Problematizing the MA Dissertation (Looking at Feedback to Feedforward)

In this seminar I will present an analysis of tutors’ qualitative feedback on a cohort of 25 full-time MA Education students’ dissertations within the University of Exeter’s Graduate School of Education. Totalling over 15,000 words, the markers’ comments are roughly equivalent to the length of an MA dissertation and grades awarded ranged from 40% to 83%. The rationale behind this small-scale inquiry is to identify patterns in what the dissertation markers considered to be of importance in terms of reporting perceived strengths and weaknesses of the work. Assessment data were accessed through the university’s EBART system and I suggest that such innovations in the use of technology to facilitate marking open up new possibilities for improving the quality of teaching and learning. I will share the implications of my findings, which are likely to have relevance for both the supervision and marking of future MA Education dissertations. Regarding the potentially sensitive nature of this data, the anonymity of students and markers - one of whom was me - will be upheld.