Certifying and Recording Learning and Achievement

1. Certifying and Recording Learning and Achievement Norman Jackson, Rob Ward and Peter Rees-Jones

2. Peter Checkland (1999) Systems thinking,systems practice I can see diversity, complexity confusion and ambiguity, but I can use it to create a system for learning. I can create a systematic world. I can engineer this system to make it work in the way I want it to.

3. Learning system for SACWG problem we are all learners existing codified resources existing codified resources individuals & networks individuals & networks active agents our collective tacit knowledge our collective tacit knowledge

4. Two modes of knowledge production Gibbons et al. (1994) Mode 1 disciplinary knowledge the scientific form of knowledge production. • developed within a disciplinary, primarily cognitive context • controlled by strong cognitive and social norms and processes that must be followed in the production, legitimation and diffusion of knowledge of this kind. Mode 2 transdisciplinary knowledge • created in transdisciplinary, social and economic contexts and organized around a particular application: utility is central to production • produced through continuous negotiation within a heterogeneous constituency • derived from a continuous succession of transient and emergent problem working contexts and situations.

5. A world of learning viewed through complexity theory Stacey (2000) THE EDGE OF CHAOS RATIONALLY PLANNED WORLD CHAOS REAL TIME PROBLEM WORKING. CONTINUOUS CHANGE, ADAPTATION AND INVENTION Mode 1 Disciplinary knowledge production. Curricula for disciplinary learning. Mode 2 Transdisciplinary knowledge production. Curricula for transdisciplinary learning

6. The Progress File provides a principled framework for the representation of learning and achievement in a world that requires people to work with both disciplinary and transdiscipinary knowledge. • Transcript -summative representation of an individual student’s abilities to work with mainly disciplinary knowledge. • Personal development planning - a process to develop the capacities of individual students to represent their own abilities to work with transdsiciplinary knowledge.

7. Disciplinary learning developing qualities of the mind… thinking and behaving like a historian, chemist, lawyer.. Learning for a trans-disciplinary world Key skills Capability Qualities Self-regulation/ metacognition Competencies Fuzzy things What are we trying to represent? World of supercomplexity (Barnett, 2000)

8. Perhaps viewing HE as developing capacities for working with knowledge in both disciplinary and transdisciplinary contexts is a more powerful and unifying conception than the traditional education-work paradigm • To what extent is HE implicitly or explicitly working with this conception? • What are the implications for certifying and recording learning and achievement?

9. John Biggs (1999) 1 What the student is 2 What the teacher does 3 What the student does Warren Houghton (2002) 4 What the student does to manage his/her own learning Teacher perceptions of the focus for teaching

10. Disciplinary curriculum & extra curricula transdisciplinary learning experiences A - academic curriculum (learning/skills not explicit) B - student recording within personal tutor system C - student recording in freestanding awards D- imported award framework E- freestanding learning profiling tool 1 Transcript 2 Skills award 3 Student records/ Portfolios D E C A B

11. Enhancing the academic curriculum by making learning explicit and introducing new opportunities for transdisciplinary learning 1 Learning/skills made explicit in the academic curriculum programme specs/module specs/skills audits 2 New skills-or experienced -based modules including PDP, PBL and work-based learning added to the academic curriculum. Credit awarded for skills- or process-based learning. 3 Departments may import a web accessible profiling tool (eg RSC or RAPID) if there is no institutional framework. 1 3 2 1 Transcript -credit awarded for skills modules 2 Student records/ portfolios in skills modules and perhaps connected via explicit PDP policy some recognition and valuing of the transdisciplinary world

12. Explicit skills and learning focus: academic curriculum modified to promote skills/capabilities 1 Learning/skills made explicit in the academic curriculum 2 Curriculum maps demonstrate where/how skills developed/assessed - curriculum/teaching modified to make up deficiencies and improve opportunities and support development of LOs 3 Students may assess their own skills at the start of the programme 4 Criteria developed for assessment and information on skills either implicit in institutional records or explicitly captured. 5 Students actively engaged in gathering information about there own development through PDP policy. 6 Institution likely to develop its own profiling tools. 1 Transcript 2 Skills certificates 3 Student records/ portfolios in skills modules explicit PDP sets out to prepare students for the transdisciplinary world

13. Curriculum constructed around a model of learning or capability 1 Disciplinary curriculum is developed around a model of learning that is appropriate for a transdisciplinary world e.g. Problem Based Learning or Ability/Capability-Based (eg Alverno) 2 All teaching staff work with the model - assessment aligned to model of learning - credit for process as well as outcomes 3 Students inducted into a way of learning. They are actively engaged in the evaluation and in gathering information about there own development through profiling tools that are embedded in the course. 5 Institution develops own profiling tools. 1 Transcript 2 Capability profiles 3 Student records/portfolios explicit PDP focus is on helping students master a way of learning

14. Curriculum for a transdisciplinary world 1 The needs of the transdisciplinary world are central to curriculum design - Foundation Degrees, Corporate Degrees 2 Employers / students involved in course design 3 Design principles emphasise generic skills for working and learning in the trandisciplinary world. 4 Learning in and through work is an essential to the experience 5 Students can gain credit for experiential learning 6 PDP integral to learning.Institution develops own profiling tools 1 Transcript 3 Student records/ portfolios explicit PDP focus is on learning for and in a transdisciplinary world

15. Personal curriculum for a transdisciplinary world 1 The learning outcomes, curriculum and assessment process are negotiated between student - tutor and perhaps an employer - codified within a Learning Contract 2 Curriculum may include academic units but may be entirely work- based learning 3 Credit is awarded for prior experiential learning that is relevant to the award and intended new learning 4 Self-regulation and PDP-type processes are central to learning 5 Students inducted into a way of learning. They keep their own records of learning which for the basis for reflection and provide the evidence of learning. 1 Transcript 2 APEL certificates 3 Student records/ portfolios focus is on helping people extend and gain academic recognition for their learning in a transdisciplinary world

16. Extra curricula schemes for a transdisciplinary world of learning • CRAC Insight into Management • CRAC Insight Plus • NUS Stadia • NUS National Student Learning Programme • NSLP Skills Manager • Student Volunteering UK • British Council Teaching Assistant Scheme • City & Guilds Personal Development Award • UK Grad Skills Programme • STEP • Skills on line • Pre-degree The Year in Industry

17. Institutional transcript regional FE-HE transcripts APEL credit certificates skills certificates and awards work experience certificates many different PDP processes & records capability statements? UCAS profiles & students’ Progress Files recording & profiling schemes of external bodies employer application forms students’ own websites Certificates & other records of learning

18. PULs

19. Where next? • test and develop ideas in specific programme contexts • build an archive of examples of certificates and records • evaluate recording processes and records • Is this transdisciplinary knowledge useful?