Before I start I have 3 issues with statements made within the videos:
Ø Susan as a Deep
learner “teaches herself.” So she gets no value from the teacher? If the lesson was
different, she would. The teacher also has a responsibility to maximise the benefit of the lesson for Susan.
Ø Robert as a Strategic
learner “will cut any corner to achieve his goal with minimum effort”. This is said as if it is a bad thing. Sorry, but that is basic common sense. So will Susan – its just her goals are different to Robert’s. If anyone ever does otherwise they are wasting
resources. The problem only occurs when the goals are
inappropriate. For example, what are my
goals in doing this course? I certainly want to achieve them with the minimum
of effort but if my only goal in doing the course is to obtain the
qualification, I am missing an opportunity to develop skills which will help me
in my career and hopefully increase my job satisfaction because my
students will do better. If my only goal is to get the qualification, in the long run that will serve neither me nor the
awarding institution as the value of their credentials will be undermined.
Ø The last line of the
3rd video states that the aim is to get “Robert to behave like
Susan”. To me that is wrong. In a Level 3 teacher’s class, both Susan and Robert are behaving differently because the context is different. Maybe by participating in different
activities Susan will learn social skills that will help her develop and
perform better in her career.
Anyway, now that my rant is over I better address the issue.
One of the courses I am involved with this term is a module in International Business Environment which is part of a course in a Graduate Diploma in Management. The awarding body sets the learning outcomes which mainly fall within applying and understanding in Bloom’s Taxonomy. We have the opportunity to define the topics covered during the course
The awarding body also sets the method of assessment – which is one 3 hour exam worth 100% of the course grade. We set the exam and write the exam questions which must be sent to and validated by the awarding body before the exam. To me there are two very real dangers in delivering a course like this. The first is that the lectures and lesson activities are engaging and the students get a good understanding of the subject - but the teacher forgets that the students need to write a 3 hour paper so they end up doing badly in the exam. The second is that the teacher focusses on the exam so the students effectively memorise what they need to get it down on paper. Neither of these is satisfactory
The next time the course is run I will insist that during the first lesson we do a brainstorm activity and get the students to select the topics for study during the term. This term, the lead teacher chose them. I feel the students will feel much more connected to the course if they have played an active role in selecting the topics within International Business which are covered. This will mean that it is far more likely that they will select topics of which they have previous experience – so there will be more chance of them constructing knowledge on top of what they already know. As the exam is to choose and answer 5 questions from a given 8, I would hope that all students will have sufficient opportunity to be examined on topics of which they have experience.
As we have no choice over the method of assessment, I need to identify
and implement opportunities through the course for formative assessment. Fortunately we use Moodle as our LMS so I
intend to utilise this as much as possible.
Opportunities for formative assessment are:
On line and in class discussion forums on selected topics
Requesting students to summarise and discuss academic literature and/or
current events relevant to the topics
Ungraded exam practise or essay planning activities.
Some of our students have not been in an
academic environment for many years so they do need to be given the opportunity
for exam practise – Moodle can create this opportunity by me setting exam
type questions and asking them to try to answer it within 45 minutes at home
and submit it on line for my feedback
I can also give positive feedback on their forum
postings and ask them to consider further thoughts on the topic as appropriate.
This process is a really important part of the
course planning process. In future I
want to ensure that all of the courses I am involved with plan their course
structure around this framework.
Hi Andrew,
ReplyDeleteInteresting teaching context. What are the student behaviors you have observed in regard to the formative assessments? In other words, what is the approach to learning for the students?
Cheers,
Dean
I wouldn't say there is a consistent approach - they are all individuals. as part time students they tend to be more strategic but I have always liked that approach. they want to know what they will get for their money spent on the course and they want to know what they need to do to get the grade they want. That seems reasonable to me. So far, I have had surprisingly positive feedback to the idea of actually developing longer term skills in order to do well after the course as well as during it - few students have done a lit review before but they seemed keen to have a go (which I did as a group task similar to the one we are doing in module 3). I dont know how that compares to your EMBA students - what would you say is their approach?
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