Case study: GTA support on a History course

Summary

On a pre-honours course in History, GTAs provide verbal formative feedback to students in tutorials. These tutorials help early career teachers to understand the value and purpose of formative feedback. Assessment and feedback practices are supported by a range of other initiatives on the course and in the department.

Key points

College: Arts
School: School of Humanities
Corresponding contacts: Dr Karin Bowie
Implemented since: most of the initiatives have been implemented incrementally over the past 5 years.

The role of GTAs on the course

Level: 1
Class formats: GTAs teach seminars and give feedback in two 10-min 1-to-1 tutorials.
Assessment: All GTAs assess seminar contribution (10%) and an essay (30%). Exams (60%) are marked by senior staff and more experienced GTA markers. 

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Objectives and outcomes

On this course, GTAs give verbal as well as written feedback to the students. A feedback loop with two short 1-to-1 feedback tutorials per student allows for more dialogue surrounding the feedback. This dialogue is very useful for the students who are in their first year as well as for the GTAs who get a better impression on how the students perceive and use the feedback they give.

Along with a number of other Subject and course specific initiatives, the feedback tutorials support and help develop the GTAs assessment and feedback practice and help ensure quality and consistency across markers. 

Feedback tutorials

On the course, students are given the opportunity to get verbal feedback on their work two times during term. The GTAs conduct 10 min 1-to-1 essay tutorials with the students. The verbal feedback tutorials as well as final written feedback constitute a feedback loop that is both beneficial to the students and the GTAs: 

  • At the first feedback tutorial, the students bring and discuss an essay plan, on which they then receive verbal feedback.
  • Taking on board the feedback, the students write up the final essay for summative assessment (30%).
  • The students receive written feedback on the essay as well as another 1-to-1 feedback tutorial.

Being a level 1 course, the feedback the students receive on this course is some of the first feedback the students receive at university. Likewise, it will be some of the first individual feedback that many GTAs on the course give.

Benefits 
  • The feedback loop ensures that the students receive formative feedback before the summative assessment and it creates an opportunity for dialogue around the feedback.
  • The students are able to ask questions to the feedback they receive.
  • The GTAs get important information on how the students perceive and use the feedback they give them.  
  • The tutorial provides a knock-on benefit to seminar discussion by improving the rapport between GTAs and students. 

Feedback rubric

On the course, the essay is assessed based on a feedback rubric with five marking criteria. The markers write a few lines of feedback for each of these criteria as well as suggestions for improvement.  They also write ad hoc comments on the essay itself using the ‘track changes’ function in Word.  Students receive the feedback sheet and the annotated essay.  

Benefits 
  • The categories/criteria guide new markers in all the different aspects they need to consider when marking and makes it clearer what is expected of them as markers.
  • Ensures consistency and quality of feedback across markers

Essay briefings

For each essay question, GTAs (and other markers) are provided with a briefing on how the question should be answered. The briefings provide the GTAs with clear examples of what answers should or might include to get a specific grade. 

Benefits 
  • Ensures consistency in marking.
  • Give new markers a better idea of what is expected of the students at this level.
  • Limits doubt and anxieties surrounding marking and calibration for the individual marker.
  • Helps ensure that assessment is based on the ILOs.

Essay moderation and mentoring of new markers

The essays are moderated according to the university policy on moderation. In the moderation process, new markers receive feedback on the calibration of the mark and the quality and quantity of the written comments they have provided to the student.  .

Benefits 
  • Ensures consistency and quality of marking. 
  • The feedback that the GTAs receive can help them improve their feedback and become better markers.
  • The feedback can guide new markers who spend too much time on individual feedback towards a less time-consuming but useful approach. 

Voluntary weekly team meeting

On this course, the GTAs have the opportunity to attend weekly team meetings with the convenor. 

  • Before each seminar, they discuss the purpose and pitfalls of the upcoming session. 
  • When marking or 1-to-1 feedback tutorials are coming up, these are the focus of the team meetings, where they: 
    • go through the technicalities of marking on Moodle
    • discuss the essay questions and briefings 
    • discuss the feedback rubric 
    • discuss time management when marking, to ensure that the GTAs can complete the feedback rubric without working overtime. In relation to this, they discuss what (how much) feedback is useful to the students. 

As per Senate requirements for local training, the subject runs a marking workshop for all new GTAs. This supplements course-specific guidance. At this workshop, they look at essay samples and discuss grades to target calibration. 

Benefits 
  • Helps ensure consistency of marking across courses. 
  • Limits the amount of time spent by convenors liaising individually with GTAs.
  • Creates a sense of team among the GTAs teaching on the course