As part of a new blog series based on scenarios, BILT is looking to recruit 6 – 10 contributors to share their opinions and perspectives on ‘near-world’ scenarios. In their excellent book on Assessment for Learning in Higher Education, Sambell, McDowell and Montgomery give such scenarios. For example, they give the account of Caroline:
‘Caroline is an experienced lecturer in Politics but she feels that students aren’t responding as she expects to her module this year. She spends a lot of time linking the module themes to current events, making sure that her lectures and seminars are up to the minute. This usually gets students engaged in discussion and sharing ideas but when she used this approach in a lecture this semester one of the students asked: “Could this be in one of the exam questions – because it’s not in the module handbook?” . Caroline explained that this specific example was not absolutely needed for the exam but that it was very useful to apply what they were learning to current examples and it would help them to understand the module.
At this point she noticed that quite a few students stopped taking notes, sat back and did not engage in any discussion. Part way through the module Caroline’s students chose, from a set list, the essay topics they were going to address as summative coursework. In the lectures after that attendance was poor, sometimes as low as 50 per cent. When Caroline asked one of the regular attenders what was going on he said: “It happens quite a lot. Once people know what assignment they’re doing they only go to the lectures that are relevant to that .”
Sambell, Kay, et al. Assessment for Learning in Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Group, 2012
What are your reflections on Caroline’s experiences? What experiences or considerations do you think it would be helpful to add to this scenario?
We are keen to hear from as wide a range of people as possible to help explore and consider some scenarios which are specific to the University of Bristol.
You can contribute anonymously if you wish, and we are happy to have written perspectives or record a short voice note (to be transcribed) if you prefer. There will be a range of scenarios explored over the rest of the year and signing up as a contributor does not entail you having to contribute for each one, only when you have an interest in the scenario and capacity to respond.
For further information or to take part in this series, please email us.
