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Joint Arts & Humanities and Social & Historical Sciences Best Practice Sharing in Assessment

Presentations Summary

1. Blogging Assessments: Global Environmental Change: @GEOG3057

Ans Mackay (Geography)

In setting up a new course which tackled the big environmental issues of the day I wanted to embed innovative assessment which would allow students to engage with the issues. To this end, having students maintain a blog on an environmental topic of their choice seemed like the obvious thing to do. The blog has deep pedagogic principles in terms of allowing students to engage deeply with a topic for assessment, as they keep the blog for a period of about 14 weeks. However, it is also novel in that the blogs are public, so that they can comment on each others pieces, and invite comment from external scholars and the public. This I believe has been a great success in terms of democratising the intellectual input they put into their assessment, as well an helping to internationalise this particular aspect of the curriculum.

2. Object-based coursework, wikis and video podcasts: alternative assessment methods at the UCL Institute of Archaeology

Marcos Martinon-Torres (Archaeology)

This presentation outlines the rationale, benefits and challenges of three types of assessment used by staff at the UCL Institute of Archaeology:

a) To write or update an entry in Wikipedia

b) A 5 minute video for the general public

c) Different forms of object-based assessment ranging from archaeology through conservation to materials science characterisation

3. Do marking rubrics offer interesting possibilities in the assessment of the humanities?

Carl Gombrich (BASc)

Rubrics are widely used for marking assessments in schools (particularly in the US) but are not yet widespread in the UK university sector. This short presentation considered the possibilities for the use of rubrics in assessing humanities subjects at university – with a focus on whether they may best serve in assessing new types of assessment such as podcasts and blogs.

4. Assessing Individual Coursework Projects via Final Exams -- Some experience on WIKI and Blogging Tasks in Economics

Christian Spielmann (Economics)

This presentation considered how project work (in the form of blogs, wikis and group projects) can be integrated into final exam-based assessment.

5. ANTH2008: ‘Being Human’

Sara Randall (Anthropology)

This presentation outlined the experience of a new second year compulsory module in Anthropology which had the following aims:

• To encourage students to develop a broad based anthropological approach to topical issues • To develop staff-student relationships so that all students are known by name and have

worked with at least 4 members of staff (one each from each subsections) • To facilitate student led discussion and learning in a (very) small group context • To develop students’ independent learning and writing (preparation for dissertation)

World Café Handouts

6. Student peer review for formative assessment in FREN1101: The Making of Modern France and FREN1102: Reading French Texts

Katherine Ibbett (SELCS)

These handouts are the guidelines for student peer review in first year literature courses that teach the core skills of literary analysis that will be used throughout the degree.

7. HIST1006: ‘Writing History’

Andrew Smith and Chris Jeppesen (History)

This compulsory first year module in History is intended to develop students’ skills and confidence in writing.

8. NUS Assessment and Feedback Benchmarking tool

Simon To and Keir Gallagher (UCLU)

This benchmarking tool is the latest in a series of resources NUS has produced to help students to improve the quality of feedback and assessment.

@AnsonMackay

Global Environmental Change: @GEOG3057

Sustenance vs Sustainability – the energy debate (Joon Koh; 2013)

http://energydebate.blogspot.co.uk/ http://energydebate.blogspot.co.uk/ http://energydebate.blogspot.co.uk/

Assessments are varied

• peer-peer • mid-term formative assessment • summative assessment

http://energydebate.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/perception-of-shale.html

Summative Assessment (50%)

• Academic understanding of 10 (absolute min) papers

• Level of engagement

• Progression of ideas, expression of thoughts, development of an individual ‘voice’

• Engagement with, and links to, a wider audience

Benefits

• Innovative • Internationalised curriculum • Enhanced research / public engagement skills • Fledging blogging careers

– Patrick Thompson – Becca Gale

http://thinkingaloudx.wordpress.com/ http://accessscience.wordpress.com/

Object-based coursework, wikis and video podcasts: Alternative assessment methods at the UCL Institute of Archaeology

Marcos Martinón-Torres [email protected]

• Diversification • Transferable skills • Peer-support • Social responsibility

1,500-2,000 word entry in Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org) 500-1,000 word introduction (not included in the online version) where you explain: • choices you made • criticisms of the previous entry

• ways in which your entry could be expanded or improved (which may be highlighted in the entry as stubs).

ARCLG108 ARCHAEOMETALLURGY Postgrad, 15 credits 50% of final mark

http://www.wikipedia.org/

• Immediate feedback from others • Democratisation of knowledge • Motivation • Familiarisation with copyright law etc • Peer-pressure and peer-learning • Digital literacy • Factual-style of writing • Breadth of sources and synthesis • Research build-up

• Ran out of terms • Caution: if it reads like an essay, it will be removed immediately! • Limited critical engagement?

5 minute documentary video on any archaeometallurgical topic, aimed at general, educated, non-specialist audiences (submitted to co-ordinator of uploaded on any public site) 200-word abstract List of sources 500-word evaluation (optional)

ARCL3001 ARCHAEOMETALLURGY Undergrad, 0.5 units 50% of final mark

Supported by an E-Learning Development Grant Two annotated examples A wiki guide Technical support for students

• Transferable skills • Democratisation of knowledge • Motivation • Familiarisation with copyright etc • Peer-pressure and peer-learning • Digital literacy • Visibility

• Technical skills and equipment? • Time-consuming • Appointment of cross-disciplinary TA

• Transferable skills • Democratisation of knowledge • Motivation • Familiarisation with copyright etc • Peer-pressure and peer-learning • Digital literacy • Visibility

• Technical skills and equipment?

ARCLG120 APPROACHES TO ARTEFACT STUDIES Postgrad, 30 credits 33.3% of final mark

PORTFOLIO A set of 10 objects from the UCL collections (or the Thames foreshore). 1. Introduction 2. Finds recording sheets 3. Object database 4. Object catalogue (including object photographs and drawings) 5. Grant application 6. Bibliography

ARCLG107 TECHNOLOGY AND ANALYSIS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL MATERIALS Postgrad, 30 credits 30% of final mark

SCIENTIFIC REPORT Single object Physical documentation and analysis of its microstructure and chemical composition The emphasis of the assessment is on method description, data handling and reporting

ARCLG142 ISSUES IN CONSERVATION: UNDERSTANDING OBJECTS Postgrad, 15 credits 100% of final mark

ETHNOGRAPHIC OBJECT ASSESSMENT Focused on the Material Culture Collection UCL Anthropology Builds on the experience and skills you have gained during object handling sessions in the first half of the term •Recognise material •Research ethnographic background •Condition assessment

ARCLG112 INTERPRETING POTTERY Postgrad, 15 credits 100% of final mark

ASSEMBLAGE ASSESSMENT Select a small pottery assemblage from the Institute’s collections. After analysing this material write a brief report on the assemblage. Then critically discuss the benefits and limitations of your report.

• Transferable skills • Professional skills • Visibility • Engagement • Knowledge of our own collections

• A risk to the collections?

Object-based coursework, wikis and video podcasts: Alternative assessment methods at the UCL Institute of Archaeology

Marcos Martinón-Torres [email protected]

Any questions?

Carl Gombrich (BASc), Do marking rubrics offer interesting possibilities in the marking of the humanities?

Carl’s talk began with a quote from his father, Richard Gombrich, Boden Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford University between 1976 and 2005.

I dislike exams intensely! I regard them as the enemy of education. To a small extent tests are of course necessary: you have to find out whether someone gradua