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Bridget Middlemas, Roehampton University, June 2009

What’s it worth? Developing equivalent assessment opportunities for students with disabilities, through the use of digital video and audio recordings. Bridget Middlemas, Roehampton University, June 2009.

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Bridget Middlemas, Roehampton University, June 2009

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  1. What’s it worth? Developing equivalent assessment opportunities for students with disabilities, through the use of digital video and audio recordings Bridget Middlemas, Roehampton University, June 2009

  2. What’s It Worth? Developing equivalent assessmentopportunities for students with disabilities, through the use of digital video and audio recordings • JISC / TechDis HEAT3 funded project • Started September 2008 • 3 staff involved, all from different areas: • Learning & Teaching • E-Learning • Disability Office

  3. Some of our questions… • What might an assessment look like when it’s not an essay? • How long should a DVD be if it is to replace a 5000-word essay? • How will we ensure that the students are fully meeting the programme learning outcomes? • What technical or learning support will students require?

  4. 8 students • Range of disabilities / health issues • All signed confidentiality / permission forms • Emphasis on a “student voice” approach • Asked them to choose one upcoming assignment that might be suitable for the project • Students all second and third years, on a range of programmes…

  5. Programmes for JISC HEAT3 Pilot • Psychology • Sociology • Classical civilisation • All programmes that traditionally have a high percentage of text-based coursework

  6. This sounds a potentially very interesting alternative form of assessment and I’m very interested in hearing more about it. A more diverse assessment portfolio will mean that some of our students will really be able to show what they’re capable of…SENDA Coordinator, School of Arts

  7. There’s a very real sense of excitement behind the project – assessment usually bores everyone silly! SENDA Coordinator, School of Human & Life Sciences

  8. I’m really pleased to be helping with this project, as there’s no precedent for how to mark a visual, verbal or generally alternative medium of coursework …such exciting stuff! Programme tutor, Psychology

  9. I think your project will really show everyone what can be achieved, and hopefully, encourage others to think about offering visual assignments alongside text-based ones. Dyslexia Tutor to one of the participants

  10. So far... • One student has made a DVD documentary of her workplace setting for the Care in the Community Social Work option ( third year), to replace a 3,500 word placement report • She has found this very time consuming, and stressful, but has said that she has greatly preferred it to her usual essay / report type assessments • We are now working with programme staff to assess the work, in conjunction with the student

  11. And... • One student is making a 20 minute presentation on “ Gaze” for a psychology option, with her own photographs, audio commentary, full references and an accompanying transcript ( to replace a 3,500 word essay) • Staff are very pleased with this, but are very concerned about programme requirements set by the British Psychological Society

  12. It’s fantastic to take learning into the 21st century, and encompass all learner types, because aural and visual learners have had it their way for too long I say!  Let the kinaesthetic learners show their true colours...... Disabled student on Community Care Placement ( Dyslexia and long-standing mental health issues)

  13. Assessment issues… • What’s a fair equivalent to 5000 words? • What non-academic support is needed? • Who’s responsible when things don’t go to plan? • Quality of filming / audio • How will paragraphs / chapters be replaced? • Support prior to and during hand-in • Agreeing a final grade / role of external examiner • Arranging a suitable viva opportunity

  14. Some thoughts… • Students • Offer plenty of support for their first attempt at a new assessment format • Think about time management and setting boundaries • Keep in touch regularly at agreed stages • OK the whole project beforehand! • Staff • Investigate fully what technical support the student & staff might need • Check with academics as well as outside bodies when changing traditional assessment formats • Give staff time to discuss marking / grading, and to listen to what the students are saying

  15. What do we mean by innovative, multi-format assessments? • Discussing a range of ideas from all subject areas • Visiting other universities to see what’s happening elsewhere • Moving outside of our usual “ comfort zone” • Looking beyond a text-based approach, whilst striving to maintain academic standards and meet programme learning outcomes

  16. How would you mark these? ? • PowerPoint or multi-media presentation? • WIKIs – individual or group? • A series of podcasts for the VLE? • A 15 minute radio programme ? • 20 minute DVD or short documentary? • Individual contributions to social networking sites for collaborative projects

  17. Extension of our original project, Summer 2009 We used some TQEF funding to support a group of Historical Issues in Human Rights students to travel to Poland and Germany They were asked to make a WIKI of their field trip, with a view to gaining their opinions on a group WIKI as a learning / assessment tool

  18. Visit to Poland and Berlin “Over the course of the module, we embarked on a journey away from lecture-based learning, to seek new learning spaces that saw the classrooms and libraries as springboards towards research that would be both nomadic and critical. This led us to engage directly with the world, both as individuals and as a group, in making new lines of flight between present and past, critiquing our own versions of history seen through the prisms of our present predicaments. Ultimately therefore, our practice was to constantly think and move, rather than sit and learn. The project came to its logical conclusion through the literal boarding of the train heading across Central and Eastern Europe towards Auschwitz.” http://historicalissuesinhumanrights.pbworks.com/

  19. Here is a poem I made whilst at Auschwitz. I thought of the spirits of the women, who I feel still remain on those grounds. I see your footprints in my footprints. Your breath in my breath, Your sweat in my sweat. You move through me. Or more, I move through you. Do you see me cry? The tears you no longer weep. You are beautiful, A creature of history, a part of my future. Forever embedded on my heart, The lesson here from which I will never part.

  20. Final thoughts • There needs to be adequate room for innovation and creativity when moving away from traditional text-based coursework • Clear guidelines need to be developed for staff to mark new types of e-assignments such as WIKIS, e-portfolios and DVD documentaries • How will we continue to ensure that programme learning outcomes are fully met? • What will the % balance be between essays / WIKIs / presentations on your own programmes?

  21. Example of equivalency chart for a 3000 word essay

  22. What’s it worth? Developing equivalent assessment opportunities for students with disabilities, through the use of digital video and audio recordings Comments welcome! b.middlemas@roehampton.ac.uk

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