Evaluation of teaching practice (Design and Planning approach)
……………………..
Introduction:
I selected “Specialist Studies” 6 weeks project, a level 4, 20 credit unit for my first
case study. My passion is in teaching the diverse design, media and screen areas to
young learners, and in this unit, I was able to share my professional experience and
practice. The unit delivery was split thematically between Teaching Block 1 (TB1)
and TB2 and I was responsible for unit planning, lectures, tutorials, workshop, and
assessment (formative and summative). We recently had a request for remarking
after the publications of grades. The student received a B- grade. This alert me to
review the design and planning of the SS unit.
• My thoughts were how do we design the unit to allow student to understand the
assessment criteria and how to make it transparent? Is the student familiar with the
assessment criteria?
Planning:
I planned to focus on the project brief and incorporate unit assessment and breaking
down each one of the learning Outcomes. I would use UAL Assessment Criteria as
part of the introduction in week1. This includes the short introduction video explain
the assessment criteria. This is to ensure student understand how we assess in
UAL. Week two: I will share student example to show transparency of the
assessment criteria and reference to the learning outcome side by side. Week three
& four: studio workshop with artist contextual reference focus on the formative
assessment. This provides constructive feedback and allow student to process the
quality of their work. Sadler (1989,1999) stated that ‘students have to be able to
judge the quality of what they are producing and be able to regulate what they are
doing during the doing of it. (Sadler, 1989, p.121). Week five and six – individual
tutorial for week five and six to provide guidance and feedback to students to ensure
they perform well in the summative assessment.
The aim of doing this is so that the students is aware of the Assessment regulation
and Assessment policy. In designing a unit following the guidance of key principles
governing the assessment of student works well with unit structure. The challenge is
to guide the student through the Journey and making sure it is transparent for them
as it is for tutors.
Evaluation:
Good: Student appreciated the student example to show the link to assessment
criteria and learning outcomes. I noticed an improvement in LO3 Process and LO4
Realisation, which work was well developed in term of concept. I was pleasantly
surprised were more B grades in my group comparison to last year. There were
concerns from tutors as some groups assessment mark for this unit were unbalanced
and it falls on the opposite end of the scale. We will need to address this in the
planning of the formative assessment.
Needs improvement: The student example covers Design, Media and Screen
pathway. Students get confused with the realising of the outcome if it doesn’t match
their specialist pathway. The break between TB1 and TB2 is four weeks. This is a
long period of disruption to the project which is difficult to have monitor progress and
formative assessment. The resources on pallet can be overwhelming, which
students need to be encouraged to explore for further research. In term of moving
forward perhaps some stretch and challenge tasks can be embedded to ensure
student achieve their potential in retention for this unit.
Reference
Sadler, D.R. (1989) Formative Assessment and the Design of Instructional Systems.
Instructional Science, 18, 119-144. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00117714
UAL. (2023, March 8). Assessment policy
UAL. (2023, March 9). Higher Education Course Regulations
PDF-200KB.pdf