Masters level Open assessments

1. Masters levelOpen assessments Susan Stepney

2. Masters level work • Masters level teaching provides: • an enhanced capability for independent learning and work • Masters level students must demonstrate: [“The framework for higher education qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland”; http://www.qaa.ac.uk/academicinfrastructure/FHEQ/EWNI/default.asp ] • a systematic understanding of knowledge, and a critical awareness of current problems and/or new insights, much of which is at, or informed by, the forefront of their academicdiscipline, field of study, or area of professional practice • originality in the application of knowledge • demonstrated by: • closed examination or open assessment of each module • Masters level project work • CSW module covers how to do project work

3. workload (open assessment module) 10 credit module = 100 hours, typically split something like: • Lectures: 16 x 1 hrs • Practicals: 4 x 2 hrs • Private study: 40 hrs • general “reading around the subject”, following up on lectures and practical material • the lectures merely provide the context for this study • some lecturers provide detailed reading lists – others don’t! • an enhanced capability for independent learning and work • Assessment: 36 hrs • typically one or a few questions, to be answered in a 10-20 page “report”

4. open assessment report the required Masters level “systematic understanding of knowledge, and a critical awareness … informed by the forefront of their academic discipline” … …cannotbe demonstrated by regurgitation of lecture notes • the lectures merely provide the context for your own study if your assessment report merely regurgitates lecture notes – you will fail • this is where Masters level open assessments and Batchelors level (undergraduate) closed examinations fundamentally differ!

5. open assessment report the required Masters level “systematic understanding of knowledge, and a critical awareness … informed by the forefront of their academic discipline” … … canbe demonstrated by including (as part of your answer) a systematic discussion and critical evaluation of the state of the art scientific literature(read during the hours allocated for your private study, and for your open assessment) your report should typically include a list of 5-20 relevant key papers, which you appropriately reference and critique as part of your written answer

6. example “Discuss the issues in validating nanite correctness, and nanite safety.” • The issues of nanite correctness and safety are [a few sentences taken from three slides of the lecture notes]. • The issues of nanite correctness and safety are described by [Smith99] to be [a summary of Smith’s position]. But [Bloggs02] claims [another summary]. More recent work by [Jones06] explains [yet anothersummary], but appears to neglect [thenyour critique of Jones’s paper]. • … and so on, and so on, for as many pages as suggested by the number of marks allocated for this question

7. critique : reasoned evaluation • I don’t like this idea. • This idea won’t work. • This idea doesn’t work in this application because [a justified reason]. Moreover, [Brown77] shows that [some other idea is better]. However, [it might actually work somewhere else], and [Black00] says that … etc, etc • I think this approach is excellent, and should always be used. • This approach should be used in [certain specified cases] because [a justified reason]. Also, [Green04] shows that [it worked on their application, some of the time]. On the other hand, [Pink59] claims [it has fundamental problems], … etc, etc

8. moral • an open assessment is like a (mini) project, and needs its own (mini) literature review and critique • referencing and evaluatingother people’s work is an important part of your own analysis when answering the question • do this, and become a Masters level student!