Author: Jennifer A. L. McGowan
jennifer.a.l.mcgowan@ucl.ac.uk
Abstract
A conversation that frequently appears in both pedagogy and the media is whether traditional assessment is inclusive to all learning types and appropriately reflects the range of skills that a student may have. Not all students will be good at writing academic papers, but many will create engaging presentations or stunning outreach activities.
As well as a final essay, students in this module were graded on a) engagement with pre-lecture activities, b) ability to lead a discussion, and c) engagement as an audience member. Therefore regardless of the student’s comfort in public speaking or available time there were opportunities to gain a responsive grade. This approach was a success in terms of student grades (none below a 2.1), feedback, and student engagement. Students reported recognising and appreciating the range of options, and felt more comfortable learning new skills when they had less of an impact on their final grade.
Introduction
A conversation that frequently appears in both pedagogy and the media is whether traditional assessments are inclusive to all learning types, and appropriately reflect the range of skills that a student may have. Student engagement, both in class and within their cohort, has been shown to enhance students’ competencies (Muslimah, 2018), develop social interactions which help students’ learning, and enhance critical thinking and problem solving (Tuovinen, 2019), and develop communication skills – which are a key skill of interest to employers (Noah & Aziz, 2020).
However there are inequalities in engagement ability between students. For example, extroverts express a greater readiness to participate in spoken discussions and introverts express a greater readiness to participate in written discussions (Zhang & McNamara, 2018). Men speak over-regularly in conventional classroom discussions, whereas woman over-regularly post in online activities (Chajut & Saporta, 2008). Additionally student for whom english is a second language find it harder to speak up in an open discussion, as it takes them longer to process both the discussion and their response, by which time the topic may have moved on (Muslimah, 2018). Not all students will be good at writing academic papers, but many will create engaging presentations or stunning outreach activities.
In order to develop a more inclusive module design, we developed a range of engagement options for students – such that regardless of personal circumstance all students had an equal opportunity to engage with the topic and with their class. Our aims were:
- To encourage engagement via assessment.
- To develop a range of engagement options to support student abilities.
- To encourage the development of this range of engagement skills.
- To support and monitor student engagement in a standardised way.
…as assessed by student grades, feedback & independent student reviewers.
Methods
As well as a final essay, students (N=21) were graded weekly on:
- Engagement with online pre-lecture activities,
- Ability to lead a group discussion, and
- Engagement as an audience member in group discussion.
…each worth 10% of the final grade.
Online pre-lecture activities
Online activities were developed each week prior to the lecture. The activities were designed based on the ABC Connected Learning requirements and were designed to improve student understanding of that week’s topic by giving them a chance to practise designing or analysing data for themselves. Example activities which were used included:
- Comparing two videos of interviews and commenting on which they preferred.
- Identifying things the would find difficulty in running a focus group.
- Working as a group to develop a case study question sheet.
- Having a go at coding a transcript (H5P activity).
- Having a go at understanding someone else’s thematic map (H5P).
Students received a score each week from 0-1, and a total score at the end of the module. Activities were scored as: 0 – pre-course work missing or superficial, 0.5 – completed some pre-class work but not all, or completed work but did not engage with activities – responses were superficial, or 1 – completed pre-class work on time.
Weekly group discussion
As part of the weekly lecture, one hour was put aside for a student-led discussion. Each week a dfferent group of 2-3 students were given a pre-identified journal paper related to that week’s learning and required to lead the class discussion on that topic. They were suggested to develop a ten-minute summary of the paper, followed by a range of discussion-prompting questions. All students were required to read the paper and come to the lecture ready to discuss its contents.
Each week discussion leads were graded on their ability to present and monitor discussion, and audience members were graded on engagement with the discussion (quality and quantity of engagement). Grading sheets for both are available on request.
Results
Student grades in response to these activities were positive. Nine (42.9%) students achieved a 1st, with the rest achieving a 2.1 (N=10, 47.6%) or a 2.2 (N=2, 9.5%). Students demonstrated preferences for certain activities, with scores clearly differing across the engagement activities offered. However due to the balance of engagement options open, no student achieved a low overall grade. Additionally the attendance average was 95% (range 60-100%), and class engagement average was 65.5% (range 43.8-87.5%), demonstrating far higher engagement than in comparative modules.
Online pre-lecture activities
Students reported that the pre-lecture activities were challenging, but important. Students reported:
“I think contributing to the weekly discussions prior to the lecture was most difficult as sometimes when you have a lot to do in a week, it can be easy to forget to do it…Nevertheless, it is a very valuable part of the course as it allows me to engage more with the content and also solidify my learning.”
“I think having the weekly pre-activity was challenge at the beginning, as I had to remember to complete it before Saturday in order to get my marks. However, this is a smart approach, as it doesn’t allow us to postpone revising and it keeps us engaged with every week’s material.”
“Pre-lecture activities and relevant journal club at the end of each lecture to help you further explore and understand the lectures, yet making the module more interactive and enjoyable”
The independent student reviewers reported that the pre-lecture activities were helpful, relevant, and short, and that students liked that they were compulsory as it helped to structure their learning.
Weekly group discussion
Students also found the discussion challenging, with many reporting starting off uncomfortable with speaking up, or even presenting, in front of the class. However they reported increased confidence and ability to present their views in public. Students reported that the group discussions were good practise, that they learned public speaking skills, critical thinking, and grew as a cohort. Example comments are given below.
The independent student reviewers reported that students liked the format and range of assessments and opportunities to achieve a high grade. The range of teaching style and the interactive activities allowed them to stay more engaged and they enjoyed the chance to participate. They reported that students found the activities really fun to do as well as helped them consolidate their learning.
Summary
In summary, by providing a range of range of engagement activities we were able to improve student attainment and engagement. All students received a high grade, student engagement was high, and student feedback showed that they appreciated and enjoyed the range of activities. Students reported recognising and appreciating the range of options, and felt more comfortable learning new skills when they had less of an impact on their final grade.
However it is important to note that this is a large change in style to traditional teaching methods, and so requires high engagement from the teaching staff as well. Where possible we suggest that modules who intent to pursue this method take advantage of any alternative learning methods developed in the move to online learning over Covid. Further support and resources can be provided by ARENA, and by contacting the lead author.
Key references
Zhang, Z., & McNamara, O. (2018). Conceptualising Student Types and Engagement. In Undergraduate Student Engagement (pp. 103-115). Springer, Singapore.
Muslimah, M. (2018). Is Students’ Speaking Participation Related to Students’ Personality and Gender?: Observations at an Indonesian University. Alsuna: Journal of Arabic and English Language, 1(1), 1-16.
Tuovinen, S. (2019). Introverted but socially engaged in school learning: The interaction between introversion and social engagement and its role in well-being.