January’s Journal Club: Discussing Assessment

In January’s meeting of the LEaDER Journal Club we explored the subject of student experiences of assessment, discussing two papers:

The papers share a focus on how assessments shape students’ experiences of learning. McArthur (2022, p.86) proposes an approach that engages with why the assessment task matters, arguing that as educators we must reflect “deeply on what we do and do not wish to achieve through this form of assessment.”  Cautioning against an approach that conflates “the real world and the world of work”, McArthur (2022, p.87) argues for the importance of engaging with the social value of a task and proposes a shift in focus from “the world of work to a richer understanding of society as a whole.”  Nieminen and Yang (2024, p.1) explore assessment as a process through which “students become known” and argue for the importance of recognising that assessment “shapes not only student learning but student identities as well”.  Drawing on the notion of “student formation”, they argue that many assessment modes result in “other-formation”, ignoring the importance of “self-formation” and reflexivity which tend to be valued at other points in the learning process (Nieminen and Yang, 2024, p.2).

Our discussion explored the potential application of these papers to our own practice, with a specific focus on the importance of ensuring a clear rationale for the assessment design and a consideration of the ethics of assessment practice.  The provocations of McArthur prompted reflection on way assessments can function as part of a wider means of education transforming society, while the argument of Nieminen and Yang initiated a discussion about the relationship between assessment and pedagogies of care.  In particular, we reflected on the tension between assessments that socialise students in university or disciplinary values and culture, versus those that promote performativity and/or competition.

Thank you to everyone who attended for a thought-provoking discussion!

Our next meeting will take place on Tuesday 13th February 2024 and will be led by Dr Jane Secker.  The session will explore open access in HE, with a focus on the following two papers:

The session will run from 12-1pm and will be held over Zoom.  Please register to attend here.

January’s Journal Club: Assessment and Student Experience

Happy New Year!

Our first meeting of the Journal Club for 2024 will consider student experiences of assessment, particularly in relation to authentic assessment, well-being, and identity.  We will be exploring the following papers:

The session will take place from 12-1pm on Tuesday 16th January.  It will be held on Zoom.

Please book your place here.

LEaDER Journal Club 2023

We are delighted to announce the return of the LEaDER Journal Club for the 2023-24 academic year.  The first session will be held on Zoom at 2pm on Tuesday 15th November.

The Journal Club exists to promote discussion of research into pedagogical practices.  Each session engages with a different theme and focuses on two articles which speak to that theme.

In our first session, we will be discussing papers examining the ethnicity degree awarding gap and decolonising higher education:

The session will last for an hour and all staff at City are invited to attend.  Please register using this form.

We hope to see you there!

LEaDER Journal Club: Accessibility

Accessibility pictograms.

 

In May’s meeting of the LEaDER Journal Club we were pleased to be joined by Sandra Guzman-Rodriguez from the Office for Institutional Equity & Inclusion.  Sarny led the discussion, which focussed on the following two papers:

Both papers made a clear case for the importance of centring accessibility in all learning an teaching practice. Fennelly-Atkinson et al. (2022) providing insights into institutional approaches to accessibility and the legal dimension of accessibility compliance.  Compton et al. (2023) focussed on the importance of learning from the adjustments to learning and teaching activities made during the pandemic, as well as the benefits and challenges of hybrid teaching.

We began by discussing definitions of the terms hybrid/HyFlex and online teaching, examining the range of possible practices which may fall under these headings.  As a group, we had a range of experiences of teaching online and were interested in Compton et al.’s (2023) notion of “Basic Hybrid” and the movement to more sophisticated “blends” since the pandemic.  Compton et al. draw on Snelling (2022) to identify the development of blended practice and its associated access benefits as an “unexpected silver lining” of the pandemic.

The group found Fennelly-Atkinson’s (2022) consideration of institutional frameworks for embedding accessibility valuable, reflecting on existing models at City and how these might be developed.  We discussed the centrality of training in the field of accessible practice, as well as the importance of support and strategy at an institutional level for promoting accessibility across programmes.

Another valuable talking point was Compton et al.’s (2023) discussion of belonging in education.  We explored some of the assumptions that often underpin in-person/online teaching practice, particularly challenging the idea that being in-person is inherently more geared towards fostering a sense of belonging. This is something we will be picking up on in our next session, which focusses specifically on the significance of belonging within HE.

The session will take place on Tuesday 13th June at midday and we will be looking at the following papers:

The LEaDER Journal Club in May and June 2023

We’re pleased to announce that the next two meetings of the LEaDER Journal Club will take place at midday on Tuesday 16th May and Tuesday 13th June.

May’s session marks Global Accessibility Awareness Day, with papers exploring the importance of accessibility in teaching and learning in HE.  We will be looking at the following papers:

In June, as we look ahead to the new academic year, we will be exploring the importance of belonging in students’ transition to HE, with a focus on the following papers:

LEaDER Journal Club: Playful Practice

January’s meeting of the LEaDER Journal Club explored playful pedagogical practice in a session facilitated by Dr Jane Secker.  Discussion focussed on two papers examining the pedagogical value of play by Nicola Whitton and Jane Secker and Chris Morrison.

Whitton’s paper considers the growth in playful approachse used in higher education, from games and gamification, to play and playfulness. Focussing on two case studies, Whitton focusses on the value of play as a safe space, in which failure is accepted, learners are immersed in an activity, and intrinsic motivation for learning develops.  The paper identifies and analyses three types of play: playful tools, playful techniques, and playful tactics.

Whitton’s paper proved a great starting point for our discussion, giving a useful summary of what playful learning means in HE and a great accessible introduction to the topic for those who are new to playful approaches. As well as engaging with the benefits of play, the article prompted valuable discussion about the challenges of adopting playful practice.  We discussed the fact that play is not always valued as a pedagogical practice in HE and that there is only limited research on its use in teaching adults.

This discussion linked well with the paper by Secker and Morrison, which explores the pedagogic value of games in the context of creating two games to teach librarians and educators about copyright. Considering the role games can play in teaching in a ‘contested space’, Secker and Morrison advocate for games as a mode of problem based learning, which make learning more active and engaging.

The paper prompted a great discussion about the variety of playful practices already used by attendees.  Again, some challenges with playful approaches were identified, including some students expressing reluctance to participate and the time investment required of facilitators when developing play-based activities.  The discussion spoke to the themes of Playful Learning Research currently being undertaken at City.

The next meeting of the Journal Club will take place at midday on Thursday 23rd February.  We will be discussing the following papers:

Please book your place here.


Thanks to Dr Jane Secker for facilitating January’s session and for providing a write-up of the session on which this post was based.

 

LEaDER Journal Club: the future of blended learning

In our final meeting of the LEaDER Journal Club in 2022 we explored the report on the Blended Learning Review conducted by the Office for Students.  Picking up on some of the themes explored in our November meeting, the report considers the development of online learning during the pandemic, as well as looking towards the future of blended learning through a series of recommendations.

With attendees representing a variety of types of expertise – including lecturers, learning technologists, and academic developers – we had a rich discussionabout the role of online and in-person pedagogies.  We discussed the importance of having a clear pedagogical rationale for the use of learning technologies, picking up on the report’s finding that student engagement is higher if they understand why a blended approach is being used.

As well as considering the relationship between pedagogies and technologies, we also discussed the report’s recommendation that both students and staff be supported with developing their digital literacies, considering what this might look like in practice.  The report’s consideration of the “attendance paradox” also provided a valuable point for discussion, with reflections on how to best facilitate a return to in-person learning post-pandemic.

Our discussion also engaged with hybrid learning and was enriched by insights from the Teaching Here and There podcast series, which explores the challenges of teaching online and in-person simultaneously.

Our next session will be held on Thursday 19th January at midday and will explore playful learning.  We will be considering the following papers:

Please book your place using this form.  We hope to see you there!

LEaDER Journal Club: Online Assessment During the Pandemic

 

The pivot to online teaching and learning activities necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic led to a sudden change in assessment practices in Higher Education institutions across the world. In November’s Journal Club, we discussed two studies that examined student experiences of online assessment during the pandemic, asking what the move to online assessments can teach us about assessment going forward.  

The first article presented the preliminary findings of a study by Hatzipanagos et al (2020): “Towards a post covid-19 digital authentic assessment practice: when radical changes enhance the student experience”. The study aimed to answer the question: what was the impact of the transition to online assessment on the experiences of students and student outcomes? The comprehensive methodology for the study – which examined a range of data including learning analytics, average grades, and exam take up, as well as survey and focus group responses – was designed to examine student behaviours, student sentiment, student outcomes, and operational issues.  

While the paper only presented preliminary findings there was nevertheless much to discuss. The paper’s overview provided food for thought in relation to balancing student experience with the need to ensure academic integrity and the robustness of assessments. 

The paper engaged with challenges – including how best to support students with time-management for online examinations – as well as reporting multiple benefits of online assessment.  One particularly noteworthy finding was that student respondents to the research want online assessment practices to continue, with just 12% disagreeing with the idea.  

The second paper – “Remote Assessment in Higher Education during COVID-19 Pandemic” by Senel and Senel (2021) – served to complicate the picture of student experiences of online assessment. In contrast to Hatzipanagos et al (2020), this study found that students preferred conventional exams to remote assessment. A related finding was that students experience higher assessment anxiety for online assessments than for conventional assessments. This finding chimed with the experiences of some club attendees whose students had concerns relating to tech, the home environment, and caring responsibilities in relation to online assessment. However, others were surprised by this finding, considering exam halls to be intimidating assessment environment. 

We discussed the relevance of the papers’ findings to our own practice. For example, Hatzipanagos et al (2020) found that students did not always take advantage of the full time available to them in online exams, submitting quickly rather than taking time to check their answers. This led us to reflect on the importance of preparing students for assessments, setting expectations, and providing guidance for how to use their time.  

Another point of discussion was the importance of tutor feedback and formative activities, which arose from Senel and Senel (2021). Their study found that “students who have higher levels of interaction with instructors find assessment practices more qualified” (Senel and Senel 2021, 195). However, the study also found very few instances of peer and self-assessment tools, which can play an important role in preparing students for assessment. We discussed the value of self-, peer-, and tutor-feedback tools and of the importance of adequately preparing students for assessments.  

Our next session will pick up on the themes of the digital, exploring the Office for Students’ “Blended Learning Review”.

It will be held on Thursday 8th December from 12-1pm. Please register to attend here. 

LEaDER Journal Club: Thursday 10th November 2022

We’re pleased to announce the return of LEaDER’s Journal Club.  Following a taster session at this year’s Learning at City Conference, the Journal Club will again be a regular fixture every month during term time.  The first session will be held at midday on Thursday 10th November. ONLINE

The Journal Club exists to promote discussion of research into pedagogical practices.  Each session engages with a different theme and focuses on two articles which speak to that theme.

In our first session, we will be exploring the lessons learned from the move online during the pandemic.  The two papers consider changes to assessment necessitated by the pandemic and examine their potential long-term benefits for the HE sector:

Themes of future sessions will be decided in conversation with Journal Club members.  The first sessions will be held over Zoom and will last an hour.  All staff at City are welcome to participate.

Register below to receive the Teams link:

If you have any questions about the LEaDER Journal Club, please email Sara.Reimers.1@city.ac.uk.