In this blog, I reflect on my learnings from the PgCert workshop on teaching artefacts. For this workshop, I chose the Assessment Brief for the Research Proposal unit which I teach across MA courses at LCF. The Unit exposes the students to a wide range of methodologies and methods and supports them in designing their Masters research projects. At the end of the Unit, they are required to write a proposal for their Masters projects, outlining their aim and objectives, contextualising their research, explaining their methodological choices, and including their ethics forms. The Assessment Brief informs the students about the Learning Outcomes (Enquiry, Knowledge, Process, Communication, and Realisation), and the holistic type of the formative assessment, amongst other important elements of the Unit.
Based on feedback I received, I will add hyperlinks to previous years’ examples into the Assessment Brief. I may also invite ex-students to share their experiences, and introduce informal open days for current students to receive feedback on their work in progress. I was also inspired to move to holistic assessment and ask the students to submit not only an essay but also a portfolio documenting their research process and critical reflection on the suitability of different research methods to their projects. I also liked the suggestion to co-design the assessment by inviting others (e.g. Course Leader and External Examiner) into the formative assessment.
The group discussion also reminded me of the importance to think about the individual student journey, but also to add some points for exchange amongst students. Padlet or blogs could be used to help students use their experiences as a starting point for their personalised learning journeys, to then define the research problem they want to focus on and write their own project briefs. It would be interesting to test the brief by gathering feedback from relevant industry professionals as potential future employers. I was also reminded of the importance to simplify the jargon of the brief, present it at the initial lecture, and add a glossary of terms to unpack key concepts; this is something I have already worked on. A good practice would also be to add visuals or a video explaining the learning outcomes. In fact, as highlighted by John Biggs in his book “Teaching for Quality Learning at University” (2003), it is fundamental that students know what they have to do in a course, and this can be ensured not only by framing clear learning outcomes, but also through briefings, meetings, and other supportive learning scenarios.
4 replies on “The Assessment Brief as a Teaching Artefact”
It’s really wonderful to learn that you received some very constructive feedback on the assessment brief. In particular, taking on the suggestion of moving onto holistic assessment where the view of an individual student’s journey can be captured and reflected through a portfolio of research processes and evaluation of methodology.
The idea around inviting ex-students to share their experiences and introducing informal feedback sections contributes to formative assessment.
On the point of exchange amongst students, I wonder if adding a research sharing session would be useful. For the final year fine art students I teach at chelsea, they are required to do a research presentation at the beginning of the autumn term to present the ideas/research so far they have for their dissertation unit. This not only allows the students to get feedback from their tutors but also from their peers. These sessions also help the students to get to know each other within their tutoir group.
Hi Bo,
Many thanks for your valuable feedback and advice. Moving onto ‘holistic assessment’ is a very good suggestion; however, I don’t have all the power to change the assessment format of the unit, especially as this unit is delivered at MA courses across the whole School of Design and Technology, and any suggested changes need to be validated by a committee. Luckily, I have been tasked to redesign the Unit for next academic year, so I will definitely suggest this. The good news is that the Unit is being moved from Term 1 to Term 2 and the emphasis will be on Research Methods, therefore suggesting a move to holistic assessment and requesting the students to submit a portfolio outlining their reflection and evaluation of methodologies. I will also suggest inviting ex-students, but I also hope I can convince the Course Leader to allocate budget to this, in view of valuing ex-students as experts of their own experiences. This is also important considering that some ex-students currently don’t work (and very much need some money) while some may be working, and if they take time out of work to come to teach, they must be remunerated for this. In response to the suggestion of adding research sharing sessions, actually there are already some crits planned within the Unit, but at the moment only the Course Leader joins them, with the students. Following your suggestion, I will ask the Course Leader to be invited to the crits as well, as this will surely be useful both for myself, the students and the Course Leader. Inviting other Lecturers would be great, but I am mindful of the challenge of managing people’s availabilities. Furthermore, when inviting some other Lecturers, we should consider including diverse perspectives, in order not to prioritise some specific research agendas or methodologies, but catering for diverse students’ experiences.
It’s really great to see that you are experiencing the same learning curves in understanding the power and potential of digital learning tools and how it can enhance the student journey, this Brief is a great example to us that don’t build them yet in our careers and worthy for others to read through and understand the layout and information needed.
Hi Sean-Henry, Thanks for your positive comment about the assessment brief. Your comment also reminded me of the opportunities and challenges posed by digital learning tools such as Padlet. With online teaching during the lockdown, I really embraced the use of Padlet, and I think that – even now that we teach in person – we could keep using Padlet to a certain extent. When setting up Padlet, I think it will be important to create some space for students to submit entries to Padlet in anonymity if they wish, to be more honest about their learning journey. This is something I will definitely keep in mind in the future, in view of giving agency to students over the communication of their own individual learning experiences.