Assessing engineering learning: Formative, summative and dialogical

In this paper an assessment strategy based on the idea that students submit a draft assignment, receive audio feedback (as an .MP3 file) on the assignment and subsequently submit a revised, final version is proposed. The strategy is shown to align with current recommendations for best practice. The proposal is extensively used by the author in his teaching and two engineering courses are presented as case-studies to illustrate how the approach works. These courses were evaluated using an established student questionnaire. 91% of respondents stated that they were either satisfied or very satisfied with assessment and feedback as it applied to these courses. Grades awarded to final version of the assignment were, on average, 11% higher than those awarded to the draft. Clearly, students are reading, engaging with and learning from the audio feedback.