Embedding excellence through fusion of education, research and professional practice
We’ve recently updated our guidance for quizzes in the Brightspace Staff Resources area. Over the past year there has been a significant uptake in the use of this tool as well as several improvements to the platform so in response we have re-written the guidance for quizzes to cover common use cases and queries and… Read more » about New guidance for the quiz tool now available
What is MUSE? The Mid-Unit Student Evaluation (MUSE) is a survey designed to encourage students to reflect on their progress to date and feed back on their learning experience, including views on any summative or formative feedback received during their current unit. This information enables tutors to incorporate any necessary enhancements moving forward, therefore adding… Read more » about MUSE is on the way
Effective assessment and feedback is underpinned by sound curriculum design. Some programme teams may have participated in LEAP (Learning Excellence Acceleration Programme) workshops on curriculum design led by staff from the Centre for Excellence in Learning (CEL), the forerunner of FLIE and will be familiar with some of the pedagogic building blocks of curriculum design… Read more » about Preparing for Curriculum Design
The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, the QAA, has issued new guidance on degree outcome descriptions for Level 6. https://www.qaa.ac.uk/docs/qaa/quality-code/annex-d-outcome-classification-descriptions-for-fheq-level-6-and-fqheis-level-10-degrees.pdf?sfvrsn=824c981_10 At BU, the Centre for Fusion Learning, Innovation and Excellence (FLIE) and Academic Quality are reviewing the wording of the current BU Generic Assessment Criteria to ensure they are in alignment with this new… Read more » about Generic Assessment Criteria – new QAA guidance.
At BU we have adopted the principle of assessment for learning and this is explicit in academic policy documents, particularly policies 6f (Generic Assessment Criteria Procedure) and 6c (Principles of Assessment Design). Providing feedback on assignments in such a way that it contributes to learning, in addition to justifying or confirming the mark or grade,… Read more » about Effective feedback
My last FLIE Blog post explained principles underpinning the BU Generic Assessment Criteria. In this post I want to share an example of adding additional feedback comments which contextualise the expectations for a specific discipline or profession. Colleagues from the Law programme team in BUBS worked together, in consultation with FLIE, to develop additional feedback… Read more » about Adding discipline/profession specific statements to the Generic Assessment Criteria.
The current form of the Generic Assessment Criteria (Academic Regulations Policies and Procedures 6f) is the outcome of a collaborative project led by the Centre for Excellence in Learning, the forerunner of FLIE, involving Faculty representatives, the BU Students Union, and Academic Quality, with scrutiny and input from committees, staff consultation events and final ratification… Read more » about Making full use of the BU Generic Assessment Criteria.
As we begin a new semester, it seems timely to think about some of the benefits of using rubrics for marking, and sharing rubric marking criteria and feedback with students. What is a rubric? Rubrics are used to evaluate an assignment or activity based on a predefined set of criteria. They help ensure that assignments… Read more » about Rubrics for effective marking and feedback
As we move into another period with the focus on online teaching and learning, a reminder of the resources available via the Me@BU link on the Brightspace homepage. A collaboration by staff from various teams across the university, the Online learning@BU section provides advice and resources to support students when studying from home and online…. Read more » about Online learning@BU
Did you know that you can create and award badges in Brightspace? There’s a badge for it, too. Some research shows that students like them, and that they can improve student engagement and motivation (Roy and Clarke 2019). Badges can work well in formative assessment, for participation and to some extent for achievement or institutional… Read more » about Badges and awards – why?
