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ATLAS: Assessing, Teaching, Learning, Archaeological Skills

ATLAS: Assessing, Teaching, Learning, Archaeological Skills. Amanda Clarke. UNIVERSITY TRAINING EXCAVATIONS. Silchester Roman town: The Insula IX ‘Town Life’ project: 1997 - ?. Research. Research Training. Teaching New Dogs Old Tricks (and some new ones…). Quality Assurance Agency

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ATLAS: Assessing, Teaching, Learning, Archaeological Skills

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  1. ATLAS: Assessing, Teaching, Learning, Archaeological Skills Amanda Clarke

  2. UNIVERSITY TRAINING EXCAVATIONS Silchester Roman town:The Insula IX ‘Town Life’ project: 1997 - ? • Research Research Training

  3. Teaching New Dogs Old Tricks (and some new ones…) Quality Assurance Agency Archaeological Benchmarking Statement ‘Fieldwork constitutes an essential aspect of the engagement with professional practice’

  4. 2001 The Silchester Field School module Employability:skills, knowledge and personal attributes • Teaching Core archaeological skills: • Collecting & recording • archaeological data • Teaching more generic skills: • Skills awareness • Reflection

  5. Employability • Aim: To provide the student with a basic knowledge of archaeological field techniques

  6. …and site recording methods.

  7. Student diversity: something for everyone

  8. Teaching & learning - outside the classroom

  9. The Silchester Field School module5 years on…. Reflection… • 2006 – Oxford Archaeology 2nd biggest employer of all University of Reading graduates • Education versus Training; HE versus Employers • embed employability into curriculum – skills, knowledge & personal attributes • teach skills awareness – self-assessment/reflection/PDP • transform work experience into learning – ongoing reflection and assessment • work experience must be credit-bearing

  10. The IfA - Skills & Knowledge • Skills that are learning • technical skills • initiative • team-working • working under pressure • communication skills • adaptability • attention to detail • taking responsibility and decisions • Knowledge not necessarily learning • commercial context of archaeological practice • roles and responsibilities of differing sectors of archaeological practice in the UK Wessex Archaeology

  11. 10 years on…..Archaeology Now and in the Future sectoral recession Wessex Archaeology

  12. The Silchester Field School module10 years on…. Reflection… • Exactly what skills are we teaching? • How effective are we? • Do our students recognise the skills they are learning – and their value? • Can skills recognition/awareness/self-reflection lead to better employability? What if we did not have Archaeological Field Schools?

  13. Subject Centre for History, Classics and Archaeology Progression Beyond the Classroom: Actively Teaching and Learning • This project will evaluate methods used to teach fieldwork skills, with a view to increasing student self-reflection, improving assessment, and developing student understanding of the importance of personal development plans (PDP). This will help students maximise opportunities on other departmental research projects, and enhance their employability within the archaeological profession.

  14. Assessing, Teaching, Learning Archaeological Skills ATLAS Transferable Technical Academic http://sites.google.com/site/atlasreading/

  15. ATLAS: 3 University Field Schools Heslington East, University of York Silchester, University of Reading Dorchester-on-Thames, University of Oxford

  16. ATLAS Methodology • Questionnaires • Focus Groups - students • Interviews - Site Directors and Supervisors

  17. ATLAS – THEMES Careers, expectations, teaching methods, the experience, assessment, PDP, employability Students: What will Fieldwork do for you?Staff:What has Fieldwork done for you? • What are the best methods for teaching archaeological fieldwork? • What aspects of fieldwork training should be assessed? • What are the best methods for assessing performance? • How can assessment be linked to your future employability?

  18. ATLAS Results • Site Director interviews x 5 • Supervisor interviews x 26 • Student Focus Groups x 22 • Supervisor questionnaires x 19 • Student questionnaires x 78

  19. ATLAS: some results

  20. ATLAS: some results

  21. ATLAS - The Student Experience: expect the unexpected.. • Physical work • Few finds • Methodical process • Detail & complexity versus using a mattock

  22. ATLASThe Student Experience: the expected…. • Team working • Experience of ‘real-life’ work • Problem solving • etc, etc ..but what does it mean?

  23. ATLAS Teaching methods • Importance of the Supervisor/sectoral knowledge • Importance of explanation ‘We spent over two hours trowelling down an area and then they just come along and tell us to mattock it. I don’t see the point, what a total waste of time and effort.’ • Importance of small group teaching/peer group teaching etc • Importance of real-world scenarios & putting transferable skills in context

  24. ATLAS Assessment • Incentive: ‘If we weren’t assessed on this the trench wouldn’t be half so deep.’ • Proof of achievement • Difficult to judge individuals on something as dynamic and flexible as archaeological fieldwork • How to assess individuals for group effort?

  25. ATLAS Personal Development Plans ‘People know what their skills are and there is no need to write them down.’ Oxford student • Problems of • student engagement

  26. Lessons of ATLAS • Skills awareness is high amongst students…..but real life applicability of these skills is still elusive • Generally employability skills awareness is good amongst universities & this is reflected in the on-site teaching methods • Assessment of employability skills is crucial • We still have a long way to go with PDP • Employability skills need to be embedded throughout the university years

  27. To Sum Up…..EMPLOYABILITY – who cares? The ‘right fit’ for employment • Students • Universities • Employers • IfA

  28. What Students Want to be employable

  29. What Universities Want to demonstrate that they are delivering employability GGAT

  30. What Employers Want they don’t necessarily want the ‘finished item’ they want someone who shows they can learn who can fit into a team York Archaeological Trust

  31. What IfA Wants sectoral commitment to standards individuals demonstrating their technical and ethical competence archaeologists better at working in archaeology, archaeology better for archaeologists to work in MoLA

  32. Training Deliverers: issues? • who delivers the training • how to demonstrate competence • learning standards? • learning about the sector • life-long learning Wessex Archaeology

  33. IfA Accreditation of Field Schools? Wessex Archaeology • common model for accrediting learning experiences • industrial endorsement • IfA doesn’t want to QA teaching quality • IfA might want to QA learning content

  34. Lessons for Silchester :the most valuable skills • Communication: within team and outside team • Learning to work together towards a common objective • ‘Jigsaw’ skills: seeing the whole picture.

  35. Lessons for Silchester: ASSESSMENT • Interactive database quiz – 5% • Daily practical assessment - 40% • Self evaluation report – 30% • An on-site ‘test’– 25% • Tension between the acquisition of specific archaeological skills and the acquisition of generic skills • How to assess generic skills

  36. Lessons for SilchesterAccess to learning resources:Undergraduate Research Opportunities & Traineeships Student support

  37. Silchester Placements PART 2 STUDENTS SILCHESTER 2011 Assessed Employability PLACEMENTS • Building on excavation and post excavation skills • Team work and organisational skills • Skills and Knowledge about running a large, long-running excavation project • Professional Development and Employability Skills • Progression towards a Traineeship PART 3 STUDENTS SILCHESTER 2011 Assessed ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRAINEESHIPS • Excavation and post excavation skills • Management Skills • Professional Development and Employability Skills

  38. What next? • Group assessments • Training Supervisors • Atlas offspring…following the ATLAS students into their 2nd year and beyond

  39. What Employers Want • Attention to Detail • High boredom threshold • Common sense • Forward planning • Ability to ask questions • Work within a team • Understanding of the post excavation process and how it relates to the site • Writing field reports • Ability to produce good site plans & sections • Good knowledge of and flair for studio photography and lighting for artefacts • Driving licence • H&S, Manual Handling • Variety of experience • Ability to pick up the phone and COMMUNICATE • CSCS card • EXPERIENCE COUNTS……

  40. the consummate archaeologist:an impossible dream?

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