National Launch Conference

Quality Enhancement in: - Assessment - Responding to Student Needs

At the end of a full day……….

…….what can I add or contribute?

1. A voice from the grass roots2. A practitioner's perspective on the basis for

the themes3. Practicable and proven suggestions about

what serving teachers can do next

For teachers like me….

Student numbers

Increased, with poorer students

Resources- decreased

Each year, it seems…..

So if I achieve enhancement..

The first part of the return from improvement will be taken up in simply holding quality and standards where they were last year, in a more demanding situation

Only anything above and beyond that will go into acknowledged enhancement

Significant enhancement?

In my experience, it occursNOT by doing something better then before, butBy doing something in a better – and hence different – waySo I am seeking changes in my practice which will be cost-effective, and effective

As a foot soldier, I see the present scheme in these terms:

Foundation built since audit began

Well-founded new developments

As a foot soldier, I see stage 1 of the scheme in these terms:

Foundation built since audit began

Enhancement of

AssessmentResponding to

student needs

So? We should:

1. Identify what we are building on

2. Work on the developments of that

which have most potential

Enhancing ASSESSMENT?

What are we building upon?

Alignment of Assessment and OutcomesReal attention being given to key skills and higher level learning outcomes 25 years experience of self-assessment

Outcomes

Assessment T & Learning

Ideal Alignment

Outcomes

Assessment T & Learning

10 years ago, there was much lack of fit

Every audit found examples of:

Outcomes claimed but not assessed

Assessment in place, but satisfied by performance we don’t really value

Outcomes for which there was no purposeful development activity in place

Biggest problems were with:

“Educating the Reflective Practitioner”

for

Higher level cognitive and interpersonal capabilities

Outcomes

?Assessment

?

?T & Learning

?

Alignment for Capability

Change and development

- but this has taken time!

Ex: Aalborg pilot (1993)Project-oriented course; end of semester 1Previous assessment based on project report with minimal “process analysis”Pilot for 25 studentsWhat did you have to do? How did you do it?How well did you do it? How can you do better next time?How useful has this been to you? Immediately, enthusiasm. Six months later: “You must never do that again, because…………”

“You must never do that again, because….………….. we had such an advantage over the other 375 students”. You must do it for everyone.

Yet only in 2002 were outcomes and learning and teaching eventually alignedAnd assessment still needs attention

Change and development do take time!

Generally, in Scotland, things have changed:

Best practice is built upon programme specifications, in which outcomes and assessment are usually well aligned

The result is that

Outcomes and assessment convey much the same message; in addition, assessment is usually transparent

Outcomes

Assessment T & Learning

Modern Alignment

Outcomes

Assessment T & Learning

Modern Alignment

Outcomes and

AssessmentT & Learning

Modern Alignment

The next logical step is……….

……..to integrate these two remaining aspects more and more

Outcomes and

Assessmentand

Learning and Teaching

Future Integration

And that is happening already:

Last week I listened to a Salford Computer Scientist, describing his work on their PGCHECreating a “Virtual Assessment Environment”Driven from radically changed and outcome-sensitive assessmentQuantum leap in outcomes and performanceYesterday, an e_mail describing introduction of formative peer assessment in Chem Eng at Heriot-Watt. BIG SUCCESS!

Integration should entail:

Self-assessing learners who direct their own learningSelf-assessing learners who monitor their own learningSelf-assessments presented, portfolio-style, for “auditing”Peer-assessing in learning groups where structured interaction is cost-effectively harnessed for feedforward Rigorous making of judgements, in all of this

Heading

Performance

Making the judgement – transparently and objectively

S_

C_

A_

L_

E_

The result? Alverno CollegeLiberal Arts College; self-assessment integralAccess or dropout entrants commonGroup overheard at breakfast with domestic concerns……….……. and then planning what they each wanted to take from the morning's lesson, and how they would arrange thatAnother group overheard on departure……….Would it be like that in your university?Moral: self-monitoring and self-directing pays off

Soft words butter no parsnips!

Specifically, what should integration entail for the average, hard-pressed lecturer?

Enhancing ASSESSMENT?

What should we be doing next?I know what I’ll be doing! [Cost-effectively]

[Completing aligning Assessment and Outcomes] [Continuing aligning both, with Learning]Developing self-assessment, especially for higher level abilitiesHence developing formative peer assessment Making all assessing transparent – and objective

Enhancing ASSESSMENT?

What should we be doing next?I’ve told you what I’ll be doing!

What will you be doing?1 + 1 minute to tell your neighbour, and hear what they have to say

So much for:

Foundation built since audit began

Enhancement of

Assessment

Now what about:

Foundation built since audit began

Enhancement of

Responding to

student needs

RESPONDING TO STUDENT NEEDS?

What are we building upon here? 25 years of campaigning for data that informs!

The demand for informed self-evaluation………. has led to the ingathering of data……. using effective tools of enquiry…. informing teachers about student learning and the learning experience………. in forms which can be used to enhance……….and prompt us to discover and meet needs

BUT…………

The pedagogy and practice are still not very well developedWe are not yet very good at dealing cost-effectively with varied individual needsAnd we are only tentatively grappling with different types of need - especially the affective needs

We must still develop

Methodology, and proven good practice - for varied needs

Learning Needs…...

Are held in different ways

And so have to be dealt with in different ways

[And may come up as fish swimming the wrong way, if your version of ppt is not the same as mine]

Learning needs can be like ...

Fish, in a fish-ladder

Need = declared

Desired outcome known: let’s get on with it

Just listen to me

Need = known

Safety!

Outcome known, but private!

Need = undefined

Exploring possibiliti

es

I don’t know what my need is!

Need = unperceived

Challenge!

I don’t recognise that I have a need

Learning needs can be like ...

Fish, in a fish-ladderlisten

Give me safety

Can I explore?

I’m fine

It’s obvious, but neglected that

We can’t respond to needs until we find out what they are!

It’s obvious, but neglected that

We won’t find out what the real needs are, unless we ask – and listen – and are seen as likely to first listen and then act upon what we hear

WHAT NEXT?

What should we be doing next?I know what I will be doing next

I’m developing appropriate e_tivities:

NEED

Declared

Known

Undefined

Unperceived

ACTIVITY

Mager’s answering

Anonymous negotiation

Action learning sets

Claim – and checking

At course team level, I’ll

First establish a partnership approach, involving students and teachersPromote “tools of enquiry”, far beyond questionnairesUse these to help teachers and students to analyse the learning experience and identity the real needs Pilot enhancement for current cohortsHOW?

As an example, from UHI:

A new module, with new goals and methodsSix weeks into semester, a morning for evaluation workshopsStudents and staff analyse experiences so farCompare notesDecide immediate priorities and changes in plan for rest of semesterEstablish that teachers wish detailed rather than general feedback: not “This is (in)effective” but “This is (in)effective, because ………….”

The activities were planned to:

1. Identify worthwhile learning and development to date

2. Advise Stop/Start/Continue on learning activities

3. Identify immediate priorities, for learners and teachers

4. Anticipate difficulties

Joint forward planning, for the current cohort, meant

Real point in identifying needs

Shared responsibility, and monitoring of decisions for enhancement

Learning and teaching activities could become just that

Best practice is:Formative, not summative, for allSet up at the grass roots, in particular contexts Suitably timed Based on safety to declare or expose needsEmpathic, especially to affective needsResponsive – and thus obviously worthwhileCost-effectiveA joint activity Intrinsic to the learner-teacher relationship

The consequences?

Once students have engaged in a meaningful exercise to identify their needs, and take them on board, then …

They know that we want to knowThey tell us, unprompted, in helpful detail, about joys as well as worries

BUT, institutionally

The methodology is less well developed – and appreciatedThe progression has been far from sector-wideSome institutions need to catch up with best practice elsewhereThey risk being left badly behindSo the case for institutional collaboration, for “working together”, is strong in this case

INSTITUTIONALLY, I WOULD…….

First establish a partnership approach, at course levelPromote “tools of enquiry”, far beyond questionnairesUse these to help teachers and students to analyse the learning experience, and enhance it Pilot enhancement which benefits current cohortsPillage effective practice

WHAT NEXT - INSTITUTIONALLY?

I’m just a grass roots teacher nowadaysYOU are here today as the institutional policy makers. So ……….

What should your institution be doing next to enhance in this area?1 + 1 minute to tell your neighbour, and listen to what they have to say

Scotland will concentrate on:

Foundation built since audit began

Enhancement of

AssessmentResponding to

student needs

It will be exciting, and worthwhile:

We shall be striving to optimise the effectiveness of whatever resource is available to each of us, for the benefit of student learningThe evaluative innovators, who have so often been regarded as the lunatic fringe, could emerge as those whose work and advice is sought, and built upon

SO? What is teaching?

“Teaching is an activity which brings together two people, one of whom is rather more of a learner, the other of whom is rather more of a teacher – an activity within which learning and teaching take place”

Let’s set out to establish that:

“Enhancement is an activity which brings together two groups of people, one of which consists of those who are rather more learners, the other of which includes those who are rather more teachers – an activity within which the enhancement of learning and teaching takes place”