FInal hurrah?

So Dr Helen Barefoot and I presented the ESCAPE work and the ESCAPE (Assessment for Learning) toolkit at the recent International Soiety for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL) conference in Liverpool. There was something really nice and rounded presenting with Helen. She and I put the original bid together all those years ago. Really pleased that Helen had another chance to articulate some of her thinking on assessment and feedback.

We presented to a smallish (but packed) room. I hear they had to turn people away form our session due to the crowded conditions. Anyway, it was useful to see, what appeared as, genuine enthusiasm for our work and the toolkit. Prof. Chris Rust (long standing expert in assessment) asked for access to the resources - he wants to take them to an assessment workshop he is running at Kingston University.

Really pleasing that as the project finishes - so the legacy remains and the resources are there for others to use and engage with. Sustainability, and growing better assessment practice was at the heart of the ESCAPE project and it seems like we are doing exactly that.

Mark

JISC Experts Group

On Wednesday 17th March I presented a workshop on the ESCAPE Project at a meeting of the JISC experts group in Birmingham. The workshop gave an overview of the Appreciative Inquiry(AI) approach that we took with module teams. We then explored the emerging findings from two of the modules that we are working with. In particular we looked at how educational technologies (online submission, wikis, and online groups for example) provided a medium for achieving the pedagogical aims of the project (for example: a more consistent engagement with the curriculum, increased opportunities for students to engage with feedback and the facilitation of more personalised leaning opportunities). The day provided a good opportunity for getting feedback on the project and there were many questions on the use of AI.

It is indicative of the stage that we are at in the project that we are now starting to present the emerging results of the project on a national stage .This was always was part of our dissemination plan and its nice to be in a position to start to see all the hard work done by the module teams starting to bear fruit.

15 (shh 45 !) minutes with the School of Life Sciences

We , (the ESCAPE team), managed to get an invite to talk more widely with one of our Partner Schools - The School of Life Sciences. We were invited to give a project background to the School’s Academic Quality and Enhancement Committee. Clearly we are not working with the entire School nor all their modules and so it was a good chance to alert others as to what we are doing and what we are trying to achieve.

My 15 minute slot ran into 45 minutes. Not convinced it was all my fault – I took many questions and the meeting ‘seemed’ happy for the discussion to spill over. Many questions were upbeat and some, perhaps rightly, felt a little more challenging. Why should they engage with us? What were we bringing to the table to a team that is already looking at its assessment diet? (and hopefully alignment with the Module Learning Outcomes) Why also the focus on the National Student Survey?

All good questions and naturally we need to provide a convincing argument about why we are doing what we are doing. Academics are very busy right now and want to know why they might need to revisit their curricula. If it aint broke …

I took a really positive email the following day from someone at the meeting. They wanted to offer their support for the project and the ways in the project was aligned with their interests some of what they had been trying to achieve. I was really grateful for the mail and for them letting me know that the project had rekindled an interest in this important area :-)

The meeting was a useful outlet to get ESCAPE out there but also a timely reminder that we need to marshal our evidence as we seek to engage and suggest a need for change.

A presentation to the universities Academic Quality and Enhancement Committee (AQEC)

I was invited to present some examples of effective assessment and feedback practice to the Universities Academic Quality and Enhancement Committee (Tuesday 26th Jan 2009). Although the presentation was not specifically related to our ESCAPE activity it was a committee that the ESCAPE project needs to touch. If we are to be successful in making our activity mainstream and embedded then such committees need to be shown the value of our endeavours and we need them to help us respond to our challenges. Working with enthusiasts and champions is not enough. By definition, ESCAPE has an explicit intent to be sustained long after the project funding has finished.

I started by outlining the importance of assessment and feedback - both in terms of the challenges raised by the results of the National Student Survey (NSS) and also (and ultimately) learning! Any meaningful and aligned curricula has assessment at its core.

I then moved to show some work that Helen Barefoot and I have been doing in terms of collecting case studies from the LTI and more importantly overlaying (on the case studies) principles of good assessment and feedback practice. The case studies are tagged to help staff find resources relating to their challenge.

I think (hope) the committee liked the presentation and also the pragmatism of recognising that academic colleagues are busy and so not only do we need to collect resources but help staff access them in ways that meets their needs.

The perpetual problem was raised about engaging students with feedback and the frustrations felt by staff in producing feedback that is not even collected let alone used by the students. I have my own views on why this is the case - but in many cases I think the problem resides with us. Just as assessment creates activity so too should feedback. Feedback also should create consequences.

200 yards with the Business School

The ESCAPE project will work with two Schools - the School of Life Sciences and the Business School. On Monday 17th November I ran a workshop on assessment and feedback for the Business School. Although not specifically tied to the project it was a great opportunity to start/feed into the dialogue on assessment / feedback in the school and in particular help the School to respond to the challenges raised by the National Student Survey (NSS).

I had a full-ish room - (around 40 - 50 people - I think!) I mixed the session up with some presentational material - which mainly focused around principles of good assessment and feedback practice, with the chance for the School to reflect on their own assessment practice and identify where and how their current assessment practice aligns with the principles. We had a really engaging discussion, which naturally included observations suggesting students don’t really understand what feedback is, through to trying to identify opportunities for each person to think about how they can make a small commitment to change.

Although good assessment is an embedded and aligned activity (and not as John Heywood writes ‘too often afterthought of higher education’) assessment practice can be enhanced by constant reflection and a commitment to make on-going small changes.

I am minded of the wonderful notion that I cannot map out how to get to china. But I know how to walk 200 yards - and in 200 yards time I will ask someone else the direction towards china. Join my 200 yards together and soon enough I will be in China.

I challenged the Business School to work with me and help them be the most improved School in the University relating to Assessment and Feedback - NSS wise. Let’s see if they rise to my challenge.

Thanks Business School - great session