Jessica To - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Jessica To

Research paper thumbnail of From error-focused to learner-centred feedback practices: Unpacking the development of teacher feedback literacy

Teaching and Teacher Education

Research paper thumbnail of A Systematic Review of Peer Assessment Design Elements

Educational Psychology Review, Feb 9, 2023

The growing number of peer assessment studies in the last decades created diverse design options ... more The growing number of peer assessment studies in the last decades created diverse design options for researchers and teachers to implement peer assessment. However, it is still unknown if there are more commonly used peer assessment formats and design elements that could be considered when designing peer assessment activities in educational contexts. This systematic review aims to determine the diversity of peer assessment designs and practices in research studies. A literature search was performed in the electronic databases PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, Web of Science Core Collection, Medline, ERIC, Academic Search Premier, and EconLit. Using data from 449 research studies (derived from 424 peer-reviewed articles), design differences were investigated for subject domains, assessment purposes, objects, outcomes, and moderators/mediators. Arts and humanities was the most frequent subject domain in the reviewed studies, and two-third of the studies had a formative purpose of assessment. The most used object of assessment was written assessment, and beliefs and perceptions were the most investigated outcomes. Gender topped the list of the investigated moderators/mediators of peer assessment. Latent class analysis of 27 peer assessment design elements revealed a five-class solution reflecting latent patterns that best describe the variability in peer assessment designs (i.e. prototypical peer assessment designs). Only ten design elements significantly contributed to these patterns with an associated effect size R 2 ranging from .204 to .880, indicating that peer assessment designs in research studies are not as diverse as they theoretically can be.

Research paper thumbnail of Using exemplars to increase students' understandings of assessment standards and self-evaluative capabilities

Conference Theme: Higher Education in a Globalized Worl

Research paper thumbnail of Teacher Efficacy and Pedagogical Leadership Development Through School-University Collaboration

Proceedings of the 2021 AERA Annual Meeting

Research paper thumbnail of Proactive receiver roles in peer feedback dialogue: Facilitating receivers’ self-regulation and co-regulating providers’ learning

Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 2021

Research paper thumbnail of A systematic review of the educational uses and effects of exemplars

Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 2021

Research paper thumbnail of Exploring the potential of exemplar discussion in supporting feedback processes

Session - Assessment and Feedback: ID 6

Research paper thumbnail of Making productive use of exemplars: Peer discussion and teacher guidance for positive transfer of strategies

Journal of Further and Higher Education, 2015

Discussion of exemplars of student work is a productive means of explaining tacit knowledge and g... more Discussion of exemplars of student work is a productive means of explaining tacit knowledge and guiding students into the requirements of academic writing. Through two cycles of action research in a postsecondary institution in Hong Kong, this study examines how exemplars can be used to enhance student understanding of quality and to promote positive transfer of strategies and skills from exemplars to assessment task. Interventions included peer discussion, teacher-led interaction and student mini-presentations in relation to exemplars. To gauge perceptions of these processes, we collected data via open-ended surveys and focus group interviews with students, commentaries from a critical friend and a teacher-researcher reflective journal. Findings suggest that peer discussion and teacher guidance play a complementary role in engineering a supportive learning environment for positive transfer of insights. Peer discussion is useful in allowing students to generate ideas and negotiate meanings. Teacher guidance serves to explicate the characteristics of good quality work and to increase students' critical awareness of the differences between exemplars and their own writing. Teaching implications for dialogic use of exemplars are discussed, and some avenues for future exemplar-related research outlined.

Research paper thumbnail of ‘This is not what I need’: conflicting assessment feedback beliefs in a post-secondary institution in Hong Kong

Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 2016

Exploring students' perspective on feedback is high on the research agenda following the comparat... more Exploring students' perspective on feedback is high on the research agenda following the comparatively lower satisfaction scores for assessment and feedback in the National Student Survey. However, limited research examines how teachers and students perceive the same feedback events in the post-secondary context. This case study fills the gap by comparing the views of two teachers and twenty first-year students on assessment feedback in an Academic English module in a post-secondary institution in Hong Kong. Data collection methods involved documentation of feedback on marked assignments, recordings of verbal feedback sessions, stimulated-recall interviews with teachers and focus group interviews with students. The conflicting beliefs indicated three problems: insufficient explanation of criteria and standards for feedback interpretation; use of praise for rapport building at a cost of feedback sincerity; limited uptake of error corrections in end-of-term assignments. Possible reasons behind the divergence are discussed. The paper argues that using praise to save students' face may paradoxically heighten the tensions in feedback processes in a high-stakes assessment context. A more effective method is to foster students' 'feedback resilience' to help them manage negative emotions in feedback processes. Recommendations for developing 'feedback resilience' are provided, and avenues for future research discussed.

Research paper thumbnail of Developing students’ capacities for evaluative judgement through analysing exemplars

Developing Evaluative Judgement in Higher Education

Research paper thumbnail of Disciplinary perspectives on feedback processes: towards signature feedback practices

Teaching in Higher Education

Feedback processes are situated within the norms and practices of disciplinary learning activitie... more Feedback processes are situated within the norms and practices of disciplinary learning activities. Through a sociocultural lens, this study seeks to understand disciplinary feedback possibilities and challenges through a study of four different disciplines at a research-intensive English medium university. Two soft applied and two hard applied disciplines were selected: architecture, education, engineering and medicine. Research methods comprised interviews with teachers and students, and carefully chosen classroom observations. The findings exemplify both disciplinary-specific and generic ways of implementing feedback processes, with critical reviews in architecture and bedside rounds in medicine representing significant disciplinary feedback practices. A contribution of the paper lies in suggesting a novel concept of signature feedback practices to denote characteristic feedback strategies used in specific disciplines. A key implication for practice lies in the potential for the development of signature feedback practices focused on ways of thinking and doing which are authentic to the discipline.

Research paper thumbnail of Using learner-centred feedback design to promote students’ engagement with feedback

Higher Education Research & Development

Research paper thumbnail of Peer assessment effects on the self-assessment process of first-year undergraduates

Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education

Research paper thumbnail of Using peer and teacher-student exemplar dialogues to unpack assessment standards: challenges and possibilities

Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education

Research paper thumbnail of Disciplinary perspectives on feedback processes: towards signature feedback practices

Teaching in Higher Education

Feedback processes are situated within the norms and practices of disciplinary learning activitie... more Feedback processes are situated within the norms and practices of disciplinary learning activities. Through a sociocultural lens, this study seeks to understand disciplinary feedback possibilities and challenges through a study of four different disciplines at a research-intensive English medium university. Two soft applied and two hard applied disciplines were selected: architecture, education, engineering and medicine. Research methods comprised interviews with teachers and students, and carefully chosen classroom observations. The findings exemplify both disciplinary-specific and generic ways of implementing feedback processes, with critical reviews in architecture and bedside rounds in medicine representing significant disciplinary feedback practices. A contribution of the paper lies in suggesting a novel concept of signature feedback practices to denote characteristic feedback strategies used in specific disciplines. A key implication for practice lies in the potential for the development of signature feedback practices focused on ways of thinking and doing which are authentic to the discipline.

Research paper thumbnail of Disciplinary perspectives on feedback processes: towards signature feedback practices

Teaching in Higher Education

Feedback processes are situated within the norms and practices of disciplinary learning activitie... more Feedback processes are situated within the norms and practices of disciplinary learning activities. Through a sociocultural lens, this study seeks to understand disciplinary feedback possibilities and challenges through a study of four different disciplines at a research-intensive English medium university. Two soft applied and two hard applied disciplines were selected: architecture, education, engineering and medicine. Research methods comprised interviews with teachers and students, and carefully chosen classroom observations. The findings exemplify both disciplinary-specific and generic ways of implementing feedback processes, with critical reviews in architecture and bedside rounds in medicine representing significant disciplinary feedback practices. A contribution of the paper lies in suggesting a novel concept of signature feedback practices to denote characteristic feedback strategies used in specific disciplines. A key implication for practice lies in the potential for the development of signature feedback practices focused on ways of thinking and doing which are authentic to the discipline.

Research paper thumbnail of From error-focused to learner-centred feedback practices: Unpacking the development of teacher feedback literacy

Teaching and Teacher Education

Research paper thumbnail of A Systematic Review of Peer Assessment Design Elements

Educational Psychology Review, Feb 9, 2023

The growing number of peer assessment studies in the last decades created diverse design options ... more The growing number of peer assessment studies in the last decades created diverse design options for researchers and teachers to implement peer assessment. However, it is still unknown if there are more commonly used peer assessment formats and design elements that could be considered when designing peer assessment activities in educational contexts. This systematic review aims to determine the diversity of peer assessment designs and practices in research studies. A literature search was performed in the electronic databases PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, Web of Science Core Collection, Medline, ERIC, Academic Search Premier, and EconLit. Using data from 449 research studies (derived from 424 peer-reviewed articles), design differences were investigated for subject domains, assessment purposes, objects, outcomes, and moderators/mediators. Arts and humanities was the most frequent subject domain in the reviewed studies, and two-third of the studies had a formative purpose of assessment. The most used object of assessment was written assessment, and beliefs and perceptions were the most investigated outcomes. Gender topped the list of the investigated moderators/mediators of peer assessment. Latent class analysis of 27 peer assessment design elements revealed a five-class solution reflecting latent patterns that best describe the variability in peer assessment designs (i.e. prototypical peer assessment designs). Only ten design elements significantly contributed to these patterns with an associated effect size R 2 ranging from .204 to .880, indicating that peer assessment designs in research studies are not as diverse as they theoretically can be.

Research paper thumbnail of Using exemplars to increase students' understandings of assessment standards and self-evaluative capabilities

Conference Theme: Higher Education in a Globalized Worl

Research paper thumbnail of Teacher Efficacy and Pedagogical Leadership Development Through School-University Collaboration

Proceedings of the 2021 AERA Annual Meeting

Research paper thumbnail of Proactive receiver roles in peer feedback dialogue: Facilitating receivers’ self-regulation and co-regulating providers’ learning

Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 2021

Research paper thumbnail of A systematic review of the educational uses and effects of exemplars

Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 2021

Research paper thumbnail of Exploring the potential of exemplar discussion in supporting feedback processes

Session - Assessment and Feedback: ID 6

Research paper thumbnail of Making productive use of exemplars: Peer discussion and teacher guidance for positive transfer of strategies

Journal of Further and Higher Education, 2015

Discussion of exemplars of student work is a productive means of explaining tacit knowledge and g... more Discussion of exemplars of student work is a productive means of explaining tacit knowledge and guiding students into the requirements of academic writing. Through two cycles of action research in a postsecondary institution in Hong Kong, this study examines how exemplars can be used to enhance student understanding of quality and to promote positive transfer of strategies and skills from exemplars to assessment task. Interventions included peer discussion, teacher-led interaction and student mini-presentations in relation to exemplars. To gauge perceptions of these processes, we collected data via open-ended surveys and focus group interviews with students, commentaries from a critical friend and a teacher-researcher reflective journal. Findings suggest that peer discussion and teacher guidance play a complementary role in engineering a supportive learning environment for positive transfer of insights. Peer discussion is useful in allowing students to generate ideas and negotiate meanings. Teacher guidance serves to explicate the characteristics of good quality work and to increase students' critical awareness of the differences between exemplars and their own writing. Teaching implications for dialogic use of exemplars are discussed, and some avenues for future exemplar-related research outlined.

Research paper thumbnail of ‘This is not what I need’: conflicting assessment feedback beliefs in a post-secondary institution in Hong Kong

Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 2016

Exploring students' perspective on feedback is high on the research agenda following the comparat... more Exploring students' perspective on feedback is high on the research agenda following the comparatively lower satisfaction scores for assessment and feedback in the National Student Survey. However, limited research examines how teachers and students perceive the same feedback events in the post-secondary context. This case study fills the gap by comparing the views of two teachers and twenty first-year students on assessment feedback in an Academic English module in a post-secondary institution in Hong Kong. Data collection methods involved documentation of feedback on marked assignments, recordings of verbal feedback sessions, stimulated-recall interviews with teachers and focus group interviews with students. The conflicting beliefs indicated three problems: insufficient explanation of criteria and standards for feedback interpretation; use of praise for rapport building at a cost of feedback sincerity; limited uptake of error corrections in end-of-term assignments. Possible reasons behind the divergence are discussed. The paper argues that using praise to save students' face may paradoxically heighten the tensions in feedback processes in a high-stakes assessment context. A more effective method is to foster students' 'feedback resilience' to help them manage negative emotions in feedback processes. Recommendations for developing 'feedback resilience' are provided, and avenues for future research discussed.

Research paper thumbnail of Developing students’ capacities for evaluative judgement through analysing exemplars

Developing Evaluative Judgement in Higher Education

Research paper thumbnail of Disciplinary perspectives on feedback processes: towards signature feedback practices

Teaching in Higher Education

Feedback processes are situated within the norms and practices of disciplinary learning activitie... more Feedback processes are situated within the norms and practices of disciplinary learning activities. Through a sociocultural lens, this study seeks to understand disciplinary feedback possibilities and challenges through a study of four different disciplines at a research-intensive English medium university. Two soft applied and two hard applied disciplines were selected: architecture, education, engineering and medicine. Research methods comprised interviews with teachers and students, and carefully chosen classroom observations. The findings exemplify both disciplinary-specific and generic ways of implementing feedback processes, with critical reviews in architecture and bedside rounds in medicine representing significant disciplinary feedback practices. A contribution of the paper lies in suggesting a novel concept of signature feedback practices to denote characteristic feedback strategies used in specific disciplines. A key implication for practice lies in the potential for the development of signature feedback practices focused on ways of thinking and doing which are authentic to the discipline.

Research paper thumbnail of Using learner-centred feedback design to promote students’ engagement with feedback

Higher Education Research & Development

Research paper thumbnail of Peer assessment effects on the self-assessment process of first-year undergraduates

Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education

Research paper thumbnail of Using peer and teacher-student exemplar dialogues to unpack assessment standards: challenges and possibilities

Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education

Research paper thumbnail of Disciplinary perspectives on feedback processes: towards signature feedback practices

Teaching in Higher Education

Feedback processes are situated within the norms and practices of disciplinary learning activitie... more Feedback processes are situated within the norms and practices of disciplinary learning activities. Through a sociocultural lens, this study seeks to understand disciplinary feedback possibilities and challenges through a study of four different disciplines at a research-intensive English medium university. Two soft applied and two hard applied disciplines were selected: architecture, education, engineering and medicine. Research methods comprised interviews with teachers and students, and carefully chosen classroom observations. The findings exemplify both disciplinary-specific and generic ways of implementing feedback processes, with critical reviews in architecture and bedside rounds in medicine representing significant disciplinary feedback practices. A contribution of the paper lies in suggesting a novel concept of signature feedback practices to denote characteristic feedback strategies used in specific disciplines. A key implication for practice lies in the potential for the development of signature feedback practices focused on ways of thinking and doing which are authentic to the discipline.

Research paper thumbnail of Disciplinary perspectives on feedback processes: towards signature feedback practices

Teaching in Higher Education

Feedback processes are situated within the norms and practices of disciplinary learning activitie... more Feedback processes are situated within the norms and practices of disciplinary learning activities. Through a sociocultural lens, this study seeks to understand disciplinary feedback possibilities and challenges through a study of four different disciplines at a research-intensive English medium university. Two soft applied and two hard applied disciplines were selected: architecture, education, engineering and medicine. Research methods comprised interviews with teachers and students, and carefully chosen classroom observations. The findings exemplify both disciplinary-specific and generic ways of implementing feedback processes, with critical reviews in architecture and bedside rounds in medicine representing significant disciplinary feedback practices. A contribution of the paper lies in suggesting a novel concept of signature feedback practices to denote characteristic feedback strategies used in specific disciplines. A key implication for practice lies in the potential for the development of signature feedback practices focused on ways of thinking and doing which are authentic to the discipline.