Leading change in assessment and feedback at programme and institutional level: paper presentation at conference panel session

Hughes, Claire, Walker, Simon, Moore, Bobbi, Wallington, Amy, Albary, Suzanne, Squire, Louise and Doyle, Declan (2025) Leading change in assessment and feedback at programme and institutional level: paper presentation at conference panel session. Assessment In Higher Education Conference, , Manchester, United Kingdom. 19 - 20 Jun 2025.

Abstract

Students’ views are shifting in how they want to engage in higher education, driven by complex socio-economic landscapes they are operating within (Hughes 2023). This has prompted higher education institutes (HEIs) to re-consider how they support students with diverse ranges of needs and wellbeing issues (Firth et al 2023). Central to this is their experience of assessment and feedback which remains as a point of weakness in their overall university experience. Therefore, it is imperative that HEIs hear their voices around assessment journeys, especially given the other demands on their time (Neves et al 2024) and work in collaborative co-design to build connectiveness (McIntosh and May 2025).
In response, the University of Southampton has developed a 5 year Advancing Assessment Strategic Major Project to enhance assessment thinking and embrace new ideas across the institution, with a core set of principles for assessment, supported by six workstreams to bring this to life. This has also included the introduction of an Assessment Consultancy, which provides bespoke individual and whole programme development with a core ethos of student co-design. It also supports the Southampton Transformative Assessment Redesign with Students (STARS) programme that provides an evidential base and ongoing support for enhancements (CHEP 2025).
This session will present up to date findings from the project and relay initial evaluations of the approaches, including discussing the challenges and impacts that the project has enabled. The session aims to inform peers and enable learning from our own and other HEIs who may already be on this journey. The session will encourage rich discourse around approaches to develop assessment and feedback practices to enhance current programmes. It will consider how HEIs should build the foundations for assessment and feedback innovations to align with emerging trends in assessment and feedback including optionality of assessment and cohesive programme development design (Walker: forthcoming).
The design of the interactive session will promote discussion about moving assessment from a ‘hurdle to pass’ to a connected learning experience from start to end. The presenters will seed discussion by sharing recent project outputs led by the Assessment Consultancy, including the challenges of establishing programme-level assessment . A Q&A session will support and develop participants who are thinking about adopting, or have adopted, similar approaches. The session will end with an interactive discussion about the enhancement challenges institutions are facing in assessment and feedback and ways to create peer support networks within institutions.

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Contributors

Author: Claire Hughes

Author: Bobbi Moore

Author: Suzanne Albary

Author: Louise Squire

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