Name of module

IP206: Utopia: Text, Theory, Practice

Contact for enquiries

Dr Kirsten Harris; k.harris.1@warwick.ac.uk

CASE STUDY

Summary

A brief summary of the context of the module, needs identified, rationale for choice of assessment methods, approaches/action taken and the final results. (max 150 words)

This interdisciplinary module asks students to think critically about how we might build radically better societies. Students are required to draw on different kinds of knowledge and ideas: creative works (e.g. literature, film, music); academic theory from different disciplines; and knowledge from activism, social movements or other lived experiences.

Using problem-based learning pedagogies, each week focuses on a different social “problem” (e.g. those to do with “race”, sexuality, education, labour). Weekly seminar preparation includes a significant proportion of scaffolded independent research. In this way and others (e.g. the cohort has a say in what topics are covered in the weekly schedule), students are asked to take ownership of their learning.

This has important ramifications for the assessment strategy, which is designed to support and develop advanced undergraduate research. Students practise the skills needed for assessment success each week from the very beginning of the module. For example, they become adept at considering what interests them about any given “problem”, and finding and interpreting different relevant primary and secondary sources to build and bolster their responses.

Rationale for choice of assessment methods

Outline what the rationale was for selecting specific assessment methods, what needs were being addressed and how the method(s) align to learning outcomes.

The assessment methods are aligned with learning outcomes connected to both content-knowledge and academic skill development (see the module’s webpage for complete list of learning outcomes).

More than this, however, assessments are for learning; i.e. they are intended to do more than test what students have learnt in class. Assessment 1 is directly connected to the weekly seminar preparation, but Assessments 2 and 3 ask students to go beyond classroom discussion and use what they have learnt to explore new lines of inquiry. Assessments are designed to align authentically with a) the module’s pedagogical model; b) Warwick Liberal Arts core principles (interdisciplinarity, problem-based learning, collaboration); c) utopianism itself.

The pedagogical model supports students each week to undertake independent interdisciplinary research on an aspect of a set weekly problem that interests them, and then to work in groups in class to synthesise their knowledge and ideas and produce a response to the problem. In all three assessments students use these skills: they are asked to identify problems, research them, and form analytical, evaluative responses. Assessment 2 is wholly collaborative; assessment 1 has some aspects of collaboration (i.e. the blogs function as a common resource).

In both class and assessments, students are encouraged to use their academic and personal expertise; e.g. GSD students have brought specialist sustainability knowledge to class; history students have led the way in exploring utopian examples from the past; students have brought specific knowledge, texts and examples from global cultures that they are personally connected to; XR activists have explored their movement’s strategies and actions. All assessments are interdisciplinary.

Finally, as appropriate to a module on utopianism, all three assessments encourage radical imagination and explicitly value multiple kinds of knowledge (i.e. from non-academic as well as academic sources).

Other considerations:

This is a Y2 module; Assessment 3, in particular, is designed to give research project management experience to prepare students for their final-year dissertation.

Decisions about pedagogy, curriculum and assessment strategy address issues around access and inclusion. In both class and assessments students are encouraged to focus on ideas, people and movements that they’re motivated to learn about; i.e. they are not limited by the knowledge that I personally hold. In addition, Assessment 3 gives students the opportunity to communicate their research in whatever way they feel most confident, often recommended as best practice in inclusive education literature; e.g. Miller, The Ethnicity Attainment Gap: Literature Review (2016).

Approaches/action taken

Outline the approaches taken to introduce the new method(s) and any lessons learnt (opportunities & challenges) when implementing the use of the assessment method(s).

Three assessment components were introduced:

1) 5 x 500-word blog posts (25%)

2) Group presentation (20%)

3) Research project (55%)

1. 5 x 500-word blog posts 

Each week students are asked to produce a blog post that responds to the reading/viewing/listening and research that they did for each seminar. The blogs are not intended to simply “test” what students have learnt; they are assessment for individual and co-operative collaborative learning. Students choose a quotation/image encountered during seminar preparation and comment on a) how it adds to, clarifies or complicates their understanding of utopia, and b) how these ideas might help us to imagine a better future. No additional research is required. Responses may be imaginative, personal and creative, and may make reference to feelings as well as ideas. Students select 5 blogs to be marked at the end of the module.

Assessment for learning:

• Students post their blogs before class so they shape classroom discussion. We focus on issues that students have written on; students might be called on to expand on ideas they’ve written about; the blogs are used directly in problem-based learning group work each week.
• The blogs are public so serve as a collective resource. Students can read each other’s work and use it to develop their own research in other assessments for the module. Students also find reading other students’ writing useful for academic skill development.
• Feedback is given on a weekly basis; e.g. on content, academic writing, etc. Some students request meetings to discuss strategies for improvement in more depth.
• Blogs may feed into how the module evolves; e.g. if it becomes clear that a cohort is interested in exploring particular topics, or if a student’s research brings to light new ways to study utopia.
• Blogs develop skills for advanced undergraduate research: identifying interesting/important aspects of a bigger research problem; narrowing focus/scope; analysing what others have thought/said/done; imaginative application of ideas; finding and interpreting different sources of information; developing an argument.

2. Group Presentation

Students are asked to collectively build their own utopia by focusing on a particular problem in our current society. Again, students identify the problems that they wish to explore, and then they synthesise knowledge and ideas to make a collaborative intervention. Students are asked to model the kind of collective imagination that they have been studying.

Assessment for learning:

• Students may either expand on a problem covered in class (but must go beyond seminar preparation and classroom discussion) or may select a new problem.
• Students learn from each other’s expertise: as an interdisciplinary course, different students will have different disciplinary strengths; within the module, students have researched different aspects of utopia.
• Presentation develops skills in creative and collaborative problem-solving; teamwork; identifying interesting/important aspects of a bigger research problem; narrowing focus/scope; analysing what others have thought/said/done; imaginative application of ideas; finding and interpreting different sources of information; developing an argument; oral and visual presentation.

3. Research project

Students are asked to think like academics and manage the research project holistically, making decisions about 1) output; 2) content; 3) methodology. As well as having free choice in the particular problem that they choose to address (so long as it concerns an aspect of utopia), students decide the most appropriate method for carrying out the kind of research that they need to do for their particular project, and how they want to communicate their findings/interpretations.

In much the same way that academics make decisions about how to disseminate their research, students may submit a written project (e.g. an essay, a report, a policy briefing), a visual or oral project (e.g. a presentation, a film, a podcast) or a project in alternative format (agreed in advance). For example, students may submit creative projects, digital projects or participatory activism-based projects. Alternative-format projects would usually consist of the thing “done” and a shorter research-informed critical reflection.

Students may choose from an extensive list of questions or devise a question of their own. All students must identify a problem that their project will address.

In addition to using the Library to conduct secondary research, students are encouraged to consider which primary sources would add depth to their discussion (e.g. utopian creative expressions; land, town or architectural plans; manifestos, flyers, posters and other publicity; data gathered from human participants through observation or interviews; historical sources in online or physical archives; photographs or other visual images; internet sources).

Depending on the project, students may employ research methodologies that are not text-based. For example, they may wish to visit intentional communities or co-operatives; they could consider museums, galleries or other exhibition spaces; they might conduct mapping exercises; they could interview or observe activists, artists, architects, etc. They may research by “doing”: e.g. through participatory activism or community work.

Assessment for learning:

• While the assessment does expect students to demonstrate a thorough understanding of utopia (i.e. ideas that were introduced in class), it is not a test of what students have learned over the module; instead, it is a springboard for their own research. Through the module students develop a utopian critical framework – a way of approaching ideas and information – that they can then apply to new problems, new texts, new examples.
• Project management; i.e. this assessment develops the skills that students will need for final-year dissertations, PG research and/or projects in the workplace.

Result

Outline the results of the action taken. What has been the impact on and response from colleagues? What has been the impact on students’ learning and performance? What do students say in their feedback (formal and informal) about the method(s)?

Student response to this assessment methodology has been overwhelmingly positive. Some comments from the 2020-21 iteration of the module:

• “The structure of the assignments was the best I’ve experienced.”
• “Having to do blog posts every week helped build up academic writing and the feedback from it each time was very helpful as there was guidance and genuine understanding of how to improve.”
• “What I particularly enjoyed is having an assessment that is due every week. Having work spread out lowers the stakes a lot and allows for more academic freedom and risk-taking. Additionally, it makes it unavoidable to be unprepared for class.”
• “This module has exceeded my expectations [in terms of] us being able to research topics we are interested in.”
• “This module was so transformative for me because it gave me permission to dream bigger about solutions to issues I care about in a world where people try to convince you that change is impossible or can only be done on a small scale.”

I was initially concerned that students would have reservations about sharing their blogs publicly, but I’ve only received positive feedback about the blogs. Students also comment favourably on the following aspects of Assessment 1: it ensures they are prepared for seminars; they enjoy writing in a different genre; they like the fact that they’re doing the assessment piecemeal throughout the module; they appreciate weekly feedback; they see an improvement in their writing.

I also had some concerns that students might feel overwhelmed with the amount of choice open to them in the research project. However, this this doesn’t seem to be the case. In fact, I’ve observed a very high level of engagement with the assessment, with many students appearing to be genuinely excited by their research because they’ve chosen a topic that they’re invested in. Among Liberal Arts students, many choose to write their dissertations on problems connected to their research projects (in this and a core Y2 module I run). Thus the assessment format seems to work as a stepping stone to more mature academic projects, setting students on a particular research trajectory.

With the more experimental projects there’s an element of risk-taking. For most students it pays off: students tend to put in a lot of effort, and marks for experimental projects are often very high. Where students have received lower marks than they would usually expect to get in an essay, it tends to be because students haven’t heeded advice given. Stops and measures are in place to prevent this; e.g. students writing their own questions or doing anything other than a traditional research essay must meet with me at least once well in advance of the deadline.

With Warwick’s term structure, this kind of assessment strategy would only work with modules in the Spring Term where students have Easter and Term 3 to work on assessments. In a semester-based system where each semester has an associated assessment period, it could work in either semester.

Next Steps

Summarise any next steps you intend to take.

This year I sought permission from students who completed alternative format projects to share their work with future students. This resource will give future students a better idea of what is possible, and some concrete examples of unfamiliar components (e.g. the critical reflection).

Any other information

Please detail here any further information you would like to add to be included in your case study.

I have attached some images, the module document, the assessment briefs and an example of the weekly seminar preparation guidance document, in case any of it is useful. No worries if it isn’t!

The images are from alternative-format student projects which I have permission from the students to share. I could also share a few alternative-format projects in their entirety if that was useful.