write it right: developing writing in the discipline using feedforward guidance

1. �Write IT Right: Developing Writing in the Discipline using Feedforward Guidance� Alma Whitfield: School of Computing Michelle O�Doherty: Lecturer and Writing Specialist

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3. 3 WriteNow Project Purpose of this project was to: Improve students� confidence in their ability to write in an academic manner Develop skills that students would retain throughout their study and career and would apply to other modules and pathways To develop a method of teaching writing skills to students which would be transferable to other modules and pathways. Students should see relevance of academic writing to their study and future career.

4. 4 Rationale To address the universal issue that computing students lack good writing skills. Students achieve poor marks because they do not understand how to write in an academic manner. Employers seek good transferable skills from graduates.

5. 5 Reasons for lack of skills Computer Science students consider practical skills to be more important than writing skills. Importance of critical writing skills for Computer Science students is often overlooked.

6. 6 Materials were delivered in small, patchwork sessions, addressing specific criteria Information was gathered by way of: questionnaires, forums journals Forums held to ascertain views of students on: Academic writing, Effectiveness of delivery of materials, Progress made as a result of intervention. Moodle was used as a resource for lecture materials, journals and discussion.

7. 7 Students were given specific workshop sessions of 20-30 minutes in seminar over 8 weeks. Materials delivered in small chunks - patchwork approach. Workshops engaged students in pre-submission activities mapped to the principles of good feedback practice. For example, students were introduced to core criteria for essay writing. Feedback informed future teaching, which continued into semester two. Principles of Good Feedback Practice, Nicol & Macfarlane-Dick (2006)

8. 8 Academic Expectations:Cracking the Assignment Code

9. 9 Core Criteria Research has shown that the majority of assignments require students to meet the 7 core criteria Students do not always understand the criteria. Each week a different criteria was addressed, starting with the one everyone thinks they know, Answer the Question. The problem is, it is not always easy for students to know what the question is � they have to work this out.

10. 10 The assessment criteria was examined in the seminar sessions. Students had the opportunity to discuss a draft assignment before submission. Use of exemplars helped understanding of critical evaluation and argument. Students self marked their own assignment according to the criteria. They felt uncomfortable about peer marking. Compared and discussed their �mark� with actual mark achieved.

11. 11 Students� estimate of skills Students� estimate of their writing skills was recorded at baseline and at final evaluation. The Initial Self Score showed 20% to be very confident/confident. 80% were either unsure or not confident that they could write in an academic manner.

12. 12 Change of confidence levels

13. 13 Significant improvement between the 2006/7 and 2007/8 cohorts, 27% increase in students achieving a grade above C (or % equivalent) in their first written assignment Evidence of Improved marks �Social Issues Assignments 2006/7 and 2007/8

14. 14 Confidence in Academic Writing A key strategy to increase students� confidence was to develop an awareness and understanding of expected standards. Following workshops on core criteria, 61% of students agreed/strongly agreed that they understood these. The results of two questionnaires show that this confidence was sustained (n=14-20).

15. 15 Confidence in writing assignment It is significant that after the workshops in semester one only 21% students felt confident to actually write an academic essay; a result similar to students� initial self-score. Analysis of focus group transcripts suggests that the on-going process of guidance: practice, discussion, use of exemplars and self marking, helped to double students� confident/very confident self-score by completion of the first written assignment.

16. 16 Importance of core criteria

17. 17 Student Comments � Final Focus Group �I hated it and I didn�t want to do anything, but now it�s changed because of what they�ve said in the sessions, It�s like breaking it down..� �I didn�t like writing essays, I used to end up leaving them to the last minute, I really like doing them now..�

18. 18 Student Comments � Final Focus Group �..at first I didn�t think there was a point to it, I thought it was another useless thing, and I thought what is the point of this, it�s not going to help me later on in life [but] we�ve talked about it a bit in class, and how in this industry you might have to write reports and bits of stuff and it does actually make sense now, I�m all for it.�

19. 19 Conclusion � Interim Findings Students and tutors agree: feedfoward activities enhance the student learning experience; significantly improving academic writing, confidence and motivation. Feedforward as a single intervention appears insufficient to embed such improvement; this needs to be scaffolded through an on-going process of guidance. Student feedforward can usefully inform teaching, for example, prior experience audit.

20. 20 Attitude to Academic Writing Students� baseline opinion Only 7% thought academic writing was important to them. Final evaluation 80% rated it important/very important to their degree 60% understood relevance to employment Transferable skills At the end of the taught sessions, 95% believed their writing skills to be transferable across modules.

21. 21 Acknowledgements Funding from the Write Now CETL enabled this project to run Guidance and Inspiration from Michelle O�Doherty

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23. 23 References Higgins, R; Hartley, P Skelton, A. Getting the message across: the problem of communicating assessment feedback, Teaching in Higher Education, 6(2) pp. 269-274, 2001. Hattie, J.A. Identifying the salient facts of a model of student learning: a synthesis of meta-analysis. International Journal of Educational Research, 11 (2) pp. 187-212, 1987. Ramsden, P. Learning to Teach in Higher Education (2nd revised ed) London: Routlege, 2003. National Student Survey, Teaching Quality Information Data, 2007. Available at: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/learning/nss/data/2007 [last accessed 22 October 2007] National Student Survey, 2006. Available at: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/rdreports/2006/rd14 07/rd14 07sum.doc [last accessed 22 October 2007] National Student Survey ,2005. Available at: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/rdreports/2006/rd22 06.doc [last accesed 22 October 2007] Gibbs, G & Simpson, C. Conditions under which assessment supports students� learning Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 1(1), pp. 3-31, 2004-5. Nicol, D.J. & Macfarlane-Dick, D. Rethinking formative assessment in HE: a theoretical model and seven principles of good feedback practice, Studies in Higher Education, 31(2) pp. 199-218, 2006. Boud, D & Falchikov, N. Developing assessment for informing judgement, in D. Boud & N. Falchikov, Rethinking Assessment in Higher Education: learning in the longer term, 2007 Boud, D. Reframing assessment as if learning were important, in D. Boud & N. Falchikov, Rethinking Assessment in Higher Education: learning in the longer term, 2007 Rust,C. Briefing on Assessment of Large Groups, Series No. 12, York: Generic LTSN Centre. Available at: http://www.swap.ac.uk/docs/ltsn/assess/12largegroups.pdf [last accessed 12 October 2007] Nicol, D.J. & Macfarlane-Dick, D. Rethinking formative assessment in HE: a theoretical model and seven principles of good feedback practice, Studies in Higher Education, 31(2) pp. 199-218, 2006. Hounsell, D., McClune, V., Hounsell, J and Litjens, J. The quality of guidance and feedback to students, Higher Education Research and Development, 27(1), pp. 55-67, 2008. Nicol & Macfarlane-Dick, op.cit. Ganobcsik-Williams, L (ed). Teaching Academic Writing in UK Higher Education, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. Hetherington, R., O�Doherty. M., Owens, T., Shannon, L and Beaumont, C. Raising Standards: A Dialogic Approach to Improving Computing Students Academic Writing, Proceedings of the 8th Annual Conference of the Subject Centre for Information and Computer Sciences: Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for ICS, 2007. Nicol & Macfarlane- Dick, op. cit.[4]: encouraging teacher and peer dialogue around learning Lillis, T. Moving towards an �Academic Literacies� Pedagogy: Dialogues of Participation, in L, Ganobcsik-Williams (ed). Teaching Academic Writing in UK Higher Education, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. Ibid, p.30. Norton, L; Harrington, K, Elander, J., Sinfiled, S., Lusher, J., Reddy, P., Aiyegbayo, O and Pitt.E. Supporting students to improve their essay writing through assessment criteria focused workshops, in C.Rust (ed) Improving Student Learning 12: Diversity and Inclusivity. Oxford: The Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development, 2005. Nicol & Mcfarlane-Dick, op.cit.