Summary


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.


Theory


The key aims of this pedagogy were rooted in pragmatic practice. Increasing cohort size led to increased strain on staff marking load, while students underperformed on a (relatively) lengthy assignment task, for little (apparent) academic gain. Typically, students avoided using assignment planning techniques, failed to implement prior feedback and declined to use the new ‘HE-level’ assessment skills they had been trained in during Year 1.

Our strategy was to redesign the traditional 2000 word essay previously used in this module, instead focusing on the end-point we wanted students to reach and skills we wanted practised/demonstrated in the task. In addition, we wanted to have maximal positive impact on students’ academic development (i.e., providing useful depth feedback) without sacrificing staff wellbeing; in other words, we wanted staff input to be more resource efficient and ultimately, meaningful.

We created an ‘Essay in Action’, where students were asked to write a detailed (500 word) essay plan and a further 500 words (in total) split between two sample paragraphs. Students could choose either the introduction or conclusions section, plus another section (from their plan) as examples of their academic writing.

We made this change in 2019/2020, providing transparent rationale and support for students. It proved highly successful in pedagogical terms (i.e., it achieved our aims for the assessment, performance was comparable with previous years, and student differentiation was clear). Some unease was expressed within the student cohort- which we attempted to address with consultation and additional assignment support. Students, who received lower-than-expected marks, initially attributed this to the assignment format/support provision - however, with further feedback/support, most acknowledged that this was due to 1) poor time management, 2) lack of engagement with staff, 3) little or no engagement with the extensive support resources provided, and/or 4) misunderstanding the task.


Measurable Benefits


  1. More efficient use of student time / energy/ motivation.
  2. More efficient use of staff time /energy / motivation.
  3. Application of staff resource where it is most useful to students (i.e., in providing high quality, meaningful feedback).
  4. Effective assessment of key skills and application of knowledge in a more concise taskv.

How it Works


  1. A total of four essay questions were assigned for the academic year (as usual)* .
  2. The new assessment brief was set up (see attached), based on these questions.
  3. The change in assessment format was announced to students in class, mentioned again in seminar sessions and on the moodle forum.
  4. Students were consulted on their support needs for this change (via the module cohort and the SSLC)- having been presented on the range of resources we intended to provide for them and the timeline for this provision.
  5. Additional resources for this assessment were designed and published (building on previous module resources), and face-to-face/ remote assessment workshop-style sessions scheduled.
  6. The new assessment was implemented January 2020.

*Please note the change to assessment format had been approved via usual departmental processes in the previous academic year. This was the result of workload implications and awareness of substantial cohort growth in 2018/19.


Practical Example


Please note the pdf version of the Guidance resource does not include the ‘off slide’ notes available to students in a pptx format- please contact Liz Blagrove (e.l.blagrove@warwick.ac.uk) if you would like to see these too.


Individual Perspective


This pedagogical tool emerged from a clear wellbeing need. The staff and students involved were struggling with the personal and time resources needed to engage with the assessment/ associated workload effectively. These resources were clearly going to be stretched further as cohort size increased. However, moving the assessment would have repercussions- as would have changing the assignment type completely (i.e., staff saw feedback for this essay assignment as pivotal to subsequent coursework in the programme). Successfully achieving our pedagogical goals, (maintaining wellbeing standards), while optimizing student challenge, task demand and learning gain was definitely a win for this academic year.