Viva as Interdisciplinary Assessment in Habitability in the Universe
Introduction
In Habitability in the Universe, there are two major assignments, one where students choose from a set of topics and another where students work in groups of three or four to create their own project where they “approach some aspect of habitability in an interdisciplinary way.” For this assignment, David was inspired to trial the viva as an interdisciplinary assessment with the support of Dr Heather Meyer, Director of Studies at IATL. Students work collectively to develop their topic and “record their presentation and then about a week later, they meet as a group with me and the second marker this year to have a viva in person.” Each group has fifteen minutes to share “about their presentation and explore some of it in more detail.” David tries to “get them to elaborate on some of the links that they've seen between different things.” The viva as interdisciplinary assessment “creates multiple avenues for students to be able to engage with the material.” By letting each student in the group share and think more in-depth about their project, David cites that students learn “how to approach topics with…. a wider mindset”. In sum, the viva is about providing students a way “to explore their ideas further,” rather than critiquing or questioning why they did something in a certain way.
Dr David Brown
Principles of Practice
Furthering Interdisciplinary Links
David says that one of the purposes of having the viva presentation was that “I wanted to try and draw out these connections and these links with them and encourage them to think in that kind of interdisciplinary way.” David shares an example of one group that focused on the ethics of space exploration from a range of disciplinary perspectives. In the pre-recorded presentation, each student in the group delved into one aspect of ethics from either a social, scientific and economic, or environmental and sustainability angle. In the end, they offered a “closing statement where they set out that position as a group.” During the viva, David asked questions to each of the students for them to “talk about the links” between the sustainability, scientific, social and economic aspects by considering different countries’ relationship to space exploration. David shares, “I think they've all enjoyed the chance to explain a bit more about what they've done.”
Individual and Group Marking
This style of assessment provides a space where students can receive both a group mark for the recorded presentation and an individual mark for the viva. While the goal of the viva is for students to have an opportunity to individually share, David notes that he told students that they could "feel free to help each other out.”
Advancing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Instead of presenting in front of the whole class, David offers that the aim of the viva was to create a comfortable, “small group setting” for students to think further about their work. David set up the room so that “it was more of a roundtable rather than looking like an interview.” Students could also bring “memory aids,” “things to fiddle or fidget with,” and draw on “instant translation software.” Rather than focus on the way that students presented during the viva or the materials that they used to support, David ensured that the viva felt like a conversation so that students with a diverse range of learning needs could successfully engage.
Moving Forward
David reflects, “I've really enjoyed it. I definitely intend to do it again next year.” Moving forward, David is considering giving each person an equal time to present, instead of each group having fifteen minutes. Allowing each student the same speaking time allows the individual nature of the assessment to come through even further. David wants to think about how to ask clear, direct questions that are understandable and open-ended, where students are encouraged to explore their ideas rather than provide one correct answer. Hopefully, the viva as an assessment can be replicated in other modules in the future.
