March 27th, 2008
This interesting article in the Higher (20 March 2008) by a mature first year student, starts “We’ll turn up for lectures if you treat us with respect, give us feedback and remember our names“.
No stereotypes of course, but the author does point out that “What the lecturer should always remember is that if students have turned up then they are bothered. They may not appear bothered, but if they weren’t they wouldn’t be there. Never underestimate the effort that it takes to turn up. It might mean fighting through many hazy layers of consciousness when the alarm goes off after just a couple of hours’ kip and stumbling from halls to lecture theatre. The student’s head may hurt, one eye may be almost closed and they will only be able to look out from under their fringe, but they will have made the effort.”
The author then goes on to point out what a diverse bunch you may have in the lecture and what their different needs might be. Worth a look.
March 17th, 2008
In the Guardian, an interesting article entitled “Do students choose subjects for love or money?” about the Futuretrack longitudinal study which is following over 50,000 higher education applicants from 2006 until 2011. The project itself is very interesting – worth keeping an eye on their page, and the comments on the Guardian article are worth reading.
March 13th, 2008
An HEA report "http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/news/detail/fye_final_report”>The first-year experience of higher education in the UK (Phase 2)" is now on available on their website:
This reports on the second phase of a major study into the first-year experience of students at UK universities. It focuses on students who had not returned to their second year and their reasons for withdrawing.
March 5th, 2008
You could have two days in Oxford finding out more about plagiarism….the day before the meeting on Designing Out Plagiarism there is a meeting on Institutional Policies and Procedures being held at the Assessment Standards Knowledge Exchange, a Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching.
“This one day event will explore current issues in dealing with cases of student plagiarism. It will focus on the institutional rather than the pedagogic aspects of student plagiarism. There will be opportunities to share good practice and to hear how others have developed procedures in line with the changing demands of higher education in 2008.”
For more information, visit the event site.
March 4th, 2008
The teaching of databases is central to all Computing Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems and Information Technology courses. For the previous five years, TLAD workshops have brought together those teaching database modules in order to share good learning, teaching and assessment practice and to explore which methods are appropriate to database modules.
The sixth workshop will be held after the 25th British National Conference on Databases in Cardiff and this year the workshop will concentrate on novel teaching and assessment approaches for database and database related modules, as well as covering other issues related to the teaching, learning and assessment of databases.
Further details.
Please send all submissions (papers, demonstration descriptions or
panel/discussion group ideas) to tlad@sunderland.ac.uk. All submissions
should be made as PDF or MS Word documents. The proceedings will be
published by the Higher Education Academy.
Key dates:
Submission of Papers: 3rd April 2008
Notification of Acceptance: 24th April 2008
Camera Ready Copy: 8th May 2008
March 4th, 2008
The Higher Education Academy Centre for ICS together with London Metropolitan University is running a workshop, in London on 10th April 2008 on Student Feedback and Assessment
The day is aimed at academics and educational developers. The programme (below) includes presentations from practitioners from many institutions around the UK and promises to give us a lot to discuss. Click here to register
Programme
9.30 – 10.00 Registration & coffee
10.00 – 10.30 Welcome and introduction Pete Chalk
10.30 – 11.00 Running an event: running an assessment…what are the differences? Julia Tum, Leeds Metropolitan University
11.00 – 11.15 Coffee
11.15 – 11.45 Improving levels of student engagement in e-learning activities Dave Hubble, Open University
11.45 – 12.15 Improving the quality and timeliness of feedback using technology Angela Chapman, Queens University, Belfast
12.15 – 12.45 Fair and fast assessment of final year undergraduate projects David Inman, London South Bank University
12.45 – 1.30 Lunch
1.30 – 2.00 Interactive online assessment with teaching feedback for open learners Sally Jordan and Valda Stevens, Open University Science Faculty
2.00 – 2.30 Electronic Coursework Assessment and Feedback (e-CAF) Tony Beaumont and Sylvia Wong, Aston University
2.30 – 3.00 Using Facilitated Peer Assessment to provide formative feedback on group project contributions Clive Rosen, University of Derby
3.00 – 3.15 Coffee
3.15 – 3.45 Developing a system of student online formative assessments (SOFAs) Arlene Hunter, The Open University in Ireland
3.45 – 4.15 Sounds Good: Quicker, better assessment using audio feedback Bob Rotheram, Leeds Metropolitan University
Venue: Southside, Stapleton House Stapleton House, 277-281 Holloway Road
