Feedback and Assessment Network (FAN)
The Feedback and Assessment Network (FAN) was an initiative promoting a collegial, cross-disciplinary community of UQ staff and students learning together to enhance feedback and assessment approaches.
FAN facilitated UQ-wide events, led an annual Change Academy for course teams and shared resources through UQ’s Institute for Teaching and Learning Innovation (ITaLI). FAN was funded by a 2019 UQ Teaching Innovation Grant.
The project was completed in 2022.
FAN Change Academy
The FAN Change Academy involves a group of Assessment Innovation Teams working together through a proven model for change – The Change Academy – to enhance existing feedback and assessment practices across a range of UQ courses. The Change Academy Model is a three-part structured, semester-long model supporting action-learning projects within courses.
- Residential workshop: before Sem 1 2020 starts. The purpose of this event is to immerse Assessment Innovation Teams in the latest research translated to practice as well as for teams to receive vital support from External Assessment and Feedback Scholars in order to plan appropriate changes to specific courses.
- Check-in sessions: throughout Sem 1 and 2 2020. These two-hour check-in sessions are a chance for Assessment and Innovation Teams to share progress, reflect and seek support on unfolding action and research processes.
- Sharing and Sustainability Day: end of Sem 1 and 2 2020. During this event, Assessment and Innovation Teams are invited to present their processes and outcomes, while reflecting on future changes across their courses. External Assessment and Feedback Scholars attend these events to further build local feedback and assessment knowledge.
In 2020, the FAN Change Academy will impact approximately 6700 students across 26 courses from all of UQ Faculties. A signature feature of the Change Academy is pedagogical partnerships involving students on the Assessment Innovation Teams.
The 2020 FAN Change Academy of 26 courses is led by the following UQ course coordinators: Dr Susanne Schmidt with Dr Nicole Robinson, Dr Judit Kibedi, Ms Lorna Macdonald, Dr Sandra March, Dr Axel Wieneke, Dr Leigh Sperka, Dr Anna Hogan, Dr Eimear Enright, Mr Paul Treschman, Dr Rebecca Olive, Dr Stephen Townsend, Mr Russell Hinchy, Dr Poh Hillock, Dr Alison Green, Dr Helen Wozniak, Dr Kate Power, Ms Peta Winters-Chang, Dr Alastair Tombs, Ms Ellen Dyke, Mrs Elizabeth Springfield, Dr Allyson Mutch, Dr Lisa Fitzgerald, Mrs Ann Wallin, Dr Michael Gard, Dr Sam Kault and Dr Aaron Herndon.
View past events
- Designing effective feedback processes – with Professor David Carless and Dr Naomi Winstone | 10 Feb 2020
- Teaching students to judge the quality of their own and others’ work – with A/Professor Phillip Dawson and Dr Joanna Tai | 11 Feb 2020
- Feedback and assessment Q&A – with Professor David Carless, A/Prof Phillip Dawson, Dr Joanna Tai and Dr Naomi Winstone | 11 Feb 2020
Resources
Video resources
Conversations with:
- Dr Joanna Tai (watch the video)
- Associate Professor Naomi Winstone (watch the video)
- Associate Professor Phillip Dawson (watch the video)
- Professor David Carless (watch the video)
Resources from Visiting Fellows events (Feb 2020)
Designing effective feedback processes
Presentation from Naomi Winstone (University of Surrey, UK) and David Carless (University of Hong Kong, China) expanding on their latest book, Designing Effective Feedback Processes in Higher Education. They discuss empirical research, share case studies, four key feedback skills, and outline several approaches to designing feedback into assessment sequences to strengthen student learning.
Teaching students to judge the quality of their own and others’ work
Presentation from Joanna Tai and Phillip Dawson, both from Deakin University, focused on how students can learn to judge the quality of their own work, becoming less dependent on teacher’s judgements of quality in the process. They link to existing literature, highlight several case studies, and indicate ways academics can foster evaluative judgement in their courses through thoughtful design of feedback and assessment.
The assessment menu
Presentation from David Carless (University of Hong Kong, China) offering three items of assessment that enable ongoing feedback. The examples of real practices and provide examples that UQ teaching staff might consider, adopt and adapt.
Scholarship applied: Feedback
Presentation from Naomi Winstone (University of Surrey, UK) sharing practical implications from the latest research on effective feedback practices to inform teaching academics at the course level.
Scholarship applied: Communicating your feedback and assessment approaches to students
Presentation from Joanne Tai (Deakin University, Australia) and Naomi Winstone (University of Surrey, UK) focused on the importance of how teaching academics can communicate to students about feedback and assessment, starting with an example of what not to do before outlining effective strategies.
Scholarship applied: Assessment design decisions
Presentation from Phillip Dawson (Deakin University, Australia) walking through a framework to guide course level assessment design decisions that consider the role of feedback, that expands from this nationally funded project.
Scholarship applied: Academic integrity
Presentation from Phillip Dawson (Deakin University, Australia) presenting the latest research and thinking about academic integrity, contract cheating and digital threats that all teaching staff should be knowledgeable about.
Twitter hashtag
#UQFAN
Check out this Twitter hashtag to see comments from events, links to research and case studies, and connect with other people working to enhance feedback and assessment practices.
Project stakeholders
Project team
Project Partner Investigators and academic Chief Investigators are committed to rethinking and redesigning feedback and assessment practices through the FAN Change Academy. Partner Investigators include: Susanne Schmidt, Judit Kibedi, Lorna Macdonald, Sandra March, Axel Wieneke, Leigh Sperka, Anna Hogan, Paul Treschman, Rebecca Olive, Stephen Townsend, Russell Hinchy, Poh Hillock, Alison Green, Helen Wozniak, Kate Power, Peta Winters-Chang, Alastair Tombs, Ellen Dyke, Elizabeth Springfield, Allyson Mutch, Lisa Fitzgerald, Mrs Ann Wallin, Michael Gard, Sam Kault and Aaron Herndon with Sue Monsen, Roma Forbes, and Niki Macionis.
Assessment Innovation Teams
Assessment Innovators work alongside Curriculum-Assessment-Pedagogical Students (CAPS) Consultants and include members of the teaching team as well as learning designers and educational managers.
Curriculum-Assessment-Pedagogical Students (CAPS) Consultants
CAPS Consultants are student partners trained with knowledge of assessment design. They work alongside Assessment Innovators to effectively contribute student perspectives, observe classroom interactions and gather student feedback to convey to course coordinators. The 2020 CAPS Consultants are: Madeline Dooley, Sarah Jhetam, Ranita Atcheson, Dattatreya Majumdar, Dawn Ng, Saud Akhtar, Loi Nguyen, Grace Reinhold, Zezheng (Kevin) Shi, Grace Clive, Jacinta Cross, Georgie Porter, Aidan Waldron, Jack Gleeson, Emma Mackenzie, Madeline Donaghy, Marnie Ball, Josephine Murphy, Wenbo Li, Matthew Chen, Tuan Tu Phan, Abigail Anderson, Shamima Banu Mohamed Ansari, Chi Kai (Kevin) Yang, Konrad Pisarski, Yue Xi, Erin Hokanson, Kylie Tappin, Tess Arnold, Chistie-Anne Garrels, Lily Johnston, Lili Uozumi, Alice Rogers, Mingchuan Li and Louise Ryan.
FAN Network Members
Members of the UQ community who are interested in feedback and assessment whilst wishing to stay connected and up to date through FAN events.
Advisory Board
Colleagues of UQ connected to specific projects, activities, faculties or policies that intersect with the aim and work of FAN to ensure synergies and guide activities while keeping the project leadership team accountable. The 2020 Advisory Board Members are: Prof Peter Adams, Prof Karen Benson, Prof Annemaree Carrol, Prof Julie Duck, Ms Jannette Frizzarin, Dr Deanne Gannaway, Ms Nattalia Godbold, Dr Greg Hinge, Mr Scott Lian, Ms Madelaine-Marie Judd, Prof Lydia Kavanagh, Dr Samatha McKenzie, Mr Dominic McGrath, Prof Polly Parker, Dr Le Hoa Phan, Prof Sarah Roberts-Thomson, Prof Susan Rowland, Dr Christine Slade, Dr Mair Underwood, Ms Preeti Vayada and Dr Greg Winslett.
Leadership Team
Grant CIs with overall leadership for the project and FAN. The members of the 2020 Leadership team are: Dr Eimear Enright, A/Prof Kelly Mathews, A/Prof Jason Lodge, Mr Caelen Rafferty (Student CI) and Ms Maggie Miller (Student Project Officer).
External Assessment and Feedback Scholars
Leading scholars in differing areas of feedback and assessment who will participate in the FAN Change Academy and lead FAN events with a focus on supporting Assessment Innovation Teams. The External Assessment and Feedback Scholars involved in 2020 are Professor David Carless, A/Prof Phillip Dawson, A/Professor Naomi Winstone and Dr Joanna Tsai.