You can’t solve a jigsaw puzzle with only one piece:

1. You can’t solve a jigsaw puzzle with only one piece: why cross topic LTA is key to student engagement

2. The Problem (in general) • “I find a problem with modularity in that it's very, very difficult for academics to actually know the content of all modules. Consequently, sometimes modules overlap and students complain about doing the same old stuff, sometimes it can turn out that some basic prerequisite knowledge (I know, it's all supposed to be defined in pathways, but...) is missing. What does seem to come out of it is increased workload for students, increased assessment loads, and the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Further, at the end of each stage, it's actually difficult to fully grasp how the student's experiences stack up. I seem to notice that students seem to approach learning in a modular way as well, so that knowledge gained from one module is not deployed to solve a problem in another. So, in a sense, they've taken a large number of mini-courses in a topic area, but these may add up to less than the sum of the parts” (Don Quixote - Times Higher Readers’ Comments 15 September, 2009 )

3. The Problem (in our experience) Everything on the previous slide, plus in particular: • Our students are techno-savvy but lack core fundamentals • They only want to know what they think they need to know • They don’t know what they need to know • Programme ownership of modules limits learning to designated areas (limits students and can cause problems down the line) • Discrete modules = unconnected learning; students question relevance

4. The Solution(for us) • L1 common (not programme-owned) framework for all students • Demodularised delivery and assessment • Same staff teaching across topics & same staff for pastoral care … • The assessment, like the staff, is cross topic • Students provided with matrices to show this • Assessment worth gradually increases (from 5% to 40%) • Portfolio based - allowing varied, ‘building on strengths’, skills acquisition; • (ePortfolio - presentation forum for ‘connected’ skills & for personal tutor monitoring) • ‘Context’ sandwiches and underpins whole year • 2 weeks at start – 1 hour all year – 7 week project at end

5. Level 1 Academic Team • Siobhan Devlin • Andrew Smith • Gary Unthank • David Nelson • Liz Gandy • Simon Kendal • Linda White • Stephen Swales • Les Kingham • Chris Stokoe • Sharon McDonald • Christo Panchev • Siobhan Devlin • Level Leader • Personal Tutor • Subject Tutor on • What is Computing? • Web & Databases • Software Development & Theory • Context • End of Year Project

6. Level 1 Academic Team … • Siobhan Devlin • Andrew Smith • Gary Unthank • David Nelson • Liz Gandy • Simon Kendal • Linda White • Stephen Swales • Les Kingham • Chris Stokoe • Sharon McDonald • Christo Panchev • Liz Gandy • Personal Tutor • Subject Tutor on • What is Computing? • Web & Databases • Programming • End of Year Project

7. Context • Context Sandwich! • 1st 2 weeks - What is Computing? • Then, every Thursday 1 hour session • Then, last 7 weeks your own Project CET101 Fundamentals of Computing CETXXX Flavour Module

8. Context To help students see the relevance of everything they are studying To pull the strands together; ensure that they are making sense of the course; relate their learning to the real world; allow them to reflect on their learning As all assessment is ‘cross-topic’: the assignments are issued & discussed in the context session; returned and feedback given in the context session If the web tutor were to issue a cross topic assignment the students would still view it as a web assignment Level leader is module leader is contextualiser (is me!)

9. Evaluation of the ‘demodularised’ year • I asked staff and students questions relating to our initial goals – e.g. • Contextualised learning • Cross topic learning • Did they really know what they thought they knew? • Scaled risk • Common course/fundamental & varied skills development • Etc..

10. What have you enjoyed?

11. Students said: • I’ve liked the fact that everything is all interlinked and can see the relation between topics • variety of challenges • I’ve enjoyed the broad range of subjects studied • Gaining new skills • huge learning curve but in a good way • Making friends & doing most of the assignments • Friendly staff • Understanding the work • The mixing with rest of class (from other computing courses)

12. Staff said: They’d enjoyed: • more joined up teaching • meeting the students • Good year with a good mix. Students have done well and I’ve enjoyed teaching and getting to know them better.

13. How knowledgeable about computing concepts did you think you were at the start of the year – and has this view changed as the year has gone on?

14. Students said: • Thought I knew a lot until I started this course • I thought I was fairly clued up but soon realised that I knew a lot less than I thought! • Think I had a basic view but it has changed hugely through the year • Yes (my view has changed) – I feel that all areas of computing are linked • I thought I was around intermediate. I know I feel I know more but I’m aware there is much to learn.

15. We chose to deliver this 1st year with just a small team of staff (with multiple roles) so we could get to know you well, and you would get to know us and feel able to talk to us easily etc. How successful do you think this has been?

16. Students said: • A complete success with all the lecturers being easily accessible and amenable to questions • I think the structure and organisation of this year has been good! • I feel I could approach any staff, but do not think communication across the staff was good. • Very [successful] – I find approaching staff comfortable and easier than it would have been if larger group of staff. • Quite [successful]. Easier to learn who everyone is and what their job role is. Easier to approach.

17. Staff said: • [team teaching] is beneficial for both staff and students – more continuity for all, better sickness cover, sharing of skills/abilities, more chance that everyone knows what’s going on with students and the module in general; • the teaching and preparing of new materials has been a very positive experience with the opportunity to combine expertise and ideas. It has also as a programme leader/personal tutor been great to get to know the students so well. • I feel it’s gone really well – I’ve got to know many of the students not only in my tutorial groups but in other strands and programmes because of the year structure. Having a smaller group of staff has allowed us to work more closely – I’ve often chatted to colleagues about crossover and where we can support each other in our teaching and support.

18. What do you think about the common 1st year – and the fact that it means you can change programme in year 2 if you want to?

19. Students said: • I find that knowing parts of all programmes helps to gain understanding of everything within computing. Making your course decision effective to get the best out of it. • Gave me the opportunity to see what I enjoyed and what I didn’t. Good indication for year 2 choices • Very clever idea that I used to my advantage • Brilliant – I was on the course last year and would love to have done this. • Great idea, content and delivery needs work. • A useful feature but I don’t feel I need to change course. • Means if I was struggling in one area I can change to something which I’m better

20. How useful has the ‘context’ session been during the year? Can you suggest ways in which it could be improved

21. Students said: • The context sessions seemed to have brought the course together, both students and work related • Have more than one context session per week. • I think it has been very helpful at times, however this was not always the case • Another fantastic idea as it keeps the path through the year clearly marked. • Has given me more information about assignments so it has been very useful.

22. We scaled the importance of the portfolios throughout the year – • What did you think about this?

23. Students said: • Good – because at the beginning everything was going over my head and in the second term it clicked a lot more. • I really like this idea. Eased us in. • interesting way to build the year with little fear of messing up at the start. • I think it’s good as we can gain skills and rectify weaknesses • worked well giving people the ability to excel at their strengths • Fair and reasonable. The number of students on the 2nd year will have increased. • Some assignments were low % but were hard. • Seemed people put more effort in when more marks were available • Weighting didn’t always reflect the degree of effort put into some assignments

24. Staff evaluation: • I think this has helped the students to settle in. Where they’ve panicked towards the end of term 2 I’ve been able to reassure them that they’ve got useful marks under their belts. • Good to break it down but many students despite being repeatedly told didn’t seem to understand they didn’t have to pass all assessments individually and became stressed at later/larger PF items. • I think it’s a good idea. As long as the feedback is sufficient to help he student improve for the next assignment. • A major issue was that students became focused on the current PF and didn’t complete tutorial work on other strands so they were then behind when it came to that PF.

25. Our aim was to offer you assessments that brought together multiple strands of the computing curriculum. How far do you think we have achieved this?

26. Students said: • 70% achieved • Very successful, as knowledge from various areas have come together • Very successfully – I can see how I have to pool together my knowledge from all strands to achieve better marks • Very well – each portfolio covered a number of strands and brought them together nicely • All the assessments have involved a lot of strands – good! • While the early portfolios claimed to be cross topic they did not necessarily feel like that. This has changed on the later portfolios. • Pretty good, some links more obvious than others, weighted too heavily on programming and not enough on others. • Too much programming-orientated assignments.

27. Further Comments Single VLE space for all students = easy communication between staff-students & students-students Students understood the ‘university structure’ better Clear ‘chain of command’ – i.e. who to ask for help Great camaraderie, peer support & strong competition End of year project very successful Students were challenged – and rose to it: “I consider the new L1 to have provided the students with a much greater level of skills than in previous programmes, particularly in the areas of practical programming and the intro of web/databases.” (Staff comment) Some ideas for next year Move from 9 portfolio items to 7 Integrate the assessment better & so balance the marking better

28. Contact email siobhan.devlin@sunderland.ac.uk