R= 112 G= 47 B= 138 R= 241 G= 180 B= 52 R= 206 G= 0 B= 55 R= 0 G= 169 B= 224 R= 0 G= 191 B= 179 R= 166 G= 187 B= 200 R= 176 G= 138 B= 66 R= 181 G= 189 B= 0 R= 159 G= 174 B= 229 R= 0 G= 51 B= 102 R= 66 G= 182 B= 230 Top line palette Education palette Undergrad Postgrad ALSS HSCE MS S&T LAIBS Using Posters for Summative Assessment Dr Penny English Anglia Law School Anglia Ruskin University
R= 112 G= 47 B= 138 R= 241 G= 180 B= 52 R= 206 G= 0 B= 55 R= 0 G= 169 B= 224 R= 0 G= 191 B= 179 R= 166 G= 187 B= 200 R= 176 G= 138 B= 66 R= 181 G= 189 B= 0 R= 159 G= 174 B= 229 R= 0 G= 51 B= 102 R= 66 G= 182 B= 230 Top line palette Education palette Undergrad Postgrad ALSS HSCE MS S&T LAIBS Why posters? A poster presentation is ‘an experiential learning activity that stimulates curiosity and interest, encourages exploration and integration of concepts and provides students with a novel way of demonstrating understanding’ (Handron, 1994, in Bracher, Cantrell & Wilkie 1998)
R= 112 G= 47 B= 138 R= 241 G= 180 B= 52 R= 206 G= 0 B= 55 R= 0 G= 169 B= 224 R= 0 G= 191 B= 179 R= 166 G= 187 B= 200 R= 176 G= 138 B= 66 R= 181 G= 189 B= 0 R= 159 G= 174 B= 229 R= 0 G= 51 B= 102 R= 66 G= 182 B= 230 Top line palette Education palette Undergrad Postgrad ALSS HSCE MS S&T LAIBS Context Used in a first year LLB compulsory module in Public International Law Designed as a group exercise in order to encourage students to debate and negotiate the decisions about selection of material Topic of the legality of controversial use of types of weapons: cluster bombs and white phosphorus Part of an overall theme of developing academic writing skills, embedded in the module
R= 112 G= 47 B= 138 R= 241 G= 180 B= 52 R= 206 G= 0 B= 55 R= 0 G= 169 B= 224 R= 0 G= 191 B= 179 R= 166 G= 187 B= 200 R= 176 G= 138 B= 66 R= 181 G= 189 B= 0 R= 159 G= 174 B= 229 R= 0 G= 51 B= 102 R= 66 G= 182 B= 230 Top line palette Education palette Undergrad Postgrad ALSS HSCE MS S&T LAIBS Specific Academic Skills The ability to find, select and manage information: the information needed was not available in the textbooks The ability to organise material to convey an argument to an audience within the scope of the medium Writing concisely – and recognising that this requires a high level of structuring and organising of the information Using the potential of the software to best effect
R= 112 G= 47 B= 138 R= 241 G= 180 B= 52 R= 206 G= 0 B= 55 R= 0 G= 169 B= 224 R= 0 G= 191 B= 179 R= 166 G= 187 B= 200 R= 176 G= 138 B= 66 R= 181 G= 189 B= 0 R= 159 G= 174 B= 229 R= 0 G= 51 B= 102 R= 66 G= 182 B= 230 Top line palette Education palette Undergrad Postgrad ALSS HSCE MS S&T LAIBS Benefits Engaging Results are immediately visually satisfying Develop communication skills: they require thinking about how to convey a message effectively and concisely Work well as a group exercise Require the selection, synthesis and evaluation of information Novel and challenging Hard to plagiarise
R= 112 G= 47 B= 138 R= 241 G= 180 B= 52 R= 206 G= 0 B= 55 R= 0 G= 169 B= 224 R= 0 G= 191 B= 179 R= 166 G= 187 B= 200 R= 176 G= 138 B= 66 R= 181 G= 189 B= 0 R= 159 G= 174 B= 229 R= 0 G= 51 B= 102 R= 66 G= 182 B= 230 Top line palette Education palette Undergrad Postgrad ALSS HSCE MS S&T LAIBS Downsides Novel – can feel uneasy about tackling a different for of assessment. Students need very clear guidance on the expectations and how the exercise will be assessed Time needs to be spent on familiarising students with what an academic poster is, and to build confidence. Initial resistance: assumption that this is superficial and ‘playschool’ Can lead to focus on visual impact rather than content Expense
R= 112 G= 47 B= 138 R= 241 G= 180 B= 52 R= 206 G= 0 B= 55 R= 0 G= 169 B= 224 R= 0 G= 191 B= 179 R= 166 G= 187 B= 200 R= 176 G= 138 B= 66 R= 181 G= 189 B= 0 R= 159 G= 174 B= 229 R= 0 G= 51 B= 102 R= 66 G= 182 B= 230 Top line palette Education palette Undergrad Postgrad ALSS HSCE MS S&T LAIBS Reflections Feedback was positive The majority of the posters did achieve the aim of communicating effectively, and made maximum use of the poster format, combining visual and graphical information with text Evident that the medium had forced students to structure their thinking in a way they would not have done in an essay