Assignments: the purpose versus the perception Harriet Lowe University of Greenwich SHIFT Conference 5th January 2018 @HarrietLoweGRN

What’s the point?

“promotion of student-centred learning” (Brown, 1997) “promote critical and reflective thinking skills” (Bahous, 2008) “potential to drive students’ learning” (Davis et al., 2008) “improve subject knowledge (…) while endorsing critical thinking skills” (Conrad, 2008) Provides opportunity for individuals to identify their own strengths and weaknesses (Bloom & Bacon, 1995)

Academic Writing Foundation Course Essay Portfolio About degree subject Academic style appropriate to level 4 Set of tasks completed throughout course: Bibliography of research Topic sentences/linking phrases Writing an introduction Writing a paragraph Writing a conclusion Editing

Research questions Do students completing the assignment understand the intention or purpose of the assignment? How does this understanding of the intent of the task affect engagement with the assignment? How does this understanding of the intent of the task affect the final score received by the student?

Participants & Questionnaire 11 level 0 students from various degree disciplines (MET, Childhood studies, Public Health, International Relations, Public Relations) Questionnaire with Likert scale (positively- and negatively-worded questions) and open-ended questions Over 30 questions regarding (1) overall attitude towards the portfolio; (2) how the students related the portfolio tasks to their essay; and (3) a breakdown of the tasks themselves.

Student perception: results Strongly agree Agree Disagree Neither I related the portfolio tasks to my essay C, E, I, J D, K A, B, G, H F I consciously thought about the link between the portfolio tasks and the essay I, J C, D, E, F, K Students C, G & H scored ≤62 on their portfolio and ≤50 on their essay Students B, D, F, I, J scored >65 on the portfolio and >70 in their essay Students A & E scored ≥69 on their portfolio and ≤59 on their essay Student K scored 65 on their portfolio and essay

Student perception: results “How did the portfolio tasks and essay connect for you?” H did not; D portfolio pushed me to do the essay; B the tasks helped while writing the essay (…) [and] improved my essay; A I didn’t think the essay really connected with the portfolio. Students C, G & H scored ≤62 on their portfolio and ≤50 on their essay Students B, D, F, I, J scored >65 on the portfolio and >70 in their essay Students A & E scored ≥69 on their portfolio and ≤59 on their essay Student K scored 65 on their portfolio and essay

Student perception: results Yes (or most of it) No (or some small parts) Did you use Task 1 in your essay? B, D, E, F, H, I, K A, C, G, J Did you use Task 2 in your essay? B, D, F, H, I, K A, C, E, G, J Students C, G & H scored ≤62 on their portfolio and ≤50 on their essay Students B, D, F, I, J scored >65 on the portfolio and >70 in their essay Students A & E scored ≥69 on their portfolio and ≤59 on their essay Student K scored 65 on their portfolio and essay Yes No Yes but I didn’t use it Did you refer back to Task 4 in your essay? B, E, F, I, J, K D, G A, C, H

Student perception: results G “Would have preferred to edit and improve a previous essay for the course” I “It honestly helped me get through the essay” B “To do the tasks separately was helpful when writing the essay” Students C, G & H scored ≤62 on their portfolio and ≤50 on their essay Students B, D, F, I, J scored >65 on the portfolio and >70 in their essay Students A & E scored ≥69 on their portfolio and ≤59 on their essay Student K scored 65 on their portfolio and essay

Research questions Do students completing the assignment understand the intention or purpose of the assignment? How does this understanding of the intent of the task affect engagement with the assignment? How does this understanding of the intent of the task affect the final score received by the student?

Limitations to the research Small scale study Academic writing Some students had not received the feedback from the portfolio in time for the essay submission which may have affected their perception on the usefulness of the tasks The students who responded may be the engaged students

How do you currently engage with your students regarding assignments How do you currently engage with your students regarding assignments? How might you ensure there is a connection between the intent of the assignment and how the student approaches it?

Learner-Centred Teaching (LCT) approach LCT = active, cooperative/team-based, inquiry-based, project-based, and problem-based learning. LCT approaches outperforms teacher-centred instruction (Felder & Brent, 2017; Hanewicz, Platt & Arendt, 2017) Would you consider a LCT approach for assignments in the future?

Thank you for listening Any questions? “Teaching is and always will be a challenging and time-consuming occupation, the point is that good teaching is far more satisfying and not much harder than poor teaching” (Felder & Brent, 2017) Thank you for listening Any questions? Harriet Lowe @HarrietLoweGRN

References Bahous, R. (2008). The self-assessed portfolio: A case study. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 33 (4), 381–393. Bloom, L. & Bacon, E. (1995). Using Portfolios for Individual Learning and Assessment. Teacher Education and Special Education. 18 (1) 1-9. Brown L. (1997) Portfolio Assessment: Missing Link in Student Evaluation. ERIC Clearinghouse: http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/15/16/20. pdf. [Accessed 26 November 2008]. Conrad, D. (2008). Building knowledge through portfolio learning in prior learning assessment and recognition. The Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 9 (2), 139–150. Felder, R. & Brent, R. (2017). Learner-Centered Teaching: How and Why. Learning Abstracts. 20 (5) 1- 5. Hanewicz, C., Platt, A. and Arendt, A. (2017). Creating a learner-centered teaching environment using student choice in assignments. Distance Education, 38 (3) 273 – 287.