Enhancing Curriculum Relevance and Student Engagement in Higher Education
Reviewing and updating academic programmes to ensure curriculum relevance, active student engagement, appropriate assessment strategies, and effective use of technology to support learning. Considerations include international competition, student diversity, technological advancements, student feedback utilization, and institutional challenges and opportunities.
- Higher Education
- Student Engagement
- Curriculum Development
- Technology in Learning
- International Competition
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Refreshing your curriculum Dr Sally Brown Waterford Institute May 24th2012 http://sally-brown.net Emeritus Professor, Leeds Metropolitan University, Adjunct professor, University of the Sunshine Coast, Central Queensland and James Cook University Queensland, Visiting Professor University of Plymouth and Liverpool John Moores University.
Today, we aim to review your programmes, asking: Is the curriculum content (still) relevant and appropriate? Are we appropriately engaging students in active learning tasks? Are we over-assessing students, and does the assessment strategy link fully to our aims for the course? Are we utilising appropriate levels of technology to support student learning? Are we using student and other feedback about the programmes to bring about continuous quality enhancement?
The international context Fierce international competition for students (e.g. many nations teaching programmes in English); Different approaches to student visas (some of our competitors are much more welcoming than us); Mass higher education and associated diversity issues; Significant diversity in students prior experience of learning approaches, technologies for learning and expectations of higher education.
And at a institutional level Lean regimes with an emphasis on core business; Challenges and opportunities associated with Technology-Enhanced Learning; Central importance of student retention (balanced with maintaining quality); Balancing Research, Assessment, Learning and Teaching; Ambitions to work smarter rather than harder.
And here at WIT? A national framework for qualifications with a focus on learning outcomes Knowledge, (breadth and kind) Know-how and skill (range and selectivity) Competence (context, role, learning to live and insight) An extended focus on internationalisation.
Current trends in current HE design, delivery and assessment Blended learning (as opposed to e-learning or traditional face-to-face approaches) e.g. video lectures; Different student approaches to reading, writing, information retrieval and social learning; Recognition of the centrality of assessment for learning (stop marking, start assessing); The importance of teams rather than individuals in materials production.
Variations in international approaches to teaching, learning and assessment Teaching contexts: what kind of live and virtual spaces do we provide for lectures, tutorials, seminars, laboratory work, field work, and so on? Cultural differences regarding citing and using others work, plagiarism, the master s voice , working collaboratively, group work, and so on. Comparative status of universities nationally and internationally: league tables, perceptions by staff, students and other stakeholders.
What should we consign to the rubbish chute of history (discuss)? Classrooms containing fixed PCs ? Electronic whiteboards other than for tiny groups of students? Death by PowerPoint, linear approaches to use of presentations, the 6-per page handout? Chalk and blackboards? Sixty-minute delivery-only lectures?
What improvements can we make to curriculum delivery? We can: Review learning outcomes; Explore how we can best use the first block of the first semester to induct students into good study patterns and practices to enhance learning and improve retention (Yorke 2009); Reconsider the kinds of activities students engage with to maximise learning by doing; Rethink the way in which we use the 90 minute lecture period to include activity as well as delivery; Consider how we can best make use of technologies to support learning.
Reviewing learning outcomes Do you have too many? Or too few? Are assignments constructively aligned with learning outcomes? Are they over specified? Is there room for flexibility in interpretation? Do you make space for brilliant yet unexpected outcomes? Is the language excessively woolly? (e.g. over use of words like understand ).
Useful verbs: Assessing knowledge See Kennedy et al Arrange, collect, define, describe, duplicate, enumerate, examine, find, identify, label, list, memorise, name, order, outline, present, quote, recall, recognise, recollect, record, recount, relate, repeat, reproduce, show, state, tabulate, tell.
Comprehension Associate, change, clarify, classify, construct, contrast, convert, decode, defend, describe, differentiate, discriminate, discuss, distinguish, estimate, explain, express, extend, generalise, identify, illustrate, indicate, infer, interpret, locate, paraphrase, predict, recognise, report, restate, rewrite, review, select, solve, translate.
Application Apply, assess, calculate, change, choose, complete, compute, construct, demonstrate, develop, discover, dramatise, employ, examine, experiment, find, illustrate, interpret, manipulate, modify, operate, organise, practice, predict, prepare, produce, relate, schedule, select, show, sketch, solve, transfer, use.
Analysis Analyse, appraise, arrange, break down, calculate, categorise, classify, compare, connect, contrast, criticise, debate, deduce, determine, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, divide, examine, experiment, identify, illustrate, infer, inspect, investigate, order, outline, point out, question, relate, separate, sub-divide, test.
Synthesis Argue, arrange, assemble, categorise, collect, combine, compile, compose, construct, create, design, develop, devise, establish, explain, formulate, generalise, generate, integrate, invent, make, manage, modify, organise, originate, plan, prepare, propose, rearrange, reconstruct, relate, reorganise, revise, rewrite, set up, summarise.
Evaluation Appraise, ascertain, argue, assess, attach, choose, compare, conclude, contrast, convince, criticise, decide, defend, discriminate, explain, evaluate, grade, interpret, judge, justify, measure, predict, rate, recommend, relate, resolve.
Whats important to do in the first six week block? Enable students to feel part of a cohort rather than a number on a list; Help students acclimatise to the new learning context in which they find themselves; Familiarise them with the language and culture of the subject area they are studying (Northedge, 2003); Foster the information literacy and other skills that students will need to succeed; Guide them on where to go for help as necessary.
The first six weeks: six things we can do to diminish their chances of success Give them an exam on day one or two to work out who needs remedial help; Avoid teaching them anything while they settle in ; Give them a group task which provides opportunities for them to make fools of themselves in front of their peers; Load them up with masses of information/ paperwork, all of which is deemed essential; Give them a library orientation that focuses on what they can t do and how complicated everything is; Avoid taking registers until the numbers have settled down.
The sixty minute session: a recipe for disaster Continuous non-stop delivery from the podium (particularly if reading from a prepared script); Picking on random students to test their mettle ; Over-use of a single style of PowerPoint delivery, with handouts that all look the same; Each session week on week following the same format; Tell bad/insensitive jokes; Behave as if students aren't there.
What can we do in sixty minutes rather than talk flat out? Provide three 10 minute inputs (or six four minute ones or whatever) with interactive tasks to enable them to learn by doing; Use clickers, quizzes, videos, role plays, short tests, in-seat mini discussions, periods of silent reflection, questions to and from students, short reading tasks and other means of getting them to interact; Use some classroom time to advance brief and give class feedback on assignments; Bring material alive with passion and enthusiasm.
Technology enhanced learning: we can.. Use more Computer-Based Assessment (stop marking, start assessing!), Encourage productive course-related discussion in formal and informal social learning spaces, Provide links to electronic readings with guidance on what to do with them: Make better use of Open Educational Resources and Re-usable Learning Objects; Communicate with students via mobile phones, Podcasting, SMS et al rather than just letters, university email addresses and notice boards; Offer some level of personalised approaches to learning and assessment.
Encourage autonomous and shared learning Let students loose on source material to find their own way around it; Welcome their findings, while encouraging them appropriately to evaluate what they find; Acknowledge what students bring to class from their prior formal and informal learning; Encourage them to use their peers as valuable resources from whom they can learn much.
What improvements can we make to assessment practices? We need to: Review our diet of assessment to ensure that we are not over-assessing, repeatedly assessing the same skills, rewarding risky behaviour like guessing what will come up; Review the programme as a whole to make sure assessments don t bunch together, putting unnecessary pressure on students and the staff who are doing the marking; Consider how assessment can prompt the kinds of learning behaviours we would wish to see (rather than reproduction, plagiarism, cutting and pasting etc). Rethink what exams and essays actually look like.
Instead you might consider Using some regular, formative computer-based assessment tasks they can undertake privately which give them feedback on why answers are right or wrong answers; Giving them group activities where they model the real working lives of the professions/roles they are likely to enter on graduation; Maximising the amount of guidance on the first assessed tasks with some opportunities for rehearsal and feedback before submission; Providing information literacy training helping them locate and judge subject-relevant resources; Monitor live and virtual engagement.
The importance of assessment for learning Assessment can be a powerful driver for learning when well designed and effectively implemented; But Students can escape bad teaching, they can t escape bad assessment (Boud, 1995); We need good systems for the management and tracking of student assessment (e.g. Taskstream AMS); Timely, formative feedback is crucial so students can judge the quality of their own work. (Sadler, 1998).
Assessment for Learning: see http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/sd/central/ar/acade my/cetl_afl/ Emphasises authenticity and complexity in the content and methods of assessment rather than reproduction of knowledge and reductive measurement. Uses high-stakes summative assessment rigorously but sparingly rather than as the main driver for learning. Offers students extensive opportunities to engage in the kinds of tasks that develop and demonstrate their learning, thus building their confidence and capabilities before they are summatively assessed. Is rich in feedback derived from formal mechanisms e.g. tutor comments on assignments, student self-review logs. Is rich in informal feedback e.g. peer review of draft writing, collaborative project work, which provides students with a continuous flow of feedback on how they are doing . Develops students abilities to direct their own learning, evaluate their own progress and attainments and support the learning of others. (my emphasis)
Good feedback practice: (after Nicol) 1. Helps clarify what good performance is (goals, criteria, expected standards); 2. Facilitates the development of self-assessment (reflection) in learning; 3. Delivers high quality information to students about their learning; 4. Encourages teacher and peer dialogue around learning; 5. Encourages positive motivational beliefs and self- esteem; 6. Provides opportunities to close the gap between current and desired performance; 7. Provides information to teachers that can be used to help shape the teaching. (Nicol and Macfarlane Dick) (my emphasis)
Learning from Terry Crooks Try to ensure that assessment procedures promote and reward desired learning activities and outcomes; Distinguish between essentials and optional extras; Take account of probable workload implications; Plan for consistency of standards; Communicate assessment requirements clearly to students; Strive for effective feedback to students; Be careful when combining grades from different tasks; When awarding grades, give adequate weight to professional judgement.
Learning from Graham Gibbs Use capstone modules that assess higher level learning outcomes, and do this with large, complex, demanding assignments or examinations. Increase the use of course requirements that capture and distribute student effort, without student work being marked. Sample these requirements for marking purposes, increasing the risk to students of not taking all of them seriously. Use frequent quick and dirty feedback mechanisms with rapid turn-round and discuss feedback and student work in class.
More advice Use student marking exercises and exemplars to communicate standards and criteria, not ever more detailed specifications. Reduce the variety of types of assessment so that students have some chance to come to understand, through practice and feedback, how to tackle each at a reasonably sophisticated level.
Conclusions The enhancements we make to improve the student experience need to be convincing, strategic and evidence-based; It is possible to make significant improvements, but it needs ownership by staff at every level of the organisation; Strategic approaches aren t worth a fig if individual staff don t embrace the need to improve things; Doing the same things we have always done in the same way we have always done them is doomed to failure.
References & further reading Biggs, J. (2003) Teaching for Quality Learning at University, Buckingham: SRHE & Open University Press. Bristol University Characteristics of excellent teaching http://www.bris.ac.uk/esu/academicdevelopment/prizes/excellentteacher.html Brown, S. Rust, C. & Gibbs, G. (1994) Strategies for Diversifying Assessment, Oxford Centre for Staff Development. Browne, J. (2010) Securing a sustainable future for higher education www.independent.gov.uk/browne-report Brown, S. and Denton, S. (2010) Leading the University Beyond Bureaucracy in A practical guide to University and College management (Eds. Denton, S and Brown, S) New York and London: Routledge. Brown, S. (2012) Managing change in universities: a Sisyphean task Quality in Higher Education, Volume 18 number 1. Brown, S. (2011) Bringing about positive change in the higher education student experience: a case study, Quality Assurance in Education, Volume 19 Number 3 p 195-207. Carroll, J. and Ryan, J. (2005) Teaching International students: improving learning for all Routledge SEDA series
References: 2 Kennedy, D., Hyland, A. and Ryan, N. Implementing Bologna in your institution, Using learning outcomes and competences: Writing and Using Learning Outcomes: a Practical Guide http://sss.dcu.ie/afi/docs/bologna/writing_and_using_learning_outcomes.pdf Northedge, A. (2003) Enabling participation in academic discourse Teaching in Higher Education, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2003, pp. 169 180. Newton, J. (2003) Implementing an Institution-wide learning and Teaching strategy: lessons in managing change. Studies in Higher Education Vol 28 No 4. Nicol, D. J. and Macfarlane-Dick, D. (2006) Formative assessment and self-regulated learning: A model and seven principles of good feedback practice, Studies in Higher Education 31(2) 199-218. Peelo, M. and Wareham, T. (eds) (2002) Failing Students in higher education Buckingham, UK, SRHE/Open University Press. Race, P. and Pickford, R. (2007) Making Teaching work: Teaching smarter in post- compulsory education, London, Sage Race, P. et al (2009) Using peer observation to enhance teaching Leeds metropolitan Press Leeds.
References 3 Renfro, W. L. and Morrison, J. L. (1983) Anticipating and managing change in educational organisations, Educational Leadership Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development Roxa, T. and Martensson, K. (2009) Significant conversations and significant networks- exploring the backstage of the teaching arena Studies in Higher Education Vol 34 no 5 p547-559 Rust, C., Price, M. and O Donovan, B. (2003). Improving students learning by developing their understanding of assessment criteria and processes. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education. 28 (2), 147-164. Ryan, J. (2000) A Guide to Teaching International Students, Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development. Sadler, D. R. (1989) Formative assessment and the design of instructional systems Instructional Science 18, 119-144. Yorke, M. (1999) Leaving Early: Undergraduate Non-completion in Higher Education, London: Routledge.
