Closing the gap between research and practice in assessment and feedback
Kathleen M. Quinlan, PhD PFHEA, Professor of Higher Education and Director of the Centre for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Kent, UK.
Research on assessment and feedback has dominated higher education research for the past 10 to 15 years, adding new concepts and deeper understanding of this important field. Yet, more than a quarter of UK students are still dissatisfied with assessment and feedback, according to National Student Survey results. We will very briefly review key research-informed principles drawn from a recent review of literature on effective assessment and feedback practices (Pitt and Quinlan, 2022). We will consider together the barriers that individuals and institutions face in translating these principles into practice. Participants will get hands-on with some tools and resources that may help close those gaps. You will work through a structured self-reflection and action planning exercise and experience a taster of how to infuse research-informed practices into course (team) level plans, drawing on Pitt and Quinlan’s (2023) Superchargers activities. We’ll also hear from colleagues about how they are closing the research-practice gap in their own institutions. Through the workshop, participants will be able to articulate key research-informed principles, link those to examples of practices, and identify promising approaches to reducing the gaps between research and practice in their own setting.
Biography
Kathleen M. Quinlan, PhD PFHEA is Professor of Higher Education and Director of the Centre for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Kent, UK. Prior to coming to the University of Kent in 2016, she held leadership or academic roles at the University of Oxford, Cornell University, and the Australian National University. Her research is broadly in the areas of learning, teaching, assessment, and student engagement in higher education. With Dr Edd Pitt, she produced a systematic Literature Review: What works in assessment and feedback 2016-2021 for Advance HE, with follow up funding in 2023 to develop the Assessment and feedback superchargers workshop materials and train-the-trainer guides. In addition, she has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and 15 book chapters, and edited two books, including How Higher Education Feels: Commentaries on Poems that Illuminate Emotion in Learning and Teaching (Sense, 2016) and Culturally Sensitive Curricula Scales: Researching, Evaluating and Enhancing Higher Education (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024, with Dave S. P. Thomas). As an educational developer, she works at the nexus of research and teaching, translating her own and others’ research findings into practical, evidence-based guidance for university teachers. In 2023 she was awarded an Accolade for Contribution to the Field by the Society for Research into Higher Education Award (2023).
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