Andrew Salisbury turns spreadsheet feedback data into individual feedback forms

Imagine a system that can automatically generate feedback based on one single Excel sheet or a system that automizes feedback for oral presentations!  It has  been a while since I used the traditional time-consuming approach of writing feedback manually, i have now turned to spreadsheets to give automatized  feedback on coursework submissions and oral presentations. Together with the help of some simple software macros in excel, marking and the generation of  feedback forms can be easily done, saving time and simultaneously providing quality feedback through error control.  I understand the skepticism of users who don't want to spend more time in front of a computer screen, but these systems are designed with ease of use and simplicity so the average user actually  spends less time staring at the monitor.  The systems are designed for minimum data entry and thus minimum time spent on the PC, more than half of the work involved is automised and is controlled by the software within Excel.

Feedback on Presentations:

The purpose of this system is to automatize the correcting of oral presentations in an efficient and error-free way, so they can be marked and finalised during the actual presentation and thus requiring no more further work/editing at a later point. The system is based on the department's oral presentation feedback form. A single excel sheet is created with the criteria in the first column and the marking system in the preceding columns. The final feedback form looks like this: 


The lecturers simply fill in each row with numbers from 1-5 representing the class of the mark. Once all numbers have been entered, the name and the class, the document automatically calculates the score based on a hidden factor/formulae and displays the final mark (out of 100%). The individual comments can be  either entered manually or chosen from a drop down menu (of previously defined comments, saving time from rewriting the same ones). Conditional macros  prevent errors that may be common in conventional systems, such as:

1. Preventing double grades in the same field by flagging messages if double grades are entered.
2. Incorrect range entered in each column, by flagging a visual dialogue box.
3. A completion message and a change of colour clearly indicating when the form has been completed.

A final add-on is a macro that saves each presentation as a separate file (.xlsx) and (.pdf) with the name of each group within the presentation together with the presentation assignment name appended for further convenience.

Here is a video presentation on how this is done.

Feedback on Coursework:

A single excel spreadsheet is all that is required to write as many feedback forms as you like:  The lecturer only needs to enter the following data in a single sheet:

•     Student Name.
•     Student Class.
•     Student Score.
•     Days late.
•     Extra comments.

All the rest found in the standard department's assignment form are calculated using simple formulas including the final score with/without penalty based on  the number of days late automatically.  Once the single sheet has been filled in, a macro to create the feedback forms is run.  This macro counts the number  of students you have and (in a matter of few seconds), copies the original feedback form and replicates it depending on the number of students you have (with each new student's data). The final feedback form looks like this:

Of course, the main file with all feedback forms can be saved and converted to PDF so the lecturer can have one single file with all feedback forms combined. Another macro can be run however, which will save each feedback form in an excel and pdf file (.xlsx) and (.pdf) separately for you to email to the students or simply for your own records.  This provides an easier system for you to quickly find the feedback of a single student (as each tab in the Excel file will be named after the student) as well as each single file.  These separate files will also be automatically appended with the current assignment name taken from the single Excel sheet. Finally, in order to aid management, a grade sheet is produced automatically with the essential data required by course administrators for a simple cut and paste into their own documentation.

Once the files, (the number depending on how many students), have been created, any changes can be made to ANY/ALL the feedback forms automatically by simply changing the data in the original single Excel file, there is no need to locate and manually change the data. 





Here is a video presentation on how this is done.
 
I would be glad to share my spreadsheets with anyone who is willing to generate feedback forms in an automatic way.

Dr Andrew Salisbury
Lecturer in BAED