On Tuesday 25th May I was at Oxford Brookes University as part of a review event for the Programme Assessment Strategies (PASS) Project. Also at the event was Graham Gibbs. Graham spoke about his experiences of effecting change within programmes and institutions. His views mirrored our experiences on the ESCAPE project, namely that there is a "hidden" network of influence that you must be able to tap into, if you want to effect change within a school . A component of the "hidden" network are the informal meetings that take place in schools. For example; in the corridor, in social areas, over coffee and at lunchtimes. These informal venues are often where the hierarchy is relaxed and a more open discourse is possible. The discussions are often robust and play key part in forming opinions within schools.

Graham's views certainly mirrored our experiences.It was something that we had anticipated when considering our approach to working with our stakeholders. One of the early parts of the ESCAPE project involved mapping the influences of individuals and teams within schools. We looked at who were the key opinion formers within the schools and how we could get them "on side". Additionally we looked what were the formal and as important, informal channels of communication within schools.

We also looked at how we could encourage collateral effects - how the stakeholders we were working with could influence others. Both over the course of the project and beyond as part of our sustainability planning.

As part of the event I was invited by Peter Hartley - who chaired, to present an outline the ESCAPE project. It was extremely valuable to get the benefit of the teams experience experience in the discussion that followed.

Although the tenure of the meeting was one of looking a programme level interventions rather than at modular level ( - which is the ESCAPE perspective), there are common assessment themes that transcend both projects which started to emerge - such as ownership of the assessment and managing change within teams.

I was able to suggest some alternative approaches for the PASS project that involved taking a cross module approach to assessment that is designed to break down the barriers between modules as a "halfway house" to full programme level assessments. I spoke about the experiences of two of the programmes at the University of Hertfordshire ,that have worked towards implementing a more integrated approach to assessment that attempts to transcend the module based assessment model.

As part of the meeting Graham Gibbs discussed his guide "using assessment to support student learning" which is available at:

http://www.leedsmet.ac.uk/100317_36641_Formative_Assessment3Blue_WEB.pdf

Graham provided me with a copy of the guide during the meeting. It is an extremely useful resource for teams embarking on using assessment as a vehicle for learning. The ideas set out by Graham are illustrated and supported by case studies, which makes it very accessible and relevant to the reader.

On my train journey home I was able to reflect on what had been really useful and informative day!

Feedback

We have sought numerous opportunities to collect feedback throughout our project and not just at its end. In fact, we are awash with data and feedback. It will be a real challenge to use the data and feed it into our final evaluation. We have so many threads of activity and so many things we would want to share.

But I do want to post here one of the observations made by one of our ESCAPE partners. In many ways the quote captures everything we're trying to do. Support our partners, help them with their practice and allow them to take the work we are doing with them into other modules. i..e Spreading the learning and benefit.

The quote came from a conversation between our ESCAPE partners and was not solicited in any way. You can imagine my scrabble for a pen and paper!

The ESCAPE project has made me think about the way I give feedback and it has changed my practice in all modules.

She went on to say that

I now organise myself such that I am able to give feedback straight away. I now plan my diary around large coursework to free up 2-3 and re-arrange teaching sessions so that I can get a chance to give feedback.

Arguably, the above quotes demonstrate the transformative nature of the project and shows that the learning and benefit is not constrained to the modules we are working with.


Great stuff!

Module Coordinator Experiences

This week we held a lunch time seminar to give staff a chance to learn about the project and to hear from two of the module co-ordinators that we have been working with. James Johnstone is module coordinator for a second year module - Principles and Practice of Sports Science and Hazel Wagner is module coordinator for Advanced Corporate Reporting a third year module. Hazel and James spoke about the issues with the modules prior to the ESCAPE project and took us through the process of re engineering that they went through in order to increase the amount of engagement that the students had with their assessments. We had alluded to this at the Ulster conference ( see previous blog entry) but it was really exciting to hear the people responsible for managing and applying the changes speak with passion about their modules. The presentations gave an indication of what was possible if to quote James " .......we leave the Rolls Royce in the garage" This is a reference to the work done by Win Hornby, of Robert Gorden University on efficiency and effectiveness in assessment .

The assessments developed by Hazel and James were effectively multi component designed to engage students on a regular basis over the whole semester. They have multiple opportunities for feedback to students and for students to engage with the feedback,using it to inform their application to the next component of their assessment.

One of the themes of the assessments is that it gives the chance for the lecturers to understand where the students are at each part of the module - to really get a feel for the students grasp of topics or issues. This reminded me of the example of when I walk Holly, my Springer Spaniel, we are only together at the start and the end of the process - where she goes in the middle bit I am not too sure - we meet again at the end. This is all to often what happens with our students -we know what they are thinking at the start of the lecture and we know where they are at the end - but they probably have not been following us all the way through.

The seminar finished with question and answer session with the audience keen to quiz James and Hazel on their experience of applying the new assessment.

A Brand New Year

It's been quite a snowy start to the New Year here at the University of Hertfordshire with the University being effectively closed for two days. The snow has started to clear and things are now getting back to normal. Christmas seems to be a fast fading memory.

There are four modules that the ESCAPE team are working with, that finish in semester A - which is in two weeks time. We will be capturing the module team experiences through interviews and running the student online assessment survey again to capture the student view.

Conditioning and Exercise in Sport is a level 3 module due to start in semester B. We are working with them - looking to use students to produce a series of conditioning and exercise techniques as part of the formative assessment process. It will be interesting to see how the students get on .We will be issuing students with flipcams to record their sessions.

Per ardua ad alta

We are welcoming Lisa Gray of the JISC e-Learning Programme team, Marianne Sheppard from the Support and Synthesis team, and Sheila MacNeill, a representative from JISC CETIS to the university tomorrow . They are coming to meet the ESCAPE team and to have a round table meeting with us and our key stakeholders in the schools. It prom ices be a really useful day - we are keen to show JISC what we have achieved to date and to get feedback on our draft project plan. It will also be a chance to talk about the arrangements for the management of the project - both strategic with the steering group and advisory group and from an operational perspective. We will also be talking about the communication strategy and reporting mechanisms along with the Project evaluation plan and baseline data gathering exercises that we are nearly ready to start. I will be interested to see what support the meeting feels the project needs.
We are on the launch pad, we have done the preparation with our partner schools and we are ready (almost) to light the blue touch paper and launch the baseline assessment of the current assessment practice.

Project manager

Our new project manager, Dominic, started work on the ESCAPE project this week. I am sure he will be a great asset to the project and will drive the work forward. Dominic has experience of working with staff on change management projects and I am sure his expertise in this area will be invaluable when he works with colleagues in the Business School and Life Sciences.

I am looking forward to being a part of the ESCAPE steering group and am feeling better about taking a back seat. I currently have a number of other projects which I am working on and keeping all the plates spinning in the air is certainly proving challenging.

I am looking forward to following the progress of ESCAPE via the blog and hope that Mark and Dominic keep us up to date with their thoughts.

Letting go - part two

It is with much disappointment that Helen cannot stay too intimately connected with the project. Not only did she have significant part to play in developing and shaping the bid, (and hence is really attached to the project), but she is just great to work with. We had fun preparing for the two day event and she challenges me regularly to think about what I do.

But Helen has a role across UH and has a major piece of work to do in taking UH’s Learning and Teaching Institute forward. And I know she and the team will do a great job.

And so earlier this week we interviewed for our project co-ordinator. The project coordinator will support me but involve themselves in more of the day-to-day activities. Ideally we are looking for someone with a good understanding of project management, assessment for learning and change management. Hmm, quite a tall order.

Interviewing candidates is a tough process -some candidates you know well others you don’t. It is stressful for all involved. BUT without exception each candidate brought useful qualities to the interview

And so now we have the arduous task of identifying the individual that is likely to be able to best respond to all the demands of the project.

Whilst this is a tough decision it is an exciting that we will bring someone new to the project.

Will keep you informed of our progressed

MBR

Letting go...

We are currently reviewing the applications for the post of project manager who will work with Mark, the project director. Once the manager has been appointed I will no longer be directly involved with the project. I will be a member of the steering committee but will be taking a back seat regarding the day-to-day activities. I have to confess that I am feeling a little sad about handing over the project. Mark and I, plus support from other colleagues, wrote the bid in the summer and I have been involved with the project from the beginning. I am passionate about ESCAPE and having met with Academic staff from the relevant Schools, am keen to share their endeavours. It feels very difficult to give something up that I have been so involved with and it’s also sad to walk away after having such a good time at the start up meeting last week. However, other work commitments will be keeping me busy and I shall be watching with interest about how the project develops.

Our Pitch

Our two minute pitch was practised and timed at just over three minutes! Sure this is 50% over the allotted time, but surely the JISC would let us run on a bit - they will wont they? We decided to see how others got on, see how ruthless with the clock the JISC would be, and if needed, do some last minute editing. Arriving at the event we had a quick scan of the agenda. This said we would be CUT OFF after two minutes. Hmm. Now what? Oh, and this was to be the first session too - so no time to decide exactly what we would cut.

We sat and listened to the first pitch - The College of West Anglia gave a succinct and well planned presentation of their project with a bit of role play which set an immediate high standard. They timed it perfectly and after the two minute timer had run, down the National Anthem automatically played. Given our Great Escape analogy, we wondered - we just wondered…

Our turn arrived - given the really tight timing we played the Great Escape theme tune (through an mda) as we walked up to get ready - this we hoped would set the scene. With the theme tune playing we launched into our pitch and as the time ran out, the National Anthem started just as I was just making the point about us fighting the enemies of the bad assessment, in the classrooms, in the VLE’s and in the staffrooms. The National Anthem (for us) was a great addition - shame we did not think of it - thank you JISC for not cutting us off! We enjoyed that session.