Since the introduction of the National Student Survey (NSS) in 2005, like many other institutions, the university where this study took place has expended substantial effort in improving the quality ...of feedback to students. However, despite much research, changes in pedagogical approaches and shifts in conceptual understanding related to feedback practice, assessment and feedback still receive the lowest satisfaction ratings in the NSS. Lecturers are discouraged when students fail to take note of their feedback, or sometimes do not collect assignments that have been marked. Understanding why feedback is not always acted upon remains an important area for researchers. This paper reports on an in-depth interview study with 14 final year undergraduates, reflecting on their perceptions of feedback written on marked assignments, by selecting examples of what they considered to be 'good' and 'bad' work. Findings suggested that emotional reactions play a significant part in determining how students will act on the feedback they receive, and the concept of 'emotional backwash' is introduced.
The paper puts forward the case for vulnerability as an important element within higher education pedagogy. In a context of rapid change and competing demands in the global higher education sector, ...the zeitgeist is that of teaching excellence, usually measured by a market-driven metrics approach. Teachers might, therefore, feel pressured not to reveal weaknesses either to their students or to their colleagues, and might tend to position themselves far away from any kind of vulnerability mode. Pedagogic vulnerability is a complex concept, liable to diverse interpretations and definitions. In an attempt to understand it more clearly, different views are explored in the literature, combined with a reflective analysis of two autoethnographic narratives portraying examples of vulnerability in teaching. This examination generated five principles of pedagogic vulnerability which are suggested as an approach to rethinking the purpose of higher education and the notion of teaching excellence.
In this paper, we explore action research as a method of academic development. Our focus is specifically on formal taught programmes such as PGCerts, MAs and doctoral studies as well as CPD ...workshops. In our dual roles as action researchers and academic developers, we had independently noticed that the type of action research that often featured as an assessed component of taught programmes held characteristics which differed from the approach that we knew and had practised. We had worked together as colleagues for several years and as our professional relationship grew so did our combined understanding of pedagogical action research (PedAR) - a form of action research that focuses on learning and teaching in higher education. Collaborative autoethnography helped us to problematize and surface the difficult tensions and dilemmas in our academic development practice. As part of the process we tried to hear our own internal voices which highlighted doubts, frustrations, contradictions, and sometimes joy. We also used the dialogue to step back and consider what else may be going on 'out there' to explain the emergence of particular types of PedAR. We analysed an ongoing, semi-structured, deliberately critical emailed conversation in which we shared experiences and observations to answer our research question 'How do our own experiences inform a critique of the use of PedAR in academic development in higher education?'
Research on professional assessment practice in higher education does not always take account of lecturers' perceptions and experiences, or their disciplinary context. This questionnaire study was ...designed to explore lecturers' views about three inter-related elements of professional assessment practice: assessment design, marking and feedback. It consisted of two questionnaires: the Assessment Design Inventory (ADI), previously published, and the Assessment, Marking and Feedback Inventory (AMFI) which was newly developed for this study. The two main purposes of the research were to: i) establish the validity of these two questionnaires as research tools, ii) explore the existence of professional practice in assessment and analyse any perceived hindrances as well as possible effects of participants' subject discipline. 356 lecturers from two UK universities, with a range of teaching experience and representing soft and hard disciplines, took part. Results indicated that the ADI and the AMFI were robust instruments. Findings showed evidence of assessment professionalism, but also some areas where it was lacking, together with a perceived need for formal training. Participants recognised that there were certain hindrances in putting their pedagogical beliefs into practice. The implications of this study are discussed in terms of advancing the sector's understanding of assessment professionalism.
In this paper it is argued that the current trend of making assessment criteria more explicit in higher education may have a deleterious effect on students' learning. Helping students to concentrate ...on assessment criteria paradoxically means that they may take a strategic approach and end up focusing on the superficial aspects of their assessment tasks, rather than engaging in meaningful learning activity. One solution might be to re-conceptualize assessment criteria as 'learning criteria' using Biggs' principle of constructive alignment in curriculum development and delivery. To illustrate how this can work in practice, a case study is presented detailing the development of a counselling psychology module over several years to progressively incorporate a text-based adaptation of the problem-based learning approach. Student evaluations of the approach are presented together with some examples of feedback given on students' work to demonstrate the effects on students' understanding and functioning knowledge
This paper reports on a survey study exploring new lecturers' views on assessment design (using a questionnaire called the Assessment Design Inventory) with 586 newly qualified or still qualifying ...lecturers from UK universities. A factor analysis established two factors labelled 'desirable practice' and 'constraints'. Participants felt that their university teaching programmes had changed their views on assessment design and that assessment practices could be improved. Over 50 % agreed that there were practical restrictions on assessment design. Findings revealed a perception that there is little incentive to innovate in assessment and that students may not welcome such innovation in any case. Further statistical analysis specified the 'external' variables of institution and discipline to be important in shaping desirable practice and perception of constraints. 'Individual' variables of gender, length of teaching experience and qualification status showed a statistically significant effect. These analyses demonstrate some key influences on new lecturers' views of assessment design and suggest reasons why they do not always feel able to put what they learn about assessment into practice. (HRK / Abstract übernommen).
This paper explores the processes and outcomes of an action research project, which utilised action learning sets to explore the experiences of a community of academics, who promote pedagogical ...enhancement in a UK university. Five academics acted as participant action researchers in a longitudinal study exploring the issues they face within their community of practice. Action learning sets were used as the forum through which the participants could discuss the issues they face. The result is an interwoven fabric of action learning and action research, with participants utilizing their reflections on the action research process itself as a catalyst to achieve greater insight into the issues they sought to address through their action learning. This paper explores the themes that emerged from these reflections: choosing between seeking 'solutions' versus promoting discussion in the action learning sets, the complementarity of action research and action learning, the challenges of a collective mode of inquiry. Ultimately, we offer up the process of incorporating action learning sets within an action research project as a participatory approach that can engage colleagues in different roles to reflect on pedagogical practice. Our findings demonstrate both the potential benefits and challenges inherent in combining action learning and action research.
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