Tag: Faculty Research

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A&H Module Lead & Teaching Admin Session #2: AI and A&H

Please find the link to the central AI Policy and Assessment Guidance presentation, as well as four presentations from A&H academics on their CoCreator research, conducted this summer, on various aspects of AI and education.

Key takeaway – module leads MUST inform students in their assessment briefs of the category of AI use permissible for that assessment.

Link to Academic Manual: Section 9.2.5a – GenAI and assessment briefs.

The UCL Generative AI Hub – “bringing together all the latest information, resources and guidance on using Artificial Intelligence in education”.

Marieke Guy and Ashley Doolan on UCL Policy on AI and Assessment:

Slides from Marieke and Ashley’s presentation.

FutureLearn course on Generative AI and Education

AI CoCreator Presentations: A&H Academics research in partnership with students.

Simon Rowberry (Publishing): Using AI for book cover generation.

Erkin Sagiev (Economics, SSEES): AI for Student Support.

Antony Makrinos (Greek & Latin) & Imogen Potts: Using AI to generate essay titles; does AI help students with argumentative essays, referencing or language learning?

Peter Braga (SSEES): What is generative AI? How do Large Language Models (LLMs) actually work? How can academics protect assignments from (mis)use of GenAI?

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A&H Faculty Research: Student Experience of Continuous Module Dialogue (CMD)

This research project was undertaken by Jesper Hansen (Arena Lead) and Abbi Shaw (Faculty Learning Technology Lead) in partnership with three student researchers (from English, Arts & Sciences, and Information Studies).

It sought to understand students’ experience of, and opinions on, the newly-required Continuous Module Dialogue exercise, under which it was suggested that academics would, at module level, consult students three times per term with a ‘light touch’ to ensure that students could, in the first instance, access their resources, and that, in the longer run, students felt that their voice was able to be heard.

A survey was conducted, to which 113 students from across the Faculty responded, and three focus groups were subsequently held.

Initial findings from the survey are outlined in this summary, shared amongst the Faculty in December 2022: link to access the Initial Findings Report.

The second part of the research generated a final summary, and a brief series of recommendations for carrying out CMD, accompanied by the rationale arising from the research. These were:

Use a mix of open-ended and closed questions (scales, yes/no).

Students had different preferences and as such this research does not suggest any one model as the perfect one. However, students overall agreed that a mix of open and closed questions was to be preferred. There was a general dislike for those evaluations that solely used closed questions.
Some students mentioned that questions regarding tutors’ teaching style should be incorporated in feedback forms, so students can give constructive feedback when they are not happy with the way teaching is structured and organised.

Do not share results of surveys/Mentimeter live on screen in the room.

Some students did not like it when survey results were shown on screen, and this made them not want to engage. They reported finding it uncomfortable and disconcerting, and expressed concern that their responses could be identified by others in the class. Many students did appreciate in-person opportunities to give feedback (as opposed to only Moodle surveys, for instance). Several mentioned academics talking through responses (which were not displayed on screen as they came in) as a positive and immediately rewarding experience of CMD.

Expectations and location

Where CMD is done asynchronously, students stress that surveys should be easy to find. Furthermore, where CMD is carried out across departments, the placement of these should be consistent, e.g. in the same, clearly-labelled section of a Moodle site.

Student expectations of the process should be explicitly aligned with academic understanding and expectations. Where students understand the purpose and value of the feedback (including understanding what it is not for) they are far more inclined to participate.

The full text of this second summary of our research can be read here: link to focus group findings and CMD recommendations.

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A&H Faculty Research – Student Experience of Moodle (Changemakers 2021/22).

In 2021/22, the third iteration of our A&H Faculty Research recruited 5 students, including one Project Lead, to carry out research to deepen our understanding of the student experience of Moodle. The main aim was to find out which practices stood out as particularly positive amongst the diversity of student experience. This project led to a conference presentation at RAISE 2022, in Lincoln, and has further been written up into a review of staff-student collaborative research, which has been accepted for publication in the December 2022 edition of SEDA Magazine.

Link to the post containing a video of our student-led report to A&H Module Leads, with a brief summary of the recommendations made: Student Moodle Experience; Moodle Rollover & Recommendations.

Presentation slides for Jesper and Abbi’s report to Arena: The Search for Clarity: A&H Students’ Perception of Moodle.

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A&H Faculty Research – Academic Online Experience in 2021/22

Following on from our work to capture a sense of the Student Online Experience, Jesper Hansen (A&H Arena Fellow) and I then went on to study A&H Academic Online Experience in 2021/22. Over 1/4 of teaching staff responded to our Mentimeter survey, and went on to do an extensive thematic analysis of the responses. This analysis led us to some compelling themes and conclusions, and this piece of research has heavily informed my work as Faculty Learning Technology Lead thereafter.

The themes identified:

– Perception of Online Teaching
– Online Teaching as a Threat
– Online Teaching as Enhancement

More than anything, this survey served to demonstrate, as with the student experience survey, the breadth and variety of experience across the Faculty. The only consistent finding was, indeed, inconsistency.

To read our full report, visit the following link: Academics’ Experiences of Online Teaching in Arts & Humanities.

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A&H Module Lead & Teaching Admin Session #1: Student Moodle Experience; Moodle Rollover & Recommendations.

  1.  How do A&H Students Experience the VLE?

This UCL ChangeMakers student-led research project was presented at the 2022 RAISE Conference. The recording below is of a slightly abbreviated version, presented as part of the Moodle support and orientation workshop for A&H Module Leads and Teaching Admin, held on 13th September 2022.

How students experience the VLE (presentation slides).

Recording of the presentation, featuring Jesper Hansen (Arena for A&H), Nadia Golotchoglou (SSEES) and Marta Ramió Comalat (English).

2. Moodle Rollover, Preparing for the Start of Term: Recommendations Arising from this Research

The rollover process creates annualised instances of taught modules. In most A&H departments, the rollover process has been centrally organised, but in some, this is the responsibility of module leads. If you have been tasked with rolling over your module and need further guidance on it, it can be found here: Link to Moodle Rollover Guide 2022/23  If you are unsure as to whether you need to rollover your module yourself, please check with your departmental administrators.

Recommendations arising from our research: a list in the briefest possible form. To hear me talk through this list in depth, please listen below:

    • Moodle Recommendations:

      • Everything on a module page should be intentional, and of use to the current student cohort. Leave anything that is not relevant to the current cohort that you may wish to bring in in the future in last year’s instance of the module.

     

      • Use consistent naming conventions for all documents. Avoid default strings of numbers.

     

      • If organising Moodle by week, include calendar dates in titles along with Week 1, Reading Week, etc.

     

      • Ensure assessment details and inboxes are clearly signposted, and are not hidden in weekly content.

     

      • Use Conditional Release (“Restrict Access” feature) to release content by week, or to cascade activities. State that this is in place. Link to Conditional Release How-To.

     

      • Make the module handbook clearly available in Moodle, and ensure it is up to date.

  • Resource and Library Recommendations

      • Use Reading List to ensure students access the correct versions of resources, and to keep the Library informed of current module requirements and use statistics. UCL Reading List Home and Guidance.

     

      • Use links to university databases, rather than downloading papers and uploading the PDFs.

     

      • Work with a Subject Librarian to check the accessibility of essential PDFs and documents in your course, and ensure the most appropriate versions are used. Who is my Subject Librarian?

     

      • Mark reading and resources as Core/Essential and Optional/Further as appropriate. Use the UCL Guide to Reading List Best Practice to ensure you and your students are getting the most out of the platform.