Assessing students through skeleton arguments to improve engagement and diversify their transferable skills
Dr Eugenio Vaccari, Department of Law and Criminology
Rather than asking students to discuss the most likely outcome of a scenario based on existing case law (traditional assessment method), I asked my commercial law students to behave like lawyers and to advocate a case in front of a court (skeleton argument). Read more here
Use of integrated technology for collaborative group assignments
Shobana Dissanayeke, Biological Sciences and Rebecca Lewis, E-learning
This assignment was conducted with all students working remotely yet able to deliver a single collaborative piece of work. Both scientific and creative, it allowed students to demonstrate a range of different strengths and skills regardless or geographical location. Read more here
Using film to learn adult psychopathology
Dr Nuno Nodin, Department of Psychology
This formative assessment helps students to better understand and engage with their learning in adult psychopathology by providing relevant popular culture material for them to practice skills that they will need to apply in the course’s exam. Read more here
Assignment Guidance Using Video Podcasts
Dr Aislinn O’Connell, Dr David Yuratich, Dr Michelle Webster, Dr Rita D’Alton-Harrison, Dr Pinar Canga and Mr Stefan Brown, Law and Criminology & Social Work
In our teaching innovation, we used Panopto to record short video assessment podcasts at undergraduate level; these provided advice in a uniquely accessible format for students undertaking coursework. Read more here
Creativity first, Science follows
Dr Clive Cheong Took and Dr Steve Alty, Department of Electronic Engineering
On “Fundamentals of Biomedical Engineering”, we have addressed the common problem of abstraction associated with STEM subjects using a project-led learning approach. One of our objectives was to ensure that the teaching on the module and specifically the type of assessments were appropriate for DDS students to minimise anxiety over assessments. Read more here
Mini Academic Conference for Students on ‘The Other Side of Enlightenment: The 18th Century in Literature, Theory, and Film’
Dr James Smith, Department of English
Adopting a Mini Academic Conference as the final assessment on a third-year module gives students the exciting experience of one of the privileged means professional academics have of presenting research, receiving feedback on works in progress, and intervening in each other’s ideas. Read more here
Designing peer-assessed coursework for students engaging in complex creative tasks
Dr Carlos Matos and Mr Nuno Barreiro, Department of Computer Science
We present a design of peer-assessed coursework for practical modules where students from diverse backgrounds engage in complex creative tasks, acquiring professional and transferable skills. Read more here
The Unessay: Diversifying Assessment & Making Space for Creativity and Innovation in a Diverse Student Cohort
Dr Akil N Awan, Department of History
In this teaching initiative, students were given the option of producing an Unessay; a creative alternative to essays that diversified assessment & made space for creativity and innovation in a diverse student cohort. Read more here
Using Snagit to produce formative feedback for the micro-placements scheme
Louise Ogle, Ellen Jarman, Liz Wilkinson, Emma Baker, Jo Edmondson, Careers & Employability Service
Snagit video feedback was shared with 55 students who applied for the micro-placements scheme. This produced a richer output than more closely replicated face-to-face feedback and was an engaging and useful form of careers education for students. Read more here
Mozart’s Operas: History, Performance, Criticism, and Diversity
Dr Mark Berry, Department of Music
This case study shows how a trip to an operatic performance with a BAME cast can be linked to broader course aims and key curriculum themes. Read more here.
Using a field journal in combination with social media to teach field work and species identification skills
Dr Becky Thomas and Professor Julia Koricheva, School of Biological Sciences
Our teaching innovation involves the introduction of a field journal assessment in combination with a Facebook group on a Practical Field Ecology course... Read more here
‘Brands & Branding’ Assessments
Dr. Chloe Preece, School of Management
‘Brands and branding’ involves a group assignment designed to engage students through the use of the fictional character James Bond and an essay that enables students to focus on their future career goals... Read more here
A coursework assessment that fosters independent learning and that rewards creativity
Professor Kathy Rastle, Department of Psychology
In this coursework assessment students were required to construct a conversation between B.F. Skinner and D.Broadbent on any topic in Psychology and in any format. It encouraged independent study and rewarded originality and creativity, requiring them to engage with the material more intensely than is typically the case in our other courses…Read more
here
‘Dragon’s Den’ City Marketing Pitch
Dr Oli Mould, Department of Geography
The assessment method for my half of the ‘Cities: Economies and Societies’ module is based around a business-marketing scenario – in which the students act as city promoters, ‘pitching’ a city to a team of investors, made up of lecturers and external people from the business world (à la Dragon’s Den, the famous BBC programme)…
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here
Diversifying assessment: How Ebay, Mary Portas and TechHub can help improve student engagement in an MSc e-business course
Dr José-Rodrigo Córdoba-Pachón, School of Management
The innovation this year was to enable students to choose their own assignment pathway in order to meet the criteria. Based on their aspirations I proposed four generic assignment topics to students, asking them to suggest others…Read more here
Peer marking and critical evaluation of mathematical writing
Dr Mark Wildon, Department of Mathematics
Mathematics students often have a reasonable idea of how to solve a problem but then struggle to write it down. They may also have an exaggerated idea of how clear their work is to others. This initiative encourages students to think critically about their mathematical writing by peer-marking a question in the fourth year combinatorics course…
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