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Title: Assessment, Learning and Teaching: an international perspective


1
Assessment, Learning and Teaching an
international perspective
  • SPACE conference Valencia April 08
  • Sally Brown
  • PVC Assessment, Learning and Teaching
  • Leeds Metropolitan University

2
In this session we will
  • Consider the context of HE internationally
    nowadays.
  • Consider the nature of HE students.
  • Explore current international trends in HE
    design, delivery and assessment and particularly
    how this impacts on students.

3
Leeds Met Vision Character
  • Striving to become a world class regional
    university, with world wide horizons, using all
    our talents to the full.
  • The university with the vision for the long run
    of putting students at the centre of our way of
    doing things, with graduations as the
    centre-piece of university life and with student
    support, inspiration, coaching and encouragement
    increasingly going beyond boundaries throughout
    the student experience
  • A university of festivals and partnerships
    creating a culture of celebration which values
    pioneering relationships with other world-class
    regional organisations across education, the
    arts, sport, business and wider community life
    throughout the north of these islands

4
We aim to offer
  • A healthy, ethical, environmentally-friendly and
    sustainable community which values well-being,
    diversity, taking risks as pace-setters, the
    efficient and imaginative use of our resources,
    good governance and professionalism.
  • Visible and recognised, with the Leeds Met rose
    widely known as a symbol of engaging and
    stretching students and communities, with our own
    learning environments transformed into great
    settings for education and with our students
    successes and our university reputation as
    front-runners increasingly appreciated
    externally.

5
Our students can
  • Rub shoulders with, and learning from, champions,
    where every students matters, is known to staff
    and has opportunities for inspiration.
  • In a university with world-wide horizons where an
    international, multi-cultural ethos is pervasive
    throughout our scholarship, curriculum,
    volunteering and community engagement at home and
    overseas.
  • And a university whose members, including
    students, staff, governors, alumni and friends,
    value belonging to this community sharing a
    sense of identity, so that we gather momentum
    through attracting more and more students and
    staff with the attitude to make a difference.

6
We are
  • A regional university network of 18 partner FE
    colleges and their students, sharing the values
    of widening participation and enhancing
    progression.
  • A university of daily 200word reflections where
    the curriculum and the wider university is
    refreshed by running streams of insights,
    expertise creativity.
  • A place where we aim to use all our talents to
    the full, from world-class research to the whole
    university staff development festival to
    encouraging students to deepen participation by
    valuing extra-curricular activities, such as
    volunteering, and ensuring that this approach
    embraces diverse communities.

7
Task what are the greatest issues facing our
national HE systems?
8
Here are some of the big issues internationally
for me
  • A changing HE context
  • Challenges associated with Technology-Enhanced
    Learning
  • International issues including competition (e.g.
    European nations teaching programmes in English),
    global perspectives and GATS
  • Mass higher education and associated diversity
    issues
  • The search for effective, fit-for-purpose
    assessment methods
  • Issues around curriculum delivery.

9
The role of the university in the coming decades
  • Providing creative, powerful and positive ways of
    supporting student learning
  • Recognising and accrediting student achievement
    (not necessarily based on HEIs own programmes,
    diversity in type, scope, timing and
    methodologies
  • Significantly less emphasis on content delivery
  • Stronger focus on supporting information
    literacies.

10
Some contextual issues for the UK
  • Central importance of student retention (balanced
    with maintaining quality)
  • The unknown impact in the UK of fees generally
    and variable fees in particular
  • New new and private universities
  • Impacts of the National Student Survey and
    various league tables
  • The Disability Discrimination Act and SENDA
  • Our research metrics (the Research Assessment
    Exercise) now and in the future.

11
What are students getting like?
  • More value-conscious
  • More litigious?
  • More diverse
  • Blurred distinction between part-time and
    full-time students
  • Demonstrating the impact of different approaches
    to study in schools
  • Having increased expectations of diverse kinds of
    support.

12
What kinds of student do we want?
  • High achievers?
  • International students?
  • Those from disadvantaged backgrounds including
    disabled students?
  • Students with stickability/stamina/
    resourcefulness ?
  • Rounded individuals with interests beyond
    academic study?

13
International issues
14
Do we have a global Higher Education environment?
  • Shared concepts of pedagogy?
  • Equivalent and mutually accreditable assessment
    systems?
  • Compatible technologies for learning?
  • Comparable learning contexts?
  • Shared languages for learning?
  • Shared concepts of student support?

15
Contested terms
  • Assessment and evaluation
  • Compensation
  • Faculty/staff
  • Internationalising Higher Education
  • Inclusive learning
  • Transferable/Interpersonal/Core/Key skills

16
Surprises in the international context
  • Students studying away from home often find
    approaches, methods, content and context very
    different from what they are used to
  • Staff with diverse student cohorts are often
    surprised by student attributes and behaviours
  • Institutions are not always well set up to
    support international students and recognise
    their achievements.

17
What do students say?
  • The following comments are typical of what
    international students say when they study in the
    UK and what UK students say when they study
    abroad.
  • Which do you think are which?
  • Do any of these surprises sound familiar to you?

18
On dealing with unfamiliar assessment formats
  • I couldnt believe it when they told me there
    was no written exam. At first I thought it was
    wonderful but now Im really worried because I
    dont know what I am supposed to be doing.
  • Ive never given an oral presentation before.
    Back home all our exams were written ones, so it
    was very nerve-wracking for me to have to stand
    up in front of everyone, with them all looking at
    me. It made it really hard for me to concentrate
    on what I was saying, even though I had done lots
    of preparation.

19
More unfamiliar formats
  • In my country, you only really get to do a viva
    for a post-graduate qualification so it was a
    shock to me to find that I was expected to do
    them for my course on my year abroad.
  • Back home exams only last a couple of hours, or
    three at the most. Here they are six hour
    marathons, sometimes more. Its really
    exhausting.

20
On language
  • Ive never been asked to write an essay as long
    as this before. Back home I was getting on really
    well with my written English, but what they asked
    for was usually only around 1,000 words long.
    This just takes so much time to get it right.
  • I went to my tutor and asked him to proof read
    my dissertation but he refused to help me. I am
    paying so much money as an overseas student here
    and I expected them to be more helpful to me.

21
On religious issues
  • We had two exams in one day, both lasting three
    hours. I had difficulty concentrating in the
    second one as I had been fasting since dawn. I
    didnt really feel I did my best.
  • It was very uncomfortable for me taking an exam
    on a Saturday morning.

22
On ways of relating to others
  • Home students are at such a great advantage over
    us. They seem to laugh and chat with the teachers
    in a very familiar way. We feel like outsiders
    and I think we are disadvantaged when it comes to
    the tests.
  • The tutor went through the criteria for the
    presentation with us, emphasising things like
    body language and eye contact but he didnt
    understand that that would be a problem for me to
    look straight at all the male students.

23
On the authoritative role of the tutor
  • It was a shock for me to find that I wasnt
    going to be marked by the tutor but by other
    students. How can they possibly be able to do
    that? The tutors should be doing this because
    they have the knowledge that we dont have.
  • In our OSCEs Objective Structured Clinical
    Examinations, we had to examine a patient whose
    comments on my proficiency formed part of the
    assessment. How can that be right? They know
    nothing of clinical matters.

24
On right answers
  • They tell us to read around the topic and give
    us long book lists to help us prepare for writing
    essays, but how do you know where to start? I
    wanted to know which was the best book for me to
    concentrate on but no one would help me find it.
    In my country the books we need to study properly
    are indicated and everyone knows what they are.
  • In the lecture she gave us information about
    three different approaches to the subject, but
    she never told us which one was the right one.
    When I asked her about it, she said it was up to
    me to decide. How am I supposed to do that? She
    is the expert! So now I just dont know what to
    write in my essay

25
On expectations of a supportive relationship
  • He told us we could come to his office if there
    was something we didnt understand, so I went,
    but after only half an hour, he said he had to go
    off to meeting, so I didnt feel he had really
    helped me much.

26
Surprises about the assessment context
  • I cant imagine anyone back home bringing their
    families along to watch them presenting
    university course work, but here they all come
    along, aunties and cousins and grannies. I felt
    rather lonely doing mine all on my own
  • He gave me a B- for my essay. Back home I never
    got less than an A or maybe an A- so I went to
    see what the problem was, and he more or less
    brushed me off, saying it was fine. But its not
    fine! Itll play hell with my Grade Point Average
    when I go back homeA real problem with US
    students in the UK

27
Variations in approaches based on cultural
factors (pace Ryan) might centre around
  • The extent to which historical texts and
    previously accumulated knowledge is respected
    (and how much students are expected to have their
    own ideas)
  • how far authority figures, including teachers are
    respected (or not)
  • how far it is acceptable to be overtly critical
    of authoritative texts or figures
  • whether a correct answer is sought and the
    extent to which alternative responses are
    acceptable

28
And
  • issues around avoidance of making mistakes or
    losing face
  • how far students are expected to speak up or to
    listen quietly
  • how far personal opinions are valued (or whether
    this implies arrogance) and
  • the importance of harmony and co-operation within
    the group over the interests of the individual
    within it.
  • (Janette Ryan, A Guide to Teaching International
    Students)

29
What do UK teachers say international students do
that they find surprising?
  • Students giving generous presents
  • Answering all my questions with yes
  • Handing in 4,000 words for an essay with a 2,500
    word limit
  • Writing very personal coursework with the main
    point on page 3 and lots of unnecessary
    background
  • Repeating verbatim my lecture notes in the
    coursework

30
What else?
  • Coming into my office after I have given the
    marks to argue loudly that I should give them
    higher marks several times
  • Coming up after the lecture for a 11 discussion
    and seeming to expect me to stay for as long as
    it takes even though I said Any questions? in
    the lecture
  • Deferring to my opinion, even when a preference
    would be appropriate (e.g. Me which essay will
    you do as coursework? Student Please, you
    say)
  • Ryan and Carroll, 2005

31
Issues around curriculum design, assessment and
delivery
32
Trends in current HE design, delivery and
assessment
  • Blended learning (as opposed to e-learning or
    traditional face-to-face approaches) e.g. video
    lectures
  • Recognition of the centrality of assessment to
    learning (stop marking, start assessing)
  • The importance of teams rather than individuals
    in materials production
  • Diversity of formats for the Academic year and
    Accelerated degree projects.

33
Some sample innovatory approaches to assessment
  • Assessment of learning in practice settings e.g.
    use of PDAs on site in clinical settings
  • Use of blogs as an element of reflective
    practice
  • Groups projects to replace final year
    dissertations
  • Exploratory work on computer-based assessment of
    short answer questions
  • Assessment of multiple small tasks to demonstrate
    achievement of practical competence (the PASS
    project, Objective Structured Clinical
    Examinations).

34
Some developments in curriculum delivery
  • Communicating with students mobile phones,
    Podcasting, SMS and other forms of communication
  • Increased use of Re-usable learning Objects
  • Rethinking the delivery contexts lecture
    theatres or what?
  • A cross-cultural curriculum and other aspects of
    cultural inclusivity.

35
What should we consign to the rubbish chute of
history (discuss)?
  • Classrooms containing fixed PCs ?
  • Electronic whiteboards other than for tiny groups
    of students?
  • Death by PowerPoint, linear approaches to use of
    presentations, the 6-per page handout?
  • Chalk and blackboards?
  • Sixty-minute delivery-only lectures?

36
Delivering content..
  • is less like delivering a parcel (the postman
    model) and more like delivering a baby (the
    midwife model).
  • University staff can advise, guide, intervene
    when things so wrong, but in the end only the
    student can bring learning into life!!
  • Content can be gleaned from many sources (e.g.
    MIT and our UK Open University are putting more
    and more content into open access areas for
    example).

37
My prediction for HE in the next 20 years
  • The move away from universities being the
    guardians of content, where everything is about
    delivery, towards universities having two major
    functions
  • Recognising and accrediting achievement, where
    ever such learning has taken place (not
    necessarily in our university but from anywhere)
  • Supporting student learning and engagement

38
Useful references 1
  • Biggs J (2003) Teaching for Quality Learning at
    University (Buckingham SRHE Open University
    Press)Bowl, M (2003) Non-traditional entrants to
    higher education they talk about people like me
    Stoke on Trent, UK, Trentham Books
  • Brown, S. Rust, C Gibbs, G (1994) Strategies
    for Diversifying Assessment Oxford Centre for
    Staff Development.
  • Boud, D. (1995) Enhancing learning through
    self-assessment London Routledge.
  • Brown, G. with Bull, J. and Pendlebury, M. (1997)
    Assessing Student Learning in Higher Education
    London Routledge.
  • Brown, S. and Glasner, A. (ed.) (1999) Assessment
    Matters in Higher Education, Choosing and Using
    Diverse Approaches, Buckingham Open University
    Press.
  • Brown, S. and Knight, P. (1994) Assessing
    Learners in Higher Education, London Kogan Page.

39
Useful references 2
  • Brown, S., Race, P. and Bull, J. (eds.) (1999)
    Computer Assisted Assessment in Higher Education
    London Routledge.
  • Carroll J and Ryan J (2005) Teaching
    International students improving learning for
    all Routledge SEDA series
  • Falchikov, N (2004) Improving Assessment through
    Student Involvement Practical Solutions for
    Aiding Learning in Higher and Further Education,
    London Routledge.
  • Gibbs, G (1999) Using assessment strategically to
    change the way students learn, In Brown S.
    Glasner, A. (eds.), Assessment Matters in Higher
    Education Choosing and Using Diverse Approaches
    Buckingham SRHE/Open University Press.
  • Kneale, P. E. (1997) The rise of the "strategic
    student" how can we adapt to cope? in Armstrong,
    S., Thompson, G. and Brown, S. (eds) Facing up to
    Radical Changes in Universities and Colleges,
    119-139 London Kogan Page.

40
Useful references 3
  • Knight, P. and Yorke, M. (2003) Assessment,
    learning and employability Maidenhead, UK
    SRHE/Open University Press.
  • Mentkowski, M. and associates (2000) p.82
    Learning that lasts integrating learning
    development and performance in college and beyond
    San Francisco Jossey-Bass.
  • Peelo, M and Wareham, T (eds) (2002) Failing
    Students in higher education Buckingham, UK,
    SRHE/Open University Press.
  • Sadler, D R (1989) Formative assessment and the
    design of instructional systems Instructional
    Science 18, 119-144.
  • Sadler, D R (1998) Formative assessment
    revisiting the territory Assessment in Education
    Principles, Policy and Practice 5, 77-84
  • Pickford, R. and Brown, S. (2006) Assessing
    skills and practice London Routledge.

41
Useful references 4
  • Race, P. (2001) A Briefing on Self, Peer Group
    Assessment in LTSN Generic Centre Assessment
    Series No 9 LTSN York. Race P. (2006) The
    lecturers toolkit (3rd edition) London
    Routledge.
  • Race P (2006) The Lecturers toolkit 3rd edition
    London Routledge
  • Race P and Pickford r (2007) Making Teaching
    work Teaching smarter in post-compulsory
    education, London, Sage
  • Rust, C., Price, M. and ODonovan, B. (2003).
    Improving students learning by developing their
    understanding of assessment criteria and
    processes. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher
    Education. 28 (2), 147-164.
  • Ryan J (2000)A Guide to Teaching International
    Students Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning
    Development
  • Yorke, M. (1999) Leaving Early Undergraduate
    Non-completion in Higher Education, London
    Routledge.
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