Policy Briefings and Pitch assessments are “authentic tasks” that offer value beyond instrumental gains, and expand student reward, motivation and welfare. The model offers “assessment for learning” around a specific issue of personal interest, while demonstrating both substantive subject knowledge and relevant process skills: of rigorous research, transparent scholarly, engaging and persuasive presentation. Students receiving appropriate marks can revise work following summative feedback; where quality thresholds are met, Briefings can be published online. This immediately valorises assessment and creates evidence for employability. Briefings can be substituted for other disciplinary relevant artefacts.

Two separate examples for how staff can better engage with students during one-on-one meetings, often in the personal tutor system. For example, student pathway preparation or how best to engage with students when they organise a meeting.

As a whole, our 2nd year cohort have encountered consistent difficulty with a particular assignment in my module. This is largely accounted for by assignment timing (after the Christmas vacation and an early January exam) and poor time management by students- however, this results in less-than-optimal coursework for students (in terms of format and summative/formative objectives) and a potential wellbeing for both staff and students. By reviewing assignment objectives, constraining the time demand of the assignment, but not compromising its ability to differentiate and challenge students, we have created a more resource-efficient/wellbeing-consistent assessment for both staff and students.

Students writing an essay on a negotiated topic are required to have the topic agreed by the module leader before the end of term, and to provide a draft essay structure and an indicative list of sources. In order to ensure there are no last-minute crises, I use this approach to ensure that a) students have a good source base for topics that can be very varied (and perhaps not covered in detail in the module and/or the module reading list), and b) aware of the extent of the topic as set by the essay question.

Wellbeing journaling empowers students to create their own proactive plans and techniques to manage their wellbeing through stressful periods at University and beyond. By identifying a module where students make regular records, and embedded wellbeing journaling into this record keeping it makes it natural for students to make wellbeing a regular part of their schedule and makes them accountable for taking action on it. Regular supervision helps with accountability and encouragement to act and reflect.

The Student Devised Assessment (SDA) offers students a personalised chance to display their critical engagement with the themes and theories of modules and to take a considered approach as to how they might practically apply what they have learned in a medium of their choosing.

Guidance, warnings and ground rules are all designed to make learning spaces welcoming and inclusive for all students. By taking into account individual students’ needs and experiences, and setting clear parameters for content, dialogue, and classroom interactions, all students know that the classroom is a space in which they can share their ideas in a collegial and constructive environment.

At the end of each day students are asked to complete a feedback sheet with regard to the days teaching. On the feedback sheet – either paper or could be digital - there are four boxes headed: Liked, Disliked, Insights, Queries. The tutor collects these from students at the end of each day and looks through them. At the first session the next day queries are responded to and dislikes acknowledged and any remedial action that could be take is mentioned.