In recent months, I’m not sure many have missed announcements or discussions around the various Artificial Intelligence (AI) platforms both developed and released. Every time I scroll through twitter, I seem to quickly come across numerous AI discussing tweets or threads - without fail. I’ve been reading around this topic in recent weeks, and given I work in higher education, am very aware the associated challenges, opportunities and possibilities it brings to the fore. Today, I attended an NTUTORR masterclass on Academic Integrity and Assessment, which centred a lot on AI in Higher Education (HE). Three excellent guest speakers (Pieta Sikstrom, Rebecca Awdry, Billy Kelly) guided us through a fascinating and thought-provoking set of presentations, while the 'chat' on zoom was exceptionally active amongst attendees. I’m not sure I’ve seen so many comments in such a short space of time! There is no doubt that this topic is certainly on people’s minds.
So.....to the main element of my blogpost today…..and introducing my fellow, guest co-author for this particular blog post - AI. After the masterclass session earlier, I was curious to explore whether AI could generate suitable text around itself in Higher Education. So I went to an online AI tool, and I added [1] a potential post title, [2] a description of the intended audience/persona ["An audience of academics interested in artificial intelligence's impact on higher education, on academic integrity and on assessment"], and then [3] some relevant key words ["Assessment, artificial intelligence, ChatGPT, opportunity, challenge, ai, ai literacy, academic integrity, success, students, educators, authentic assessment"]. That is all I entered. The platform then structured headings and key bullet points across several sections. I then pressed go/write….and below, in the blue box, shows you exactly what was produced by the platform (within about 3 seconds). I didn’t do any editing apart from correcting US to UK spelling in a few instances (...ized to ...ised). Enjoy reading my guest c-author’s contribution below....even if you only have a short amount of time right now, even pick one paragraph below to read.....Do you think the text produced and points made are relevant and accurate to this topic/discussion?
FYI - The recording of the masterclass will be available online to access shortly at http://www.ntutorr.ie/ and https://www.digitaled.ie/webinars-events/ntutorr-project-masterclasses/ .
Acknowledgements: Sincere thanks (?!) to my fellow coauthor, Artificial Intelligence at Moon Beam, who provided a helpful overview of several key challenges and opportunities of AI in HE.
Certainly food for thought for us all in HE......not only around academic integrity, authenticity, credibility, assessment, employability etc., but also around how (and potentially 'what'!) we teach and learn. Collective efforts across the sector at all levels, across campuses and national bodies will be needed to move forward together in this space.
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‘ENGAGE’ing in a VR space ; an educator’s ‘reality’ reflection
Recently, and during a one-hour timeframe, I was lucky to visit a futuristic museum atrium, a cutting-edge research laboratory, a library to listen in on a lecture on magnetism, dropped into the deep blue ocean to learn about sharks and their anatomy, before visiting the surface of Mars to watch an explorer machine take a rock sample. However, I didn’t leave my chair at home for any of these visits, they all took place via Virtual Reality!
As part of the HCI Virtual Labs project which is ongoing across Maynooth University, Dundalk Institute of Technology, University College Cork, Dublin City University, and Technological University of the Shannon - Athlone campus, some members of the team have been engaging with the potential of virtual reality (VR) as a learning and teaching tool. This technology is more prevalent in certain disciplines, however in the above project, we are looking at it in terms of its potential in the bio/chemical spaces. I’ve previously come across a science/molecular focused team in UCC led by Jerry Reen who used VR on their award-winning ELEVATE project, and was fortunate to see both Jerry speak to this work several times, as well as hear student testimonials to its benefits for learning in the molecular sciences. In addition, on the Virtual Labs project and the associated team, we are very aware of international experts such as Stephen Hilton in UCL who is a global leader in this space. The aforementioned Jerry, and Stephen, both presented at a recent event in DCU organised by our project’s academic lead there, Aoife Morrin. In the VR session being reflected on here, it was arranged again by Aoife and her colleagues in DCU, while facilitated by the incredibly helpful Barry Haughey who virtually brought us on our journey using the ENGAGE VR 'professional metaverse' platform. He even took some VR group photos! Below you can read some of my initial reflections on the session and technology….I did notice my neck and shoulder muscles got a great workout during the VR event though (see my 30 second video below!). My reflections on this experience...
User experience
Very intuitive, user-friendly, awe-inspiring and more. Of course, 'going' to such a space was new to me, as well as meeting with multi-institutional colleagues virtually in VR as opposed to Zoom/Teams…..and I tend to like ‘tech’…so it all added up to be something quite special, different. Yes, it is flashy, and expensive, but is there potential for certain projects/objectives? Well in my view, yes, the experience can lend its hand to supporting interaction, engagement and learning in certain ways. Is the technology and the user experience for everyone though, that's something else to consider. Regarding devices, for this meeting I used a Meta Quest 2 headset with joysticks. Learning, teaching and training potential Considering it from a learning point of view, one can literally 'go' anywhere and 'be' anywhere to get an in context, real world environment to learn. You could even ‘teach’ and ‘learn’ from mars, or under water if associated topics were relevant - such as with the anatomy of a shark example, or Mars rock sampling I outlined above. In relation to VR, a term I heard recently from John Milne of NIBRT was that "simulation builds muscle memory" and this is quite relevant here, as from an industry training point of view, a VR simulation could be designed and run to support inductions, training and minimise any deviations occurring at a later stage. In the science industry, particularly in the biopharma space, I had come across the term ‘digital twin’ quite often. Here, this is more than possible also, allowing people to work on a digital twin of piece of equipment for example, either in parallel or before, the real thing. From a teaching point of view, and reflecting on the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) CAST guidelines, one could certainly identify scope for new modes of engagement, action, expression as well as representation. I like it from the multiple modes of engagement point of view too, as providing a new way to learn here, a new way to ‘see’ things could really assist learners with learning concepts normally drawn in a textbook, or on a white board. I appreciate animations, videos etc. are helpful to complementing these aspects too, however there is scope for VR to even add yet another dimension. Possibilities are quite endless, as in theory, you can create or visit any ‘space’, for any context, for any learning experience. An immersive experience For the user, it’s a fully immersive experience….and time in VR might be an issue for some. I’ve read that it can be quite disorientating and people need to be conscious of that (this was pointed out to us at the beginning of our session). I think its integration into the norm is going to be dependent on several factors, but the headset (Meta Quest 2 in my instance) can begin to feel quite heavy over time. I find the adding the rubber seal provided does help with comfort over sessions such as the one outlined here. I also experienced accessing this particular session via my laptop computer, just to compare - and the difference was vast. Via the laptop, I felt like more like I was playing a game from the outside, as opposed to feeling immersed and ‘in’ the actual space with others. Hard to fully describe, but being immersed in the VR space via a Meta headset was much better experience in my view. Akin to playing, and in the middle of a match versus, watching it from the sidelines. This is important to be aware of, especially if you have people joining your sessions via desktops. Still, it’s worth considering the desktop approach might help someone who is not a fan of VR, has no access to a headset, or doesn’t enjoy the immersive experience, but still wishes to take part and/or learn. Returning to real life When you take off your headset, you are firmly back in the real-world, normality, with your feet on the ground. You certainly feel like you have 'gone' somewhere. Interestingly, time went by so quickly with all the learning and varying environments on our tour. I was amazed how quickly time passed by. My thoughts going forward...
I must admit, I felt fascinated after the above experience, and my brain was trying to even process all the possibilities around this technology from a learning and teaching point-of-view. But will we be meeting in VR spaces in the near future using our speaking avatars? Potentially. People/students/colleagues could meet in these spaces to learn aspects, or practice aspects, in real world scenarios and environments. Upskilling events, or micro-credential courses could have elements around this to engage learners in various ways to learn and support each other, or even to train on 'digital twins' pieces of equipment to prepare for on-site, in-person training.
My mind did wonder as to how widespread this may actually become. Access to headsets, the cost of headsets, the digital divide, strong Wi-Fi access and capable batteries in headsets are all important for both use as a platform with others, and functionality. We were told at this event how 'Roblox' is going to VR soon. My children are big Roblox fans, and have their own avatars there, their own houses designed, use their own currency etc. already….but will a move by Roblox and other such gamification platforms, to VR push the next generation to this technology faster? Does higher education have to consider this generation coming to classes in a few years time being used to communicating and spending time in a VR space. Will aspects of teaching and learning need to adapt in every discipline? It will be fascinating to follow this journey. In addition, to enhancing the visual experiences of VR, apparently, haptic gloves and more user-friendly visors are being developed, so that changes in tech might make it less of a heavy device to use over longer periods of time too, as well as removing the need for the joysticks allowing your hands to engage with, and use equipment etc. like you would in the real world. Is being in a VR space for lengthy periods of time healthy for one’s wellbeing? Certainly food for thought here also. We spoke a lot during the COVID pandemic about digital wellbeing and our disconnect from society and normality....but here, post pandemic, could a further disconnect from reality occur with VR, and could this have consequences if it is overused, over-engaged with, or ‘over-lived’ in? This certainly needs some consideration by creators, educators, society, and the user. FYI - since my VR meeting, and most likely from my account set up, I’ve been invited to a Fatboy Slim concert - in virtual reality!
Context: I decided this summer that I really wanted to revise how I teach, and the corresponding resources I develop and use, be considered from a UDL viewpoint. It’s an area in recent years that has been deservedly growing, with awareness of these approaches becoming more commonplace. The NF/UCD/AHEAD open course on UDL has been one of the most subscribed yet, and in me this term, it had one more person signed up! I’m going to use this platform below to document my learnings as I progress through the course, hoping that it will help and encourage others who may not be in a position to commit to the course, or wait until the next iteration runs.
Click on the various +/- below to expand each point and read about my learnings and redesign activity.
The firstly section details my background and awareness of this space… 1: Developing the National Resource Hub for T&L OER; Accessibility Aware
While at the National Forum, and as part of my work in developing the needs and focus for the National Resource Hub, I interviewed several people from across higher and further education considering those in all institution type and also levels. Hence, this wide ranging interview series provided a true insight across all HE stakeholders. Every interview brought its own unique angle and points to note, however there was one common element across every interviewee - Accessibility and UDL. Everything we developed at the Forum involved taking a UDL/Accessibility, and open licensing, approach. Win-Win on so many levels.
2: The UDL OpenCourse; kicking things off in Week 1
I am so excited about being on this course, it is something I know 100% is the right thing to do and I’m so keen to learn more. I’ve taken and acted on one specific point from the course’s student feedback videos today, and reached out to my own students on how I can do more to support around this. It has come up in class discussions earlier in the term, so looking forward to working with them to identify and create supportive solutions. 3: Diary from Week 2 of the course
Multiple means of representation; the ‘what’ of learning; recognition networks
4: Diary from Week 3 of the course
5: Diary from Week 4 of the course
Big next step!
The course’s focus now turns to the redesign activity….it’s something I’ve been tipping away at already but am so much more aware of aspects of it now. 6: So What Was My Redesign Activity?
How it came about....
Coming back from my secondment, I was very keen to work with my students more. I like to think I always have, but perhaps this year I hoped to delve a bit more in to this space. In parallel, UDL was very much on my agenda based on my time at the Forum. In the opening sessions of the module, I asked the students for some feedback around how I could support them more. This was such an important activity (via menti). The feedback was helpful and ultimately became my to-do list! One point really resonated with me: "More Accessible Notes" It really (really) hit home. Complementing this, as well as supporting my main cohort of learners, I've become really focused on supporting students with learning agreements as best I can. Remembering, there is no average student...so I want to help all across various levels - removing barriers and promoting engagement.
Hence my redesign activity was very much based on the above focus and interactions:
1. Improve the accessibility of my slides, notes and handouts [my primary Focus]. 2. Engage with more multiple means of engagement to support learners. 3. Employ means to receive and obtain feedback and ideas with students.
Considering Contrast
Contrast is one aspect that I feel we can all work to improve. I came across this concept with the National Forum when creating infographs, and the need for the work in this space. A colleague of mine at the time, Dr. Brian Gormley, mentioned an online contrast checker to me and I've never looked back since! So I started to apply that in this instance, both in my powerpoint and on my notes website where my students can access content.
I've so much more yet to learn and explore on my UDL journey, but reflecting on my teaching practice this term holisticly, I do see see numerous ways I am engaging with the CAST guidelines (indicated in red above). As I said, a lot for me to do yet, but I'm so much more in tune with this now than I was at the beginning of my UDL open course experience. A wonderful journey to take this past term.
In the next section, I plan to summarise, collate and share what I did to make my PowerPoints more accessible.
7: Key Takeaway & Infograph - How to Make Your Slides and Notes more Accessible for learners
8: Attending a Jennifer Pusateri webinar organised and chaired by CAST
I'm a big fan of professional development opportunities....so when I spotted this webinar on twitter, I was keen to attend (albeit evening time in Ireland with time differences). Learned a lot from the discussion, questions and posts from the speaker and hosts (CAST). I screenshot some points that really resonated.
9: Learner Evaluation re. Impact and Benefit to Approach
So I decided to do an evaluation activity with my students to try and capture if/how my redesign activity was actually supporting them, and if the felt I should continue this body of work - maintaining that +1 activity. I also asked for some general feedback, as you will see below.
Below are some general comments and feedback from the student group, which were lovely to read through. Overall working with your students, finding out how to help them more, implementing aspects of the UDL framework, and then showing them how their feedback led to action to help others, is a wonderful journey to have travelled this term. They inspired me, and I thanked them for that. I'm on to my next +1 already!
10: Some Other Helpful Resources I Came Across
Tools of interest/mentioned in text above
Context: Back in 2016, I was packing up to leave a symposium in Dublin feeling quite chuffed/relieved after my presentation had gone well earlier on in the day, when I heard my name being called by a familiar voice. I turned my head to see a real hero of mine beckoning me to join a group gathered in the corner of the room, by the front of the main stage. Unknown to me, the AISHE AGM just about to begin, and here I was, unexpectedly sitting amongst some big names in the field (honestly, at that time I felt as excited as I did back on day 1 of college!). AISHE = The All Ireland Society for Higher Education.
To cut a long story short, I ended up being nominated and seconded to formally join the AISHE executive committee. So in 2016, several years after starting my journey in teaching and learning I was joining the All Ireland Society for Higher Education. What a feeling! I had published in their journal a few times, and felt this was an unbelievable opportunity, and what incredible colleagues to join up with. I have such fond memories of our committee meetings, normally held in Dublin and/or various locations. Always inspiring, always future focused, always keen to support the HE sector across the island. A few years later, in 2019, I had the opportunity to join the editorial board at AISHE-J, the society's 'All Ireland Journal for Higher Education', and having recently made the difficult decision to step back from this role due to other commitments, I wanted to reflect and document this period of incredible personal and professional growth....as well as highlight some key learnings from being in an editorial role with a successful journal.
Hence, some personal reflections on being a member of an editorial board are forthcoming….
All in all, when I think back to when I published my first teaching and learning focused paper in AISHE-J, and how I later ended up being part of the editorial team some years later, I’m very proud to have contributed, supported and invested time and effort to this incredible cause. Being aware of the people associated with both AISHE and AISHE-J since their inception, it’s been a wonderful experience to have sailed those shores on the same boat too for a while.
You can follow AISHE on Twitter (@AISHE_EDU) or if you wish to be a reviewer with AISHE-J, or be considered to join the editorial team, please do send an e mail to [email protected] All good things must come to an end, but I can honestly say I enjoyed my 6-year/3-year AISHE/AISHE-J journeys. I must acknowledge the amazing co-editors I worked with during my time there...Moira Maguire, Morag Munro, Sylvia Huntley-Moore, Ekaterina Kozina, Saranne Magennis, Brett Becker, Bernadette Brereton and Oisin Hassan. I must acknowledge Moira Maguire in particular, as throughout my time with AISHE-J and in her role as editor-in-chief, she led by example, supported and co-ordinated across several levels and was always the one who pressed 'publish' once everything is in order. Moira's commitment and dedication to AISHE-J has consistently been exemplary. CONTEXT
Perhaps my experience of this virtual group assignment may be familiar to some students, and hopefully the tips collated will support others on a similar path to me. I know I'll be even more mindful in my own teaching now, of what learners are going through and dealing with.
EMOTIONS I FELT BEFORE IT EVEN STARTED
So, overall, I can relate how anxiety could easily take a hold over someone involved in group work - and interesting to note, for me a lot of this occurred before the work actually commenced! I still had all the work and deadline driven anxiety to manage yet :-)
REFLECTING ON THE EXPERIENCE & WHAT I LEARNED
Technology assisted us also. For example, we used WhatsApp for regular updates and communications, Zoom for online catch ups and to review various documents together via screen share, Microsoft OneDrive as a shared space with folders for the various aspects of documents etc., Microsoft word’s track changes/comments functionality to indicate suggestions/potential edits and of course the Moodle virtual learning environment to access course materials and to ultimately, submit.
Both of us had acquired a lot of various experience over the years, so our approach would indeed be quite different to someone starting their first group work assignment. Other elements could really support learners in this instance, for example, there is a lot of evidence both anecdotally and in the literature of groups agreeing contracts at the outset, assigning roles which rotate, taking minutes and developing actions etc. These, along with educator supports, mentoring and monitoring, can really support the groups succeed. Overall, a very worthwhile experience for me to undertake, for several reasons. Personally, I learned a lot from it, and being part of a team really focused me. Through reflecting, several aspects come to mind as having truly supported our overall success, and I detail some of those below in text and Infograph format for your consideration (click Infograph for full sizes, or download PDF/SVG versions). The high grade we received at the end justified the collective efforts we both put in to this assignment, and the pride and high-quality output generated too. In the ever-present motivational words of Dr. Terry Maguire (former Director of the National Forum)....
Context: In this post, I reflect on a recent OpenCourse I have been completing. It centres on digital capacity and one I am so glad I engaged with. No matter what level you feel you are at with digital capacity, this is a very worthwhile course. Specifically, I wanted to use this blog post to reflect and detail what I decided to focus on (programme focused feedback opportunities), and show the 'story' of the process I followed. Very worthwhile overall, and a wonderfully supportive experience.
The National Forum OpenCourse
The work itself, and my platform for it, fits well with several of the areas of the DigCompEdu framework. Mapping our experience to this framework was one of the first activities, and one I would recommend people consider. It can really help to further justify the work you are doing, highlight areas you need to develop more with and in the vast majority of cases, realise how well you are already doing in this space.
My Feedback 'addiction' & rationale for this work
Essentially, you will see the reflection linked above brought me to the benefits of collating feedback in an actionable way being needed, supporting self-reflection and engagement with actioning of the feedback. I mentioned the University of Surrey's FEATS programme, and you can read more about it in the blog post's reflection section linked. FEATS has always captured my attention.
Hence, I wanted to explore the 'MyFeedback' plugin on Moodle to see how it functions, but to all investigate it from the student point of view. Taking steps towards a more holistic approach to digital feedback provision, collation and action are all on my radar. Could this plugin support the collation of Moodle feedback across programmes? Could students be empowered to extract the key points from feedback received, and extract them across modules so they can see the 'big picture'? Well that was my goal! To work towards achieving this goal, I felt it was firstly important to test, troubleshoot and use the platform initially, before planning pilots upon the return to the classroom. Obtaining student feedback at that point, as well as from the programme team, will also be important in order to both build awareness and identify any issues to further enhance its implementation. We are fortunate to have supportive teams in both our CELT and IT department, meaning we can have open discussions there and feed back any issues identified too. Considering Programme Focused Feedback OpportunitiesWhat I did here...
Once all the feedback had been provided, I was able to then swap back to the student role, examine how the feedback appears and to also investigate how it connects in to 'MyFeedback'.
The 'student' view
Can 'MyFeedback' actually help learners?...
Overall, it's a great plug in and one we should encourage staff/students to engage with across their programme/modules. It has the capacity for learners to be empowered to extract key points from feedback across all their Moodle assignments, helping them see the bigger picture on their strengths and areas for improvement that may be common across various modules/lecturer feedback.
There is potential here for students to have everything in one place, an aspect that came through in a recent national survey. A good example of this is when I reflected on previous audio feedback sent as an audio file by e mail to my students. One later said that on their bus commute a few weeks later, while listening to their library on shuffle, my feedback file started playing in their earphones! I'd prefer not to be 'landing' in their playlists, and having it all in the myFeedback lets them collate it, reflect on it etc. when they wish, and in the one place. Any major considerations/things to note?
From my use of the plug in on Moodle, I did come across some areas I feel are worth being aware of....not being negative here, but just building awareness of some points to note if you are getting started with it like me....
Integrating for the longer term?
When I began to consider the longer term, programme wide integration of MyFeedback, some points came to mind....
Overall, would I recommend a National Forum supported OpenCourse?
What's not to love? You get to be part of a wider group across the HE sector, with numerous opportunities to network and share. You are incredibly supported by the group of course facilitators. Complementing this, you are a member of a peer triad group, which truly is a real cornerstone for learning and motivation. I have been so inspired by my fellow triad members on this OpenCourse, with support, understanding, positivity and encouragement filling our meetings. Listening to different projects, viewpoints, experience, expertise is invaluable and the positive comments and suggestions you get from the triad team can make such a difference in your motivation and work too. Your colleagues can see things that maybe you didn't notice or consider, or perhaps they have tried and tested something similar before. All in all, it's been a wonderful journey to have made such strong connections with colleagues and leaders from other institutions.
I honestly can't really remember significantly learning from a previous submission - being honest I guess we were too focused on the score and the approximate 'grade band'. On some occasions, I may have engaged with the demonstrator to enquire about my mark and what I could do to improve it. Otherwise, it was more 'one-way traffic', a process not realising its learning potential. Traditionally, everything was summative, and that was the approach instilled across the board at that time.
Joining Higher Education & Initial Feedback goals.
When I joined the academic community in 2009, one of my early personal goals was to help my students to learn at every opportunity, and develop a feedback-centric, always-improving mindset. The potential was too immense to ignore. My own experience outlined above was a key driver for me with this goal. I approached with a focused gusto, providing copious amounts of feedback to each students, handwritten - with hours of enthusiastic time being put in. However, when I reflect now, I probably did what many do in the early stages of a teaching career, and go all in with an assumption you are doing the right thing. So what happened? Looking back, I recall hours and hours of feedback generation not fulfilling its purpose. The same mistakes were appearing week-on-week, by the same students despite my sustained and repeated efforts. Feedback uptake, and future actions from it were not working. I had to consider some sort of a complete systemic change around feedback.
I worked with students in a partnership approach to learn from their experiences. All of my research around this space were evaluated via online surveys or focus groups, to ensure I was hearing anonymous feedback. It was the only way I could improve what I was doing. With ethical approval acquired in advance, I was able to disseminate my findings at conferences and in publications.
In general, reviewing Figure 5, I have worked on individual approaches developing personalised feedback sheets for example, group approaches to generalise feedback for large groups, while starting to consider digital approaches, e.g. audio or video feedback, which I will detail and reflect on below.
As part of a National Forum supported project (the TEAM project I was involved in) aimed to develop technology enhanced assessed methods in practicals across science and health, it is worth noting one of the project's four themes centred specifically on 'digital feedback', while some of the others had feedback elements built in to them (such as electronic lab notebooks, pre-practical quizzes combined with app-based quizzes, rubrics etc.). When we reflected on the project, we realised that while we were focusing on assessment at the beginning, all our work was engaging with student feedback provision in parallel.
My other app of choice has been 'notability'. It's primarily a note taking app that works well on the iPad with the Apple pencil. As well as annotating PDF files submitted from assignments, I started recording audio comments on the app that integrated on the annotated PDF file. It gave me an opportunity to explain and expand on my comments - something that was concerning me with written feedback, i.e. was I explaining it enough with text? The audio and video help so much in this regard. However, one issue with this can become time. Over explaining can make feedback too long, and this can mean students won't engage. Turnitin has limited its feedback to 3 minutes, a feature that ensures you explain concisely while importantly controlling both your, and the student's, workload. Vital tip there! I will expand on my digital approaches further below.
Option 2: Engaging with Microsoft OneNote, I was able to design assessments and provide students with collaborative spaces for peer learning. A key element of this software package was the opportunities it provided around feedback. For example, I could click, record and place my audio comment at the relevant part of the assignment; I could annotate the submission with comments and with the iPad and stylus, could handwrite comments also. I found this helpful to link and connect comments with relevant aspects of the submission. Equally, the software allows typed text comments also. In addition to this, I worked on integrating rubric feedback in to the OneNote reports, to support learner feedback corresponding to specific criteria. Option 3: Another element I commenced was recording standalone audio files that I could send via e mail to students. I found this helpful for group project submissions as it supported the dialogic process I had established with the groups. After sharing audio feedback with teams, I could use class time to engage and discuss it further, continuing the conversation. Option 4: Engaging with our institution's virtual learning environment (Moodle), I developed a set of rubrics around assessing a skill or competency. Here, I was able to assess while providing immediate feedback via the rubric. Using an iPad and stylus, i was able to 'check' the relevant rubric boxes on each student's virtual learning environment based rubric. Before the student left the room, they could access their rubric feedback and grade. While very beneficial, I find rubrics alone, without personalised comments, can cause a disconnect in the feedback process. Don't get me wrong, they can work very well especially if co-created with students, but I feel they are complemented and enhanced by the additional incorporation of open comments from the educator. I found taking that approach more beneficial for the learner, as the rubric may not capture aspects that could support that specific individual. Option 5: I became a big fan of screencasts relatively early in my teaching career. I like various aspects of 'tech' and was keen to engage where it supported learning. I was able to make screencasts to complement my teaching. Over the years, I got more in to the video and audio quality of these, as well as finding new platforms for sharing my content. But I often found I needed to make my videos more engaging, to help the viewer. I was successful in applying for funding to support the development of customised sketch diagrams, and this brought my feedback videos to a new level. Equally, I began to invest in various software packages which facilitated mouse tracking. These simple approaches were very effective and supported ways I was providing feedback. I was able to engage with new ways to engage my students with the feedback I was providing. As we have now entered a sphere of hybrid/hyfelx/blended/online/remote learning etc., the expertise around feedback in addition to the grounding in literature, an evidence base, around feedback, I feel I am very aware of the importance and potential of feedback and hopefully can continue to build on my work and continue to improve how I support my students.
But what is feedback without uptake and action?
At this stage I have described my chronological journey enhancing feedback for learners. However, as I have often mentioned to date, how a student engages with feedback, and develops an action from it, is equally important to consider. My incremental marking system engaged learners with the mindset of improving based on engaging with, and acting on, the feedback received. The self-assessment worksheets engaged the students with reflection on their work, meaning they are considering their work as they submit. I found this change again impacts their mindset; they seemed to care more about their submission and were looking forward to seeing what I thought of it, reading through the comments. Positioning feedback review sessions and feedback dialogue opportunities in to class time can enhance this uptake and engagement further, while asking students to mention an element of feedback on a previous submission they acted on gets them in to the mindset of recognising how feedback can support their future work. It's worth knowing that all the effort you put in to feedback needs to be complemented by processes and systems to support its uptake. Engage with your learners, speak to them and most importantly listen to what they are saying about feedback. Together, both groups can ensure your feedback makes a big impact.
In my reflection piece below, I will review and consider some elements of where this feedback journey has taken me so far.
Supporting Feedback Enhancement with System Changes
Feedback needs attention and supports in place. For example, for first year students transitioning to higher education, explaining what feedback is and what its purpose is should be considered. We then need to ensure we develop consistent approaches across programmes to embed familiarity for learners. Reflecting, I feel a key approach that advanced uptake of my feedback was the incremental marking scheme, as it propelled students to seek ways to improve each submission - with the realisation that feedback facilitates this. Does Feedback Actually Work? Reflecting on my experiences, I feel feedback on its own only truly resonates with a small proportion of a class. Feedback needs to be more of a culture than a simple process. It needs a framework of support, consistent across modules and programmes. For example, first years transitioning in to Higher Level may need feedback to be explained to them in simple terms, with opportunities to realise its role and potential for learning. Educators need to ensure feedback is more facilitator or action focused, as opposed to content focused. How educators consider their feedback is important - is what is provided supporting future learning and improvement, or is it just fixing the mistakes, grammar or spelling errors? Feedback uptake needs to be promoted, and monitored, ensuring engagement and synthesis of the learning takes place. I found building in feedback review times helpful, as well as providing a task to students to highlight an aspect of the previous feedback received which they have taken on board. It makes them reflect, think and identify one element they are taking forward to improve. If this happens across the board, they identify several improvement areas. I am proud of my incremental marking system, and the impact it had on feedback engagement and uptake. Since its inception, I stopped seeing the same mistakes being made on subsequent assignments. So yes, reflecting, I still feel feedback can work, but for a better reach of uptake and action, elements and structures around it need to be considered. Pilot Power & Partnering with Students Advising the changes and innovations I put in place were pilots and collaborations with students to inform, reflect and evaluate processes. I learned quite quickly the power and importance of designing pilots initially with small groups. It built my confidence in what I was doing, while allowing an opportunity to trial and make improvements to elements too, changes that are student-informed and enhancing their learning. Dialogic Approaches to Feedback Like many elements of teaching, didactic or one-way traffic approaches can often restrain learning potential. Similarly with feedback, I have found building in opportunities to reflect and discuss feedback helpful. We often hear of feedback loops, and the term 'closing the loop' but I do like David Carless's description of a feedback spiral (Carless, 2018), promoting the life long learning element and the role feedback can play in this. I think this takes things to another, continuous learning, level and something that really impacted my way of thinking around feedback. Does Technology Actually Help Students with Feedback? Of course with technology, it's important not to just blindly follow a new trend. Remembering pedagogies and identifying an evidence base for interventions can support the success around technology. I feel technology should support the learning, not drive it. With regard to feedback, technology does provide so many additional avenues, that can benefit learners. We can ensure that accessible approaches to feedback can be provided, for example, video and audio feedback can be viewed online, with accompanying text transcripts allowing further engagement. For international learners, translation opportunities may support further. Personally, I've found feedback with technologies has enhanced my practice, allowing me to communicate and explain with my students in a clear way. I can use subsequent class or practical time to engage in feedback reflection and dialogue. In saying that, technology does have to be truly considered by programme teams. For example, students receiving feedback by various software platforms or apps across their modules, could become overwhelmed or bombarded by well-meaning educators. I really dream of developing some sort of consistency around this, as a learner overwhelmed by excessive feedback may actually avoid it. If I had to be critical of technology for feedback, or putting it a more positive way, aspects to ensure you consider in this space, it is important to ensure feedback also remains 'personalised'. With technology, there is the potential of 'colder' matter of fact feedback, even automated feedback, without personal elaboration and guidance. For example, a VLE rubric can provide feedback based on criteria along a scale, however the text is often generic and many don't add personalised comments on top of the rubric to support future actions around improvement. Technology has the potential to succeed in this space, but you have to make it work for you and your students. Putting yourself in their shoes can really ensure the benefits are truly met. Beating the bombardment? Answer = FEATS; bringing it all together - what an amazing model! While I am proud of my achievements around feedback, I still feel I have so much to yet improve on. Digital feedback sounds fantastic for students, but many don't put themselves in the position of the student being 'bombarded' by all these various types of feedback. While meant as a support, learners may find this overwhelming, unable to synthesise and act on the feedback across modules. It has to be brought together - it has to! I attended a session on feedback in our Institution, led by Dr. Naomi Winstone and Dr. Rob Nash. As part of this, they presented the University of Surrey's FEATS platform, co-created with students working with Dr. Winstone (see Figure 8 above). Here, students are able to categorise the feedback they receive in one place, meaning they can learn the aspects of their work requiring further attention and those in which they are excelling. It provides a platform to help synthesise the feedback, and allow learners to see the gaps they need to work on and fill. A superb innovation, so student centred yet staff can also use this to support their students further and even monitor implementation of feedback category areas. So, you can see, I still have a lot to accomplish! Workload One aspect of an educator's workload that has significantly changed in recent years has been around providing feedback. Looking back, it is an area that I spend a huge amount of time on. I provide feedback on all continuous assignments, projects and laboratory exercises, activities and reports. An immense amount of effort and time. It is important for me, and my colleagues, to manage this feedback workload yet still achieve the role of feedback in enhancing our students' learning experience and associated work. Could tweaking assessment be the key, across programmes? Can we have programme feedback? A lot to ponder on. Have I it All Mastered? Can I improve? While I feel I have made a significant contribution to enhancing feedback with my students, I still feel I have a lot to learn and implement. I would like to work more on my feedback becoming more actionable, and track its implementation across future assignment submissions. Ultimately, a big issue for me is the 'bringing together' of feedback across stages, or programmes, for students. It is a big initiative to consider though, one I feel needs cross-departmental buy-in. With many academics having their own approach to feedback, it may be difficult to bring it all together. However, with the new digital approaches and increased digital confidence amongst staff, perhaps getting a programme platform for tracking feedback approaches may be more feasible now. I'm currently working with the MyFeedback Moodle plugin to further investigate its potential in this space. There is more 'digital' feedback than ever at the moment, however I still get drawn to the potential for feedback bombardment to overwhelm students. It will be so important to put the learner at the centre of everything as we navigate a post-COVID future, and while assessment will be a major discussion point, feedback has to be part of these considerations also. I do see the approach to assessment can influence feedback directly. As we enter a post-COVID world, final exams could even become a thing of the past, with a more continuous approach to assessment. However, this has to be approached with caution as over-assessment of students could become an unsustainable reality. Synoptic, integrated assessment could represent the way to move forward, and in situations like this, an approach of collating feedback in a holistic way - it might end up being the only way forward yet! Walk the Talk! Finally, I commenced this post with a reflection on personal experience, and I will end with the same. In the summer of 2018, I did an Associate Certificate in Graphic Design as a PD opportunity. Interestingly, I was specifically praised by the course instructors for how I received, listened and acted on the feedback they provided. It was highlighted on a few occasions. So as a learner, I recognise the potential of feedback - and showing how much I value it, practice what I preach!
Citations mentioned in the text:
During my secondment with the National Forum for the Enhancement of T&L in Higher Education, I became very in tune with professional development, reflection and also working with strategy. I have always been fascinated by the latter, and hence I identified an MC which would provide me with an opportunity to learn more about this in a very applied and focused way. So after many conversations at home (in regard to the associated monetary cost expense, and the accompanying need to work during the evenings and weekends for a few months!), I enrolled. I became a student again, with my new folder and pens...and soon after received my ID card, online library access etc.
The MC format was of course part-time, with 2-hour classes taking place online each Thursday evening, with preparation, studying and assignments carried out on other evenings and over weekends. I always believe what you put in, you get out so I gave it everything I could while still trying to juggle 'normal life'. I took out some physical textbooks from the library, kept up with pre-reading and even brought one book with me on a romantic weekend away! Dedication! I was so intrigued by the strategic management area that it never felt taxing to read and learn more about it. There were two assignments built in to the MC, one individual and one group assignment. You will be able to read more about my wonderful experience and learning from being a group work student in another blog post coming soon!
Will/can/does the micro-credential model work?
In an age where you can watch what you want on TV whenever you want; when you can listen to any song immediately - and then you combine this with the potential of technology for enabling learning as well as the concept of meaningful, relevant life-long learning - you can see how the 'MC' idea can easily grow. It will be important for institutions to identify what is actually and truly in demand and relevant, and both what industry and people need. Doors are open to everyone to engage, namely people looking to reskill, upskill or learn something new. Of course, these could 'tag' on to core modules in degree programmes also. For people in full time employment, the idea of 'going back' to college for a 2-year part-time postgraduate course can be quite daunting, however now, there is scope for anyone to engage in micro-credentials, and 'stack' these byte size courses over time to work towards accreditation. I quite like the potential of engaging with MCs across different participating institutIons too, or even across different countries, learning from various experts and discipline areas, and then being able to 'add' them together down the road.
It will be interesting to see how the various MC frameworks emerge over time. Investment in this space has began to taken place, and institutions across the ‘MicroCreds’ project are already promoting their offerings widely, while several others are exploring associated opportunities too. Personally, it was a great experience, but it would be nice to think one could re-engage over several years and perhaps when I'm all 'grown up' see them gel together and become an award of some time. Either way, I learned so much about a new area that makes me think differently about things - and I just love when that happens!
The concept of continuous learning and improvement has consistently been something I’ve been passionate about. We always have the opportunity to learn something new, and this has so many benefits. While I love learning, my role in education centres on this from the ‘other side’ - as I facilitate learning and understanding of complex scientific topics. On a personal level, I love learning new things, approaches, skills - developing new ways to look at the same thing with a fresh lens, new abilities to implement in different settings, new ways to communicate or connect, manage situations etc.
However, while we can always independently learn something new, we can also truly learn from each other’s experiences. Hence the concept of discussions with students, colleagues, mentors, management and other stakeholders can provide opportunities for learning. The pandemic experience often referred to missing the ‘watercooler’ conversations, while the National Forum’s professional development (PD) framework even includes these informal, collaborative activities as potential modes of PD - unstructured, non-accredited, informal.
Conferences, and focused professional development courses can provide excellent avenues for interactions with like-minded individuals, people interested in some of the same things as you, which of course carries enormous benefit. However, recently I attended a ‘Practice Sharing Event’ in DkIT which centred on feedback in teaching and learning (as part of the ongoing National Forum SATLE supported 'Focus on Feedback' project in the institution). Now while the format involved a keynote talk, and two sessions of short presentations, split by a coffee break and ending before lunch, which many may feel replicates the standard conference format, the subtle emphasis on practice sharing was very impactful on the tone of the event.
This was further supported by the opening keynote talk by the amazing Prof. Phillip Dawson from CRADLE/Deakin University in Melbourne (here’s a prompt to check out Phillips’s bio, and to seriously consider either attending one of his talks or inviting him to present at an upcoming meeting). His keynote was all you could ask for on the day - informative, engaging, interactive, thought provoking, and inspiring (and he was joining us from his home in Australia while we were based in Dundalk). The subsequent coffee break was a hive of activity, with everyone primarily reflecting on how amazing his keynote was. For example, people commented on his overall delivery and approach, the way he openly interacted with the audience and how he left paused after each question – leaving time for people to meaningfully engage. His deliberation of, and responses to, the comments from the group, complemented by his vast awareness of the literature and bringing in points by other leaders in the space too, all made led to it to be positively reflected on. For me, the true benefit of his keynote was in fact the tone he set at the beginning for the rest of the session - and I really think the way he set up the session ensured all attendees continued an approach of meaningful openness and sharing throughout the morning. When you combine this with the concept of the ‘practice sharing' mindset, everyone was in the same ‘zone’ and very open about their experiences.
I was fortunate to be involved in two presentations at the event (one co-delivered with former DkIT student Olya Antropova; see titles in image below), and from the stage I could see amongst the audience that - unlike at some conferences - people were not on their phones etc. and appeared so engaged. I actually noticed this for every talk during the morning. Perhaps it was the interest and familiarity of the feedback topic to the group of academics, perhaps it was the tone set from the beginning by the organisers around practice sharing, and the keynote speaker - but most likely it is due to the synergistic combination of all three.
Leaving the session, I felt invigorated, motivated and inspired to continue my work with students on employing effective feedback. Like many, I’ve put a great deal of time in to innovating my practice around this, in particular engaging with students and using digital tools to support the process, but I know I need to continue listening, learning, innovating, and improving my feedback practice. Huge, HUGE, thanks to the organisers of the practice sharing event (Gerry Gallagher, Aidan Garvey, Breda Brennan and Moira Maguire at DkIT and to my fellow colleagues who presented on the day....and finally to the speaker of one of the best keynotes I’ve attended, Prof. Phillip Dawson).
As part of my role, each year I design and run tutorial sessions with award year students carrying out literature research projects where one session specifically focuses on ‘Academic Integrity’. It’s become a more and more important session in my view, especially in recent times. Here's an overview of the journey we go on....
Reflection
It was great to see this contract cheating topic highlighted in national media recently, and I was also heartened by a tweet thread from the CEO of AHEAD, Dara Ryder, when in response to a recent article on the matter, mentioned it’s important to reflect and consider "what pressures are causing students to go there", to get in to a position to even consider these services. In recent times, there has been a real focus on assessment across programmes. As part of this, programme teams work with students to reduce over-assessment and spread and ease the assessment workload, however despite this, contract cheating remains a threat to academic integrity. It’s hard to pinpoint what needs to be changed - is it over-assessment? Is it the time-demands of the particular assessments? Is authentic and/or co-created assessment the way to go? Can integrated or synoptic assessments assist? Is it building more awareness in the HE community? etc. So many more questions come to mind, and it could be through a partnership approach solutions are identified.
As a group, we normally finish this particular session by viewing some parts of Tim Urban’s Ted talk on procrastination, in particular the first few minutes about his thesis planning, very entertaining and a video well worth a watch (at the time of writing, his video has over 47 million views!).
Contract cheating has become and remains a major threat to academic integrity, but also for learning, and for our students. Of course, everyone can make a mistake, but for it to possibly follow you throughout your career, potentially derailing all the good one has done, is an element we need to educate and work with our students on. A good mindset to perhaps emphasise and reinforce, stemming from some the points I made in the library video, is around taking pride in your work, owning what you create and realising how the reward is often in the journey.
Ok, hands up, I admit it - completely a clickbait title - but for me this week’s experience has genuinely felt like a new job. Given the fact that once COVID-19 hit the Higher Education sector in March 2020, I lectured and assessed online for a few weeks, before going on a full-time secondment to the National Forum as an Education Developer, all meant this last week was essentially my first lectures in almost 20 months.
So after this time away, here are 10 aspects that have struck me after my first full week of in-class teaching:
People & the buzz in the corridors
The impact of masks in the classroom
The quiet class (but not with tech)
The power of Menti and Socrative
The first year foundation
How much I remain fascinated by my subject area
The impact of Covid on technical skills
How much I need to enhance and change elements of my teaching
Reflective Practice and a motivation to improve
An enthusiasm to work with my students, around decision making processes
Caveat - I write this piece in awe of colleagues nationally who identified solutions, collaborated to share best practice and given the huge constraints, delivered an exceptional level of education for their students whose success they deeply care for. Creativity, dedication and commitment has been evident during every interaction and conversation I have about the adaptation online during the pandemic.
A box full of small, scrunched up pieces of paper was being shared around the room. Each student was asked to pick one. ‘What d’ya get?’ echoed around the room.
I looked down, and slowly unfolded my piece of paper. There was one word typed on it. ‘Bodoni’
The above event took place during a graphic design course at the Dublin Institute of Design. This assignment was to learn about a particular font or typeface, and to design a poster to showcase and promote the unique characteristics of that typeface. When I reflect on the work I undertook, I can see it really did follow a design process which in the end yielded an output I was proud of. Since the course, I have used this process across various initiatives, even outside of graphic design. Filled with reflection, creativity, feedback, action and experimentation, below you can see the flow of events in this particular example, as well as some images from the various stages to see the development (just click to enlarge any of the images).
Before I outline my process and examples from each stage, I wanted you to firstly realise you have already encountered the Bodoni font! Think of how ‘Nirvana’ appears on their albums, how ‘Vogue’ appears on the top of a magazine cover, or the ‘cK’ of Calvin Klein. Bodoni is a font used quite broadly, and familiar to many already.
Step 3 - Mindmap Generation
Step 4 - Initial Sketches
Step 5 - Exemplars
It’s good to be aware of the typeface ‘in action’, in society. Looking through examples and indeed the various typeface letters/alphabet in a bit more detail at this stage can assist when you are looking back over what came from your early creations.
Step 6 - Revisit Sketches, Concepts & Shortlist
Step 7 - Bring a Selection of Sketches to be Mocked Up Using Software
Step 8 - Get it Down to Final Designs - and Experiment
Step 9 - Feedback & Action
Step 10 - Final Version - Presentation & Reflection
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Podcasts are here to stay, and with latest updates in this space, we are going to be subscribing for extra content from our favourite creators. They entertain, communicate, inform and educate. There is no topic unavailable via a podcast, and I find sharing recommendations for what to listen to next, is now akin to sharing Netflix recommendations!
Some months ago, an e mail was circulated to my colleagues and I enquiring if we were aware of any podcasts in the teaching and learning space. An online conversation ensued, outlining certain podcasts and justifying their reason for being mentioned - some already familiar to me, some new. Below you can find the list compiled by the team, a list I will continue to add to as I encounter more... Teaching & Learning related podcasts (in no particular order!)
Complementing these activities and outputs, a series of 5-minute lightning talks were scheduled across a series of daily scholarship hours....26 talks in fact....to be delivered as GASTAs with each session chaired by Ireland's one and only GASTA master, Dr. Tom Farrelly. Why 26 talks? Well that's what was needed for Ireland's first ever 'GASTA marathon'! Now all we needed to do was get the message out to invite speakers to sign up and apply to present, and start promoting it.
The needs
Below are what was created to meet the need (click to enlarge):
When I reflect on all of the above, I'm grateful for a lot of things....
1: Learning communities (LCs), an important term to describe an opportunity for people to come together, for people who have something to learn and/or something to share. A creative, safe space that provides a platform for people to be innovative. MTU have had a plan to support the development of LCs, with a target of 15 by the end of 2021. They currently have 36 established, surpassing that goal! From the teaching learning unit, they have developed a culture of supporting staff in recent years through various approaches, and here they are helping to support and sustain organically developed LCs. Extremely positive feedback was presented from LC members. As one person said, their focus remained student centred, but this was a way to help and support each other too.
2: LCs can go beyond a department. Realising and identifying thematic based LCs developing across disciplines is a great way to 'join the dots' and further develop collaborations within and across those disciplines. Seed funding can help get the community off the ground too. Terms such as 'growth', 'shared vision', 'maintain' were all incredible to hear, all geared at supporting and sustaining this culture and community of learning.
3: LCs can involve all key players across institutions. To see and learn more about their library's LC's assignment toolkit was wonderful. I had previously noticed tweets/images of the impressive launch event, but to hear more about how the concept, development and partnership connected several stakeholders was very impressive. They engaged with student partners, and developed their outputs as open educational resources (OERs), something that allows their excellent work to reach more people and places across the sector.
4: Set a short term objective. Go for it. Even if this is a small target, it is a target....and by working together to meet this, it will soon spawn, and evolve into, further long term objectives being set. Take that step.
5: Wind in their sails. I do enjoying seeing how certain technologies can support team work. For example, jamboard, miro etc. Seeing 'Miro' in action here, and learning about MTU's 'Lightning Decision Jam' captured my attention as well as the impressive framework development by PhD student Michelle O'Keefe. Through the activities outlined, you could see how the groups - via these activities - are working to keep the wind in their sails, while identifying and overcoming elements which may slow them down. Quite an impressive overview.
Overall, to see 36 learning communities established across an institution was impressive, but to learn about the supports in place and the motivation of the community membership was something to truly be motivated by.
Professional development can take so many forms...and on many occasions, these forms can energise and inspire. Attending this event was was one of those times. Should you wish you learn more, keep an eye out for the event's recording which the organisers mentioned will be shared soon. Also, you can view further upcoming events and various resources from VIT&L week, at the dedicated National Forum VIT&L webpage. |
Ronan BreeEducation Developer,Science Lecturer, Archives
March 2023
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Any opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer.
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