Embedding excellence through fusion of education, research and professional practice
A very long time ago, in the early 1970s, I competed at national level, even dancing in the finals at the iconic Blackpool Tower ballroom, and can share some insights from my ‘lived experience’ of dance competitions. There happened to be a ballroom dancing school in the village I grew up in, famous for its… Read more » about Brass bands and ballrooms: what can we learn about assessment and feedback from Strictly Come Dancing?
This month the open access Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education published a special edition, the Compendium of innovative practice; learning development in a time of disruption. (Issue number 22). https://journal.aldinhe.ac.uk/index.php/jldhe This timely peer-reviewed special issue contains 102 short pieces organised into 11 thematic sections that explore the challenges posed by the pandemic and the… Read more » about Compendium of Innovative Practice
During the 20/21 academic year, we saw an increase in different file types being submitted to Turnitin, specifically Excel and HTML files. Although these file types are accepted by Turnitin, the marking experience isn’t always straightforward. When Turnitin states it can accept a certain file type, what this means is that it can process the… Read more » about Marking Excel and HTML files in Turnitin
A publication this month from the Office for Students (OfS) reports on assessment practices in relation to spelling, punctuation and grammar. This was partly informed by reports from employers that graduates were not meeting their expectations of proficiency in literacy skills. https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/7c292a54-015d-4638-8c30-18e0eba00bf3/assessment-practices-in-english-higher-education-providers-ofs.pdf According to the report (paragraph 7b), “Accurate and effective spelling, punctuation and grammar… Read more » about New assessment report from the Office for Students
The EAT framework, developed by Professor Carol Evans and originally published in 2016, has been re-imagined as part of a European Erasmus +project. EAT is a model designed for staff and students to think about features of effective assessment practice and the interrelated nature of them. There are three core dimensions to the model Assessment… Read more » about The EAT project; equity, agency and transparency in assessment.
Welcome to Semester 1, 2021! As you start working with Brightspace again, you may notice some new features and changes to the look and feel of our virtual learning environment. Some of the resources and guidance pages have been redesigned to make it easier to find the advice or information that you are looking for. … Read more » about What’s New for 2021
On 27 August we are releasing an update to the assignment experience which brings several improvements to the tool, including a cleaner layout of the marking screen. This will apply for the the marking of large/multiple file submissions and for feedback on presentations, practicals and portfolios etc… There will be no changes to marking or… Read more » about New Assignment Marking Experience in Brightspace
The revised version of the Generic Assessment Criteria (ARPP 6f) was approved at Senate in June for implementation in the academic year 2021-22. When you populate your new units in Brightspace you will find a place in the Assessment section where the appropriate level of the criteria, from Level 0/3 to Level 7, can be… Read more » about Making the new Generic Assessment Criteria available to students.
Planning for the next academic year will include deciding on the types of assessments you will set in the units you are responsible for. Whilst many adjustments were made as a result of the impact on teaching and learning of the pandemic there are some constraints on the types of assessments that can be set…. Read more » about Thinking about setting exams? What does the policy say?
Dr Anne Quinney and Dai Hounsell, Visiting Professor in FLIE, recently delivered a series of masterclasses linked to the theme of Assessment and Feedback. The three sessions focused on: Peer Assessment Effective Feedback and Designing Assessments. If you didn’t manage to make any of the sessions, you can catch up with the recordings from the… Read more » about Assessment & Feedback masterclasses – slides and recordings
