July 24, 2018


Implementing the CSU Value INSPIRING in your teaching.

Through living the value of inspiring we engage and motivate our students and communities to also proactively build innovation and capacity into their lives, careers and industries.

In this series of bulletins, we are drawing on Subject Experience Survey questions to inspire the topic for the week. We will be looking at teaching strategies to maximise positive student responses and also to maximise the response rate. The national QILT 2017 Student Experience Survey report highlights the importance of these areas.

This week’s focus comes from
Question 11: The assessment tasks in this subject helped me to learn effectively.

Question 15: The learning activities in this subject (e.g. labs, lectures, assessment tasks, forum discussions, group work) enabled me to judge the quality of my own work.

Learning Assessment Techniques: How to Integrate New Activities that Gauge What and How Well Students Learn.
By Professor Elizabeth Barkley
Source: https://www.magnapubs.com/magna-commons/?video=14184
(See below for instructions on how to access the CSU free subscription to this resource).

The twofold aim of this 45-minute webinar was to:

1. share the Learning Assessment Techniques (LAT) approach to subject-based, teacher-driven assessment; and
2. demonstrate the application of three of these LATs.

With this week's focus on Questions 11 & 15 of the SES in mind, the content of this webinar highlights planning and implementation of learning activities and assessment. The benefit to students is in the engaging nature of the tasks that allow students to bring their own experience to the context of the subject material for effective learning and development of lifelong learning skills.

Professor Barkley drew from her book Learning Assessment Techniques (Barkley & Major, 2017) for the content for the webinar. The LAT structure has three interconnected parts, symbolised by a trefoil knot diagram, integrating outcomes, teaching and assessment:

1. Identify significant Learning Goals
2. Implement effective Learning Activities
3. Analyse and report on Learning Outcomes

The extensive supplementary material includes a list of 50 assessment techniques for a range of learning goals that have been mapped to the dimensions of Fink's Taxonomy of Significant Learning (Fink, 2013), namely Foundational Knowledge, Application, Integration, Human Dimension, Caring and Learn How to Learn.

The three example techniques reproduced from Barkley's book demonstrate the range of considerations that can be used to evaluate proposed assessment techniques. These include the Purpose of the task, Key learning goals, Implementation strategies, Analysis and reporting, Examples of their use in different subjects, suggestions for Variations and extensions to the task, Task descriptions given to students, Rubrics, and relevant References.

Example 1: Contemporary Issues Journal in which students collect and analyse current articles connected to their subject material.
Example 2: Digital Story in which students use a range of computer-based tools to develop stories that situate their lived experience within the context of the topics in the subject.
Example 3: Personal Learning Environment in which students develop skills as independent and self-directed learners through identifying and reflecting on the range of tools and resources available for their current and future learning needs.

References available from CSU library
Barkley, E. F. (2009). Student engagement techniques: A handbook for college faculty. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au

Barkley, E. F. (2018). Interactive lecturing: A handbook for college faculty. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au

Barkley, E. F., Cross, K. P., & Major, C. H. (2012). Collaborative learning techniques: A handbook for college faculty. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au

References from the webinar not available in CSU library
Barkley, E. F., & Major, C. H. (2016). Learning assessment techniques: A handbook for college faculty. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Fink, L. D. (2013). Creating significant learning experiences: An integrated approach to designing college courses (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Presentation handouts, full transcripts and supplementary resources are available for download from the Magna Commons website if you don't have time to listen to the seminar.

Tai, J., Ajjawi, R., Boud, D., Dawson, P., & Panadero, E. (2017). Developing evaluative judgement: Enabling students to make decisions about the quality of work. Higher Education 1-15. doi:10.1007/s10734-017-0220-3

QUOTE:

Evaluative judgement is the capability to make decisions about the quality of work of self and others.

Related to Question 15 in the SES, this 2017 paper examines assessment and feedback literature as well as human judgement literature to propose pedagogical practices for developing student evaluative skills. It encompasses some of the concepts of 'dialogic feedback' discussed in the Issue#18 of Teaching Tuesdays.

The authors identified five common practices that have ongoing potential for developing evaluative judgement in students:

1. Self-assessment
2. Peer assessment and peer review
3. Feedback
4. Rubrics
5. Exemplars

These are practices that we use now in learning activities and assessment. The authors have identified sub-optimal strategies that are often used and have suggested potential improvements to each practice to facilitate the development of student evaluative judgement.

Charles Sturt University was one of 17 finalists in the 2018 Global Teaching Excellence Award. Finalist awards were presented in Edinburgh on July 18 when the overall winner for 2018 was announced: McMaster University from Canada @McMasterU.

Monday 20 Minute Mentor ****ENDS ON AUGUST 12****

Do you have 20 minutes per week to learn new teaching tips?

You have a short window of opportunity to access this resource.

CSU has an 8-week institutional subscription to the Monday Morning Mentor Summer (USA) Edition that expires on August 12. You can listen to the presentation and download the accompanying resources up to that time.

For the unique weekly passwords

CSU staff, please contact Ellen McIntyre: elmcintyre@csu.edu.au

or

Watch for weekly announcements on YAMMER and WHAT'S NEW .

Quote from a CSU Academic on Yammer: “These are good."

Email feedback: “It was easy to listen to, non-sensational and credible. I love the fact that the short session can be ingested at any time of the day.”

Topics so far in 20-Minute Mentors:

How Can I Teach Routine Courses with Energy and Enthusiasm?

How Do I Discuss Academic Integrity During the First Class?

How Can Improving Student Feedback Improve the Quality of Each Educational Encounter? This is about feedback from students and teaching responses, e.g. Subject Experience Survey.

How Do I Get Students to Come to Class Prepared?

What are the Secrets to Making Highly Effective Educational Videos?

What is Essential in a Grading Policy?

How Do I Release My Students' Natural Zest and Curiosity for Better Learning?

How Can I Use Simple Gamification Strategies to Engage my Students?

How Can I Move My Teaching Forward at Midcareer?

How Do I Set Students up for Success in Online Courses?

How Can I Inspire Creative Confidence in the Classroom?

Every week for eight weeks we will receive a new topic,

"presented by respected academic peers, cover timely and relevant topics in only 20 minutes—long enough to provide actionable insights, but short enough to fit anyone’s schedule."

Follow Teaching Tuesdays on Twitter.
Our Twitter feed includes links to further hints, tips and resources in the broader field of teaching in higher education. https://twitter.com/TeachingTuesday



Link to: Folder with all previous issues of Teaching Tuesdays

You have access to a range of quality CSU resources to help you incorporate educational resources and techniques into your teaching. Check out the following:

• Teaching at CSU - the Division of Learning and Teaching website with links to resources for Teaching Staff, Online Learning, Assessment, Curriculum, Indigenous Curriculum, Workplace Learning, Technologies, Feedback and Analytics, and Learning Spaces.
  
• Resources for Learning and Teaching Academic and Professional Staff - searchable CSU database
  
• Learning Technologies - the starting point for a range of learning design options
• CSU Learning Exchange: Technologies in Context - a searchable database to promote online learning and teaching strategies
• The CSU wiki - a faculty-based source of learning and teaching information and strategies

Regular seminars on teaching-related topics are listed on the

CSU Professional Learning Calendar - accessed directly here

or from the Division of Learning and Teaching front page - accessed here

CSU Professional Learning Calendar:

Career Planning: Expert in Residence Workshop. Adobe Connect session 24 July 2018 at 12:00 pm; OR

Creating Engaging, Interactive Videos. Adobe Connect session 24 July 2018 at 1:00 pm

All CSU students and staff members have access to Lynda.com, an online subscription library that teaches the latest business, creative and software skills through high-quality instructional videos.

A search for 'assessment for learning' with a filter for Education and eLearning returned 128 results. Resources range from general teaching tips, to keynote lectures, to the specifics of various tools and applications for employing educational resources and techniques.

For example,

Teaching techniques: Creating effective learning assessments (35m 30s).

Facilitating student self-assessments (3m 21s) video as part of the broader topic of Teaching with Technology (2h 30m).

Professional Development opportunity for all.

Contemporary Approaches to University Teaching is an

open access COURSE for the Australian Higher Education Sector.

This teaching induction course provides key introductory learning and teaching concepts and strategies for those who are in their first few years of university teaching. The self-paced course is comprised of 11expert-developed modules, and several specialty modules and resources.
Follow this link for more information: Contemporary Approaches to University Teaching

NOTE: Completion of this course will provide some credit and a pathway into the CSU Grad. Cert. in Learning & Teaching in Higher Education (GCLTHE). It can provide a basis for commencing preparation for Associate Fellowship (HEA).

Suggest topics that you would like for Teaching Tuesdays; or
Share your own teaching tips article.

Click on the Green Contact Ellen McIntyre button (below, or at the top of the bulletin) to offer your suggestions.

Folder with all previous issues.

Issue#1 Group Work; Issue#2 Engagement; Issue#3 Engagement;

Issue#4 Academic Integrity; Issue#5 Feedback; Issue#6 Feedback;

Issue#7 Active Engagement; Issue#8 Building on Prior Learning;

Issue#9 Student Diversity; Issue#10 Learning Outcomes;

Issue#11 Deep Learning; Issue#12 The Teaching-Research Nexus;

Issue#13 Improving Student Learning; Issue#14 Planning for Effective Student Learning; Issue#15 Feedback for Teaching; Issue#16 Gamification;
Issue#17 Activities for Effective Learning; Issue#18 Dialogic Feedback

FoBJBS Newsletter: BOLD Issue#16

FoA&E Newsletter: NeXus Issue#4

Email: elmcintyre@csu.edu.au
Website: https://www.csu.edu.au/division/learning-and-teaching/about-us/learning-academy
Phone: +61 2 6933 4726
Twitter: @TeachingTuesday

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