AISHE-J - The All Ireland Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
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Assessment: What It Is, What It Isn’t, and What It Could Be in U.S. Higher Education.
No full textIn the United States, assessment and subsequent feedback to students looks different than in many other countries. Individual student feedback is provided by way of assignment and course grades. In most cases, grading/marking is the purview of the faculty member teaching the course and falls under the umbrella of academic freedom. A more systematic assessment approach is often found in relationship to the assessment student learning outcomes at the program level. At the program level, feedback is often provided to faculty and administrators in hopes of improving the program and thus student learning outcomes. However, by incorporating a process by which feedback is provided at the individual student level as well, student feedback may actually have the potential to enhance current program improvement efforts.
Applying Digital Learning to Facilitate Student Transitions Within Higher Education Mobility Programmes: implementing the Digilanguages.ie portal
No full textThis article discusses the topic of digital learning, the period abroad (PA) (in study or employment) and the potential exploitation of the Digilanguages.ie online portal. We will present some of the latest initiatives in higher education that offer a digital platform for students preparing for their mobility, undergoing their mobility or returning to their home university.We will report on some of the trialled activities that Digilanguages.ie offers to students and teachers to carry out, again during the three phases of the mobility programme. Data gathered during the implementation of these activities will be shown to evidence the relevance of offering (digital) support to students who are involved in their PA. We will discuss issues related to intercultural learning, practical preparation and reflective practice that directly impact upon learners’ development (socio-pragmatic, linguistic and intercultural) in their PA. Finally, some recommendations on the use of relevant portal activities will be discussed
Assessment to Support Student Learning: Eight Challenges for 21st Century Practice.
No full textThere are many challenges for the colleagues who teach and assess students in the twenty-first century, and in this article, we explore eight of these, proposing some practical ways forward building on the scholarship in the field, aiming to make assessment integral to student learning, fit-for-purpose, valid and reliable, inclusive and manageable for assessors. We argue for systematic development through training and mentoring for all who assess, and for programme-level approaches to assessment, rather than discrete approaches to assessment of separate modules that can lead to incoherent student experiences. We conclude by arguing that assessment should be authentic if it is to engage students and prepare them for life beyond the university
Am I Doing a Good Job? Theories of Change Guiding Lecturers’ Self-Evaluative Practices in a Third Level Institute of Technology in Ireland
No full textMaking value judgements on one’s academic work is a fundamental skill, particularly for those within the higher education sector. Evaluative practices such as reflection in and on action (Schön, 1987; Cowan, 2006) and surveys on teaching effectiveness (Jones, Gaffney-Rhys and Jones, 1987; Praslova, 2010) are often proposed as a means of gathering evidence. The aim of this paper is to ask what theories of change (ToC) (Connell and Kubisch, 1999), self-evaluative practices, and barriers to effective implementation could be identified and what level of freedom and autonomy lecturers experience in evaluating their own work. This small study used a RUFDATA evaluative tool (Saunders, 2000) with sixteen full-time lecturers and took place in an Institute of Technology (IoT) in Ireland. Five theories of change were identified (1) transformative focused, (2) profession focused, (3) discipline focused, (4) workplace focused and (5) module focused, along with six self-evaluation practice themes and nine barriers to effective practice. Utilising Bamber’s (2011b) discretion framework, participants were found to have autonomy in choosing what and how to evaluate their practice. The practical knowledge (Habermas, 1971) presented here offers an alternative approach to how academic work is ‘valued’, judged and understood from the lecturer’s perspective. This paper proposes the view of self-evaluation, not as a set of standalone practices, but as part of a sequential process arising from a lecturer’s purposeful academic intentions. The theories of change are used to judge the value of their work within the setting. Therefore, the proposed categories can offer a discourse to justify specific self-evaluative practices for quality assurance and enhancement
Engaging large cohorts of students in online formative assessment to reinforce essential learning for summative assessment.
No full textAssessing large numbers of students is a challenging prospect for educators; they must identify suitable assessment methods to establish that students have achieved the desired learning outcomes, but must also meet tight deadlines for marking, moderating and submitting results. In view of this we developed a new assessment strategy with the aim of replacing a paper-based quiz with online formative and summative quizzes. The rationale for introducing these quizzes is outlined together with a description of the planning, development and implementation process. The advantages of this innovation are discussed in light of relevant literature. The changes made allow a more flexible, student centred approach that fosters student engagement, reinforces essential learning, eliminates errors in marking, and reduces the resources and time required to run the assessment. This strategy to use online quizzes with structured for both formative and summative assessment is pedagogically sound and offers many benefits that stimulate learning and student engagement
Irish Medical Science Education: An Exploration of the Experiences and Attitudes of Undergraduate Students with Respect to Assessment Practices.
No full textAssessment is a driver of learning and shapes the approach and the depth of learning that takes place. When a programmatic approach to assessment is adopted, that includes a formative assessment strategy, what can result is enhanced skills and competencies on the part of students. Presented in this paper is part of a larger research study into the assessment practices in the education of undergraduate Medical Scientists in the Irish context. Ireland boasts three Institutes that each offer a level 8 degree programme in Medical Science. To fully understand the assessment practices of these programmes an insight into the reflections of the students involved is required. The aim of this phase of the study is to report the student experiences and attitudes with respect to assessment on these three programmes. All students registered in the programmes during 2017 2018 academic year were invited to complete an online anonymous questionnaire. The questionnaire containing both open and closed questions, sought information on: the types of assessment students had experienced, their assessment preferences, their familiarity with linguistic terms associated with assessment, and their attitudes on feedback. One hundred and seventy two students responded to the questionnaire, with an equal distribution for each year of study. The result analysis showed a diverse range of assessments have been experienced by the students in each institute. Students prefer short answer questions with the higher year students displaying an understanding of the depth of learning involved. There is a gap in feedback practice between what students receive and what they would prefer. The investigation of the understanding of assessment terminology demonstrated low levels of assessment literacy in this student population. Students recognise the benefit of assessment as a driver of engagement but referred negatively to the scheduling and weighting accompanying some assessment activities.
Moodle and Social Constructivism: Is Moodle Being Used as Constructed? A Case Study Analysis of Moodle Use in Teaching and Learning in an Irish Higher Educational Institute
No full text Moodle was originally developed by Dougiamas in 2002 to help educators create an online teaching and learning platform that embodies a social constructivist pedagogical framework. Galway Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT), an Irish higher educational institute, began using Moodle in 2006 but very little research has been carried out on whether Moodle facilitates social constructivism in practice in GMIT. The main research question for this study is to explore if engagement with Moodle facilitates social constructivism principles in the final year of a GMIT business degree. The paper begins with a literature review which considers theoretical perspectives on social constructivism. It abstracts four principles from the overall theoretical framework to support a methodological basis to gauge what is occurring in Moodle in this GMIT business degree from a social constructivist perspective. These key principles include scaffolding, knowledge construction, active learning and social interaction and shows that Moodle can facilitate such principles in theory. The research strategy was a case study using a mixed methods approach. The data collection instruments include surveys and focus groups with final year business students and lecturers. The main finding that emerged from the study is that Moodle does not facilitate social constructivism principles in this group to any great extent. However, the study found that Moodle does facilitate limited scaffolding and in particular, conceptual scaffolding. In addition, a number of barriers were identified to using Moodle to facilitate social constructivism principles. These include a lack of training and time, availability of alternative technologies, more effective face to face social interaction and student inhibitions. The study concludes by offering some recommendations on how GMIT’s School of Business might move closer to a position that harnesses Moodle’s potential to facilitate the social constructivism principles which underpin it. These recommendations are categorised under cultural, technical and policy enablers
Developing early to mid-career academic staff in a changing university environment
No full textNew academic staff are generally offered structured career development opportunities particularly to develop their teaching practice, often in the form of a credit-bearing programme. Less purposeful development is typically offered beyond this stage, despite staff often moving in to key leadership roles to enhance learning and teaching practice, such as programme leadership, project management and mentoring of new staff. This article presents data from a world café event run for graduates of a post-graduate certificate who were up to 10 years into their career, where they engaged in conversations about the affordances and obstacles to their career development. Three key themes emerged from the findings. Firstly, purposeful networking and engaging in communities of practice were significant vehicles for examining career options, developing leadership capacity and becoming more visible in the university. Secondly, taking the time to make decisive and purposeful choices in career development opportunities was noted by participants. Thirdly, finding strategies to manage conflict and change were often voiced; whilst staff were prepared for teaching roles, managing conflicting demands was often challenging, and development in leadership in changing times was less purposeful. Suggestions are presented for universities to consider to more purposefully develop early to mid-career staff, particularly in a time of rapid change
Reflections on Using a Theory-Based Online Simulation in the Classroom: Unintended Consequences with Obvious and Hidden Lessons for Adopters.
No full textDeploying technology to support and improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment in higher education offers significant opportunities. The complexity of such educational interventions, however, also has the potential to create significant unintended consequences arising from the actions of and interactions among students, academics, technology designers, publishing companies and other stakeholders. Based on the experiences derived from a four-year adoption and implementation process of a theory-based online simulation game, this paper reports on and discusses three such unplanned and unexpected consequences and identifies both obvious and more hidden lessons that will be of value to academics in designing and deploying effective and meaningful technology-supported educational and assessment innovations, particularly for those which take an assessment for/as learning perspective
Technology-enhanced Pathways to Active Learning: Student Response Systems Facilitating Peer-instruction and Self-assessment in Large Classrooms.
No full textThis paper describes an active learning approach implemented in a first-year undergraduate course in Introductory Macroeconomics taught at the University of East Anglia. The first part of the paper explains the motivation that led me to introduce this approach, which builds on powerful pedagogies such as self-assessment and peer-instruction, as well as on technology-enhanced learning through Student Response Systems. In the second part of the paper, I report on the mixed-methods evaluation strategy implemented to appraise pedagogical effectiveness. Whilst only briefly commenting on quantitative indicators, which have been the focus of previous publications, the focus of this paper is on qualitative data that conveys students’ perceptions of their learning experiences when using the approach. Analysis of the qualitative data highlights that students view my pedagogical approach, as well as its technology-enhanced implementation, as supportive of student learning, and as a means of enhancing their self-efficacy beliefs. The pedagogic approach is especially welcomed by students coming from an international background, characterised by diverse previous learning experiences. The approach also appears to be particularly effective for students who are struggling with their learning.