes the path that the United States Naval Academy is taking to make such a transition. The literature on the adoption of innovation provides the guiding principles for this effort (see Gray 1997). As Hall, Loucks, Rutherford, and Newlove (1975, p. 53) have pointed out, "Innovation adoption is a process not a decision-point—a process that each innovation user experiences individually." The purpose of using the guiding principles of innovation adoption is to ensure that assessment at the Naval Academy is meaningful, manageable, and sustainable (The Program Assessment Consultation Team 1999) and, ultimately, to achieve horizontal and vertical integration of assessment efforts as described in the Middle States Commission on Higher Education Characteristics of Excellence (2006).

This case study describes the initial organization of an assessment process that evaluates student performance with regard to critical thinking and information management, a general education student learning outcome at Binghamton University (State University of New York) which is assumed to be integrated throughout the university's general education curriculum. This case study adopts an organizational perspective toward assessment, positing that without including key faculty groups in initial attempts to assess learning outcomes, and without a central system for implementing assessment efforts, impacting curriculum, teaching, and learning in critical thinking/information management is a most difficult task. The case study applies to universities, university divisions, departments, and programs that desire to learn about organizational strategies of assessment that, in the end, could impact teaching, curriculum, and pedagogical initiatives that affect student learning. This case study fits under the theme "great designs for assessment" and "institutional strategies (designs) for assessment."

Commentary on: McKitrick "Developing an assessment procedure to enhance student learning outcomes in critical thinking/information management" and Gray "United States Naval Academy Case Study Using the Adoption of Innovation Literature to Guide Institutional Strategies for Assessment"