Activities, assignments and assessment/Self assessment and evidence portfolios
Terry Young's presentation for AAAOpenConf2013
Terry Young from the Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Centre will discuss the use of La Trobe University’s personal learning space as a framework to create student evidence portfolios. He will present a case study from the School of Nursing and Midwifery in which students are asked to self-assess against professional standards. The framework gives rise to the opportunities available for the same student centred framework to be used for other scenarios such as RPL, graduate attributes and subject learning objectives.
Notes
editTerry's presentation outlined outcomes of some real practical case studies of evidence portfolios trialled in Semester 1 in Nursing and Midwifery courses. Students have many learning experiences and can create records of those which can become artefacts as evidence of their learning and provide frameworks for students to reflect on their learning. By reflecting on and identifying what happened and describing the experience - whether it has any relevance for them - applicable for them - how they might behave differently in future, broadens their learning experience. It is important for students to write about learning experiences as it creates a record for them. Those reflections are contextualised - relevance of it in variety of contexts.
A case study shown was postgraduate student placements in Nursing and Midwifery. Health professions are highly regulated by professional bodies. Students complete a whole range of forms equating to professional standards - 8 pages in the example that pg nurses need to complete in order to self assess against competencies. Students complete paperwork then meet with a clinical educator to discuss - arduous process. Huge paperwork exercise. Issues with paper - managing it. Students need to bring paperwork to interviews at several stages so potential to lose it.
Sometimes a Clinical Educator hasn't seen the competencies and the paperwork before students rate themselves, and the supervisor moderates the student's self assessment.
Online system instead of paperwork. Student has option to provide evidence of claim of competency. How does evidence support particular competency?
Student completed online and attached evidence where required and clinical educator looks at before interview so interview can focus on where student hasn't met competencies /skill gaps.
Outcome : students more involved in their learning as a result and it makes better use of interview time. Better use of time for both students and staff. More meaningful exercise. Centralised data management in digital space. No paper. More meaningful use of data - provides other opportunities to determine if students need early intervention. Both parties come to interview prepared.
University Graduate capabilities - would be good if students had some way of demonstrating this - a potential framework for use in this area.
Q: Can you compare the TAFE/VET sector interface to Uni sector in the areas of evidence and recognition of prior learning
T: TAFE much further down this path than university sector re type of evidence students can use - video and photos using personal mobile devices.
Q: What does the system accept and some of the ethical issues associated with gathering evidence?
T: Staff and students need to decide what is acceptable evidence - disciplines decide and privacy issues need to be considered. You can upload videos onto system so if this is acceptable to assessor it can be used. Get students to think about what is acceptable evidence.
Teachers are not the only means by which students learn.
Encourage students to keep records of their own reflections.
Provided students with chance to provide evidence of their competency. Link to Annabel Orhcard's example of reinterpreting face-to-face learning <See below - end of this para.>
Transform the potential of the data by collecting it electronically to begin with.
Students providing evidence of graduate capabilities??!! Are they? How could they?
UNE re-thinking F2F experience in online MBA program - applying workplace experience to their online education experience http://www.une.edu.au/gsb/degrees/mba.php
Does F2F have to be an exchange between student and *lecturer*? What about student and their manager?
Students take a more active role in their learning. Students have to ask for feedback. Making students responsible for their learning.
Feedback loop with other students for validation of the evidence they provide adds to the learning experience. Make assessment that motivates students to want to learn. A meta assessment.