App pgr workshop3

Editor's Notes

• #6: Biggs and Tang, 2007, pp. 52-54 Suggest that you start in a different place. Constructively align your module/learning activities/curriculum. CA has two aspects. The ‘constructive’ aspect refers to what the learner does, which is to construct meaning through relevant learning activities. Comes from constructivist learning theory. Predicated on notion that in order to learn the student needs to be active in their learning. The ‘alignment’ aspect refers to what the teacher does, which is to set up a learning environment that supports the learning activities appropriate to achieving the desired learning outcomes. The key is that the components in the teaching system, especially the teaching methods used and the assessment tasks, are aligned to the learning activities assumed in the intended outcomes. The learner is in a sense ‘trapped’, and finds it difficult to escape without learning what is intended should be learned. This covers alignment within a module, but in a well-designed curriculum individual modules are also aligned horizontally – relating to other modules that students are studying the same year across a programme – to avoid redundancy (students covering the same material or skills in more than one module). And vertically between years – previous educational experiences and looking forward to their next modules/work. Backward design – start at the end – defines what students must demonstrate that they know and can do (intended learning outcomes) and how well they know and can do it (standards) – then works backwards to determine how best to get there and where to start.
• #7: Alignment: again. If your learning outcome is for them to assemble an All the verbs in some way address understanding – which is why using the verb ‘understanding’ isn’t helpful. It doesn’t tell your students how they are expected to understand Written to include an activity, not just declarative knowledge of a topic. Alignment is achieved by ensuring that the intended verb in the outcome statement is present in the teaching/learning activity, and in the assessment task.
• #8: So, if the module aims are written from the perspective of the tutor – the learning outcomes are entirely directed at the student. Fetishisation of learning outcomes. Folded into the norms of quality rules have grown up. We all learn to write our learning outcomes, which are documented in module handbooks, but then which don’t trouble us or our students ever again. Consider subject knowledge, level of understanding that you want them to perform, key skills, cognitive skills (e.g. critical analysis, formulate and test concepts etc), core knowledge, threshold concepts, subject-specific, professional skills. All that is relevant to what you want them to learn during the module/learning activity. They should express the minimum requirement (standard) for the credit not the maximum goal. Should be vertically and horizontally aligned.
• #9: 12.20 - Often some downsides of assessment. What are your thoughts on formative and summative assessment? When and how are each used? Bring in discussions from group exercise introduced in previous slide. Think about your own experiences of assessment and feedback, what’s been good/bad? What can we learn from your experiences? My own personal experiences (Emma) As an undergraduate not understanding the assessment criteria and how they were apparent in a piece of work (couldn’t see the differences between two pieces) so learning to mimic good work instead. As a postgraduate not getting much feedback (because it’s all fine) but consequently not really knowing if you’re doing enough, too much or too little. As a postgraduate when you’re getting high grades not being given ideas for how to take work further.
• #11: Nature of knowledge. Declarative knowledge is knowing about things, knowing what Freud, or Marx, or Keynes said, that this is how a blast furnace works, that the battle of Hastings took place in 1066; that Moby Dick was published on 18 October 1851, that Harry Potter’s first broomstick was a Nimbus 2000. Only one thing that you can really do when confronted with declarative knowledge – that’s receive it, internalise it – fit it into the meaning that you make of the world. Knowledge to be accommodated. You will find this knowledge verified and reproduced in books, online. Knowing that. Functioning knowledge puts declarative knowledge to work. Functioning knowledge informs action, where performance is informed by understanding. Functioning knowledge requires declarative knowledge, but doesn’t necessarily follow that declarative must be instilled first, e.g. problem-based learning. Knowing how. When truly understand something see the world differently, and act differently. A core concept is a conceptual ‘building block’ that progresses understanding of the subject; it has to be understood but it does not necessarily lead to a qualitatively different view of subject matter. So (Biggs and Tang, pp.81-87)
• #12: These are: transformative – occasioning a sudden shift in the perception of a subject; irreversible – unlikely to be forgotten and learned with considerable effort; integrative – exposing previously hidden interrelatedness of something. Possibly often bounded – any conceptual space will have terminal frontiers, bordering with thresholds on new conceptual areas. Also, they may be troublesome – often counter-intuitive, or even the opposite of what they have been taught. “as students acquire threshold concepts, and extend their use of language in relation to these concepts, there occurs also a shift in the learner’s subjectivity, a repositioning of the self . . . . Threshold concepts lead not only to transformed thought but to a transfiguration of identity and adoption of an extended discourse.” (Meyer and Land, 2005: 375-375) Distinct from core knowledge – which students also need to know. A core concept is a conceptual ‘building block’ that progresses understanding of the subject; it has to be understood but it does not necessarily lead to a qualitatively different view of subject matter. So, for example, the concept of gravity – the idea that any two bodies attract one another with a force that is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the distance between them – represents a threshold concept, whereas the concept of a centre of gravity does not, although the latter is a core concept in many of the applied sciences.
• #13: Evolution of these ideas, through: Carless, 2007 ‘Learner oriented assessment’. Work of the ASKe Pedagogy Research Centre at Oxford Brookes. Weston Manor Group. HEA. Look at each of these in more detail. Assessment for learning: Advocate a shift of focus from discussion of standards which champion to consider how high standards of learning can be achieved though assessment. Learning and assessment should be fully aligned. Price et al 2011 argue that: Assessment of learning places deep and complex learning under threat due to understandable demand for high levels of reliability and consistency. If measure what is easy to measure, often fall back on lower orders of Blooms’ taxonomy: remember, understand, apply, analyse, evaluate create. What is ‘high standard of learning’? Critical thinking Independent thinking Active learning Better understanding of subject matter Ability to apply understanding Development skills and attributes: self-efficacy, self-confidence, self-motivation, reflection? Dovetail with employability. What is low standard of learning? Strategic learning Surface learning Regurgitation of learned facts – remembering and repeating Passive learning Poor academic integrity Rather than assessment of learning need to place emphasis upon assessment for learning, i.e. assessment promotes student learning. “The need to provide a reliable, verifiable mark for each individual for each assignment can either limit the methods we have used or create justifiable concerns about consistency or fairness in marking.” So assessment methods which have demonstrable value for learning, such as feedback on drafts, group assessment, peer learning and work-based assessment have been side-lined. Rebalance from summative to formative and diagnostic - which enables exchange information on student achievement – allowing teaching to be responsive. Process becomes dialogic, students given opportunities for preparation and practice before summative assessment – encouragement and support to be their best. Unlocking potential of approaches previously viewed with some suspicion – enables students to develop desirable graduate attributes, self-monitoring, evaluative skills. Key points Assessment must be designed to develop high standards of learning. Students’ learning is enhanced when assessment builds on previous learning and requires demonstration of higher order learning and integration of knowledge. A high quality learning process requires a balance between formative and summative assessment ensuring that summative assessment does not dominate. One of the roles of formative assessment is to give students opportunities for preparation and practice before they are summatively assessed. A range of approaches to feedback in addition to tutor comments on submitted work need to be in place. Students need to develop the capacity to use feedback effectively Integration assessment literacy into course design Active engagement with assessment standards needs to be integrated and seamless part of course design – interwoven into fabric of their course. This enables students to develop their own internalised conceptions of standards – to monitor and supervise their own learning. Students need to understand recognised standards – this understanding will enable them to become autonomous, reflective learners. Assessment literacy: students and staff understand the nature and purposes of assessment and assessment standards Takes time Active involvement in educational community – students as partners Iterative process – course design and implementation to provide ‘unhurried opportunities and time’ – within and across programmes – progression pathways Students need opportunities to learn about, understand, internalise and apply relevant standards – achievable through observation, modelling, discussion, reflection and practice. Dialogue – with staff and with peers (peer assessment) – learn more about subject, themselves and assessment of their performance. Assessment literacy also Indicator 6 QAA chapter B6 on assessment: “staff and students should engage in dialogue to promote a shared understanding of the basis on which academic judgements are made”. “Facilitating students' assessment literacy includes illustrating the way in which standards are communicated and applied within the relevant subject to enable staff to make judgements about student performance in different types of assessment task. It also enables students to develop an awareness of the complex nature of professional judgement, and of the way in which standards are derived from the descriptors in the relevant higher education Qualifications Framework and Subject Benchmark Statements, and from the degree-awarding body's regulations, policies and processes for assessment. (See Indicators 1, 2 and 13 of this Chapter, and Part A: Setting and Maintaining Academic Standards.)” Explanation Courses and assessments need to be designed in ways that help students to achieve understanding of the recognised standards. Understanding will also help them to become autonomous learners who can readily reflect on and review their own progress, development and learning. Appropriately involving students in the design of courses will help this be more easily realised. Key points Assessment literacy is essential to everyone involved in assessment practice. It takes time to develop understanding and skills in assessment. These can be gained by active involvement in an educational community in which students are contributing partners. Students are able to realise complex and sophisticated outcomes when they have the opportunities to learn about, understand, internalise and apply the relevant standards. This can be achieved through observation, modelling, discussion, reflection and practice. Assessment literacy is an iterative process, and therefore course design and implementation should provide unhurried opportunities and time – within and across programmes – to develop complex knowledge and skills, and to create clear paths for progression. Encouraging self- and peer assessment, and engaging in dialogue with staff and peers about their work, enables students to learn more about the subject, about themselves as learners, as well as about the way their performance is assessed.
• #17: 12.30 Just talk them through this slide
• #19: 13.20 Share this list What does this mean in practice? Even if you’re marking summative assessment tell them when to expect it back? Mention feedback sandwich. Also making it related to their previous and future work Are there strategies we can implement for making it more efficient? What should feedback be doing? How do we ensure reliability? Plagiarism +Collusion Introduce the idea of ‘feedback dialogue’ and hand out flyers. What does good feedback do?
• #21: 12.35 NSS data 2015 – taken from HEFCE spreadsheets - http://www.hefce.ac.uk/lt/nss/results/2015/ May need to be checked. what students have been saying, what can we do something about, also acknowledge the extent to which we can meet these. Need to look for efficient methods, especially after the fees hike where these issues might become bigger. These are percentages agreeing. Discuss
• #27: Angelo, 2013, p.101. Angelo identifies 10 specific questions to be addressed in this fixed order. Forefronts: Overall purpose of the module: Discipline-specific knowledge and skills General graduate attributes Work/career based skills Basic academic language/learning skills Personal awareness, development or growth Something else (if so what?) Where module fits in programme – relation to programme learning outcomes? Vertical and horizontal alignment Who is module designed for? Intended learning outcomes? Standards Assessment All before get to the actual content. More than half way down the list. The final thing on the list is what teachers do. Learning-centred approach.
• #28: 14.10 Discuss and talk them through Starting with Why Evaluate Quick fire round – collate on a flipchart Course/Module/Session Learning Outcomes - Teaching Methods – Assessment (F &S) – CONSTRUCTIVE ALIGNMENT Compare and contrast with previous runs Summative evaluation – at the end of the module – evaluating the ‘success of the module’ against objectives. Formative evaluation – as the course or module is progressing – emphasis is on improvement/changes to meet objectives for that Diagnostic evaluation – we sense something is wrong – want to sort it We have tried something different Student Perspective Expectations What they think they have learnt We want to try something new Teaching Teaching style To benchmark ourselves with colleagues / NSS survey – trigger something Teaching development QAA Department, Faculty, Institutional
• #32: 14.20 10 minutes collectively how might you respond to these three. Now think from two different angles – how would you respond affectively (feelings) and then how will you actually use the comments?
• #34: Angelo, 2013, p.100. Which of the above seem most persuasive and relevant to your own teaching and module design?