Written by Nadim Mirshak and Paul Simpson

The graduate employment market seems fiercely competitive so the Sociology Department is keen to offer as range of assessments that enable students to develop employability, as well as skills and knowledge for citizenship in a complex, ever-changing world.  

So what is the strategy? We began by having a look at what we actually do and then compared this with innovative assessment and feedback practices across the School of Social Sciences to see what we could learn from practice in the other Departments.         

Our synthesis of School-wide practice was encouraging.  We found a fair degree of diversification in assessment and feedback and overlap with good practice and innovation in other departments but that there was some scope for development within Sociology. This issue is partly being addressed by the innovative approaches to assessment and feedback in our newer modules, which have just been approved (February 2022) noted with an *below.

Although the essay and exam ‘model’ remains core to assessing undergraduates, we aim to engage and motivate students with diverse forms of assessment both formative (e.g. feedback on plans etc to improve) and summative (i.e. final mark with feedback).  

To give you a flavour of this variety, and looking across the undergraduate curriculum are established and new modules:  

Formative assessment

• Research proposals – Researching Culture and Society (RC&S), Y1.
• Group presentations – RC&S.
• Individual presentations – Family, Relationships and Everyday Life* (FR&EL), Y1.
• Case study report of 1,500 words and group debate – Environment and Society (E&S), Y1.
• ‘Multimedia’ presentations – New Media (NM), Y2.
• Blog posts – Global Social Challenges, Y1 and NM.
• Evidence of tutorial/reading preparation – FR&EL, Sustainability, Consumption and Global Responsibilities, Y2, Gender, Sexuality and Culture (GS&C), Y2, Identity, Power and Modernity; Decolonising Sociology*, Y2.
• Protest Journal – Power and Protest, Y3.
• Peer-reviewed group presentations – Sociology of Mental Health and Illness (SMH&I), Y3.* (Alternatives exist for DASS students who need it).
• Dual-format test MCQs + short answers – Human-Animal Relations, Y3.

Summative assessment

• Qualitative research reports – RC&S.
• Two 1,000-word essays – E&S Y1.
• Critical review essay – Qualitative Social Research Design (QSRD), Y2.
• Research design assignment – QSRD.
• Individual presentations – GS&C; Dissertation (40-credit), Y3.
• Research proposal – Dissertation 20- and 40-credit.
• Multiple choice exam – Secrets, Lies and Mass Deception, Y3.
• 2000-word reflexive essay based on weekly readings – Decolonising Sociology*.
• Analytical report of 3,000-word of a case study involving interpretation of statistics and contextualising findings – SMH&I).*
• Exam of 10 short questions based on a short extract SMH&I. *
• Portfolio of images with analytical 2000-word commentary – Art and Society*, Y3.
• Charter for an anti-racist school/manifesto for transforming Higher Education with analytical commentary – Racism and Resistance in Education*, Y3.

However, there may scope for further diversification and we are currently addressing this at School level and will be reporting on progress to students as we continue to develop.

We would also welcome your feedback on how you think we could improve on assessment and feedback practices. 

Thank you and for more details contact Nadim Mirshak nadim.mirshak@manchester.ac.uk and Paul Simpson paul.simpson-2@manchester.ac.uk .