Edinburgh Napier University

  Assessment is central to students learning and is a powerful driver in determining what students will do and how (Beaumont , O’Doherty and Shannon 2011).Feedback is known to be an important part of this and valued by students however the UK national student survey results continue to highlight dissatisfaction despite increased efforts by academics to improve practice in assessment and feedback. In response to this the School of Nursing Midwifery and Social Care at Edinburgh Napier University (Edinburgh UK) set out to evaluate current assessment and feedback practice within the undergraduate nursing programmes. To enable this, the TESTA (Transforming the Experience of Students through Assessment) methodology developed at the University of Winchester (Jessop, El-Hakim and Gibbs 2014) and in use worldwide was employed. TESTA uses three methods as follows An audit of number, type, variety and timing of assessments is undertaken. Number of formative and summative assessments is also calculated and quality, type and timing of feedback explored. A validated questionnaire and focus groups gather student experience data and was analysed using SPSS and Thematic analysis. The project was subjected to ethical scrutiny. Results: Assessments were found to be predominantly summative and varied in type and range across differing fields of practice, and quantity of feedback varied significantly across modules. The questionnaire data provided valuable insight into student’s views and perceptions about assessment and feedback including clarity of goals and standards, whether they use the feedback they receive, and perceived quantity of effort required to succeed in their assessments. The focus group themes identified where as follows: Clarity of goals and standards: Inconsistency in tutor expectation, academic guidance and support Feedback: Quantity and quality of feedback, inconsistency of feedback Perceived value of assessment: Type of assessment, variety of assessments Assessment and feedback in clinical practice: Opportunities for assessment, role of the mentor, tools of assessment, feedback, workload Next steps: Priorities for change were agreed in response to the findings and working groups formed to address these. The work will be evaluated and findings will inform design of the new undergraduate nursing curriculum. The process, findings and implications for practice will be presented.