Ready for University Longitudinal, comparative evaluation of workshops to help Access and A-level students understand university assessment criteria James Elander & Anna Jessen Harrogate 4th July 2007

4th of July 2007Thames Valley University Background Widening participation in HE: greater need for learning support Support often given at HE level This project: support at FE Only 59% of undergraduate students believe A-level adequately prepared them for university (ICM research, 2006)

4th of July 2007Thames Valley University Background Research on university learning and achievement focused on students understanding of assessment and assessment criteria (e.g. Norton, 1990) Workshop interventions in first year module at HE –Geography (Pain & Mowl, 1996) –Psychology (Elander, 2003) –Business studies (Rust et al., 2003)

4th of July 2007Thames Valley University Core assessment criteria for writing in psychology (Elander et al, 2006) : Addressing the question Structuring Demonstrating understanding Developing argument Using evidence Critical evaluation Using academic language Workshops for first years gave positive evaluations ( Assessment Plus Project; Harrington et al., 2006; Norton et al, 2005)

4th of July 2007Thames Valley University Project aims Extend the Assessment Plus approach to FE Evaluate workshops on university assessment criteria for A-level and Access psychology students In order to… Improve FE students’ understanding of university assessment criteria Improve FE-to-HE progression, and HE retention

4th of July 2007Thames Valley University Methods Setting: TVU, a dual sector institution with both FE and HE sector Focus: psychology students Students' understanding of assessment criteria measured through questionnaires –Understanding compared –Informed design of workshops

4th of July 2007Thames Valley University Baseline questionnaire outcome FE students felt more confident about the assessment criteria than HE Table 1: Proportion of FE (N=74) and HE (N= 191) students who “agreed” or “strongly agreed” to the statements… * P< %71.6% I know how to detect bias in written sources* 69.5%78.4% I understand the meaning of “building an argument” in an essay 52.4%63.5% I know what tutors are looking for in an essay* HEFE

4th of July 2007Thames Valley University HE students with (n=53) and without (n=119) A-level psychology Q: To “address the question”, structuring some relevant material to the essay title is more important than including ALL the right information. True or false? Fig 1. Percent giving true/false/don’t know responses χ 2 = 6.9, p =.03

4th of July 2007Thames Valley University Workshop content: –Session one: talk on assessment criteria and homework of two essays –Session two: work in group with two essays and discuss in class how they met the assessment criteria Essays: –Relevant to current programme of study –Included one poor and one good essay

4th of July 2007Thames Valley University Participants –A level: workshops embedded in course –Access: workshop optional extra Total number of students taking part: 43 –16 AS psychology students –15 A2 psychology students –9 Access students –3 other Mean age: 19 Years (16-50) 29 females, 14 males

4th of July 2007Thames Valley University 1) Student feedback questionnaire 2) Follow-up questionnaire –Same questions as at baseline, completed by attending and non-attending students 3) Student achievement –Analysis of grades currently in progress Workshop evaluation measured through…

4th of July 2007Thames Valley University 1) Feedback questionnaire Table 2 proportion of students (N=33) answering “agree” or “strongly agree” to: “The workshops helped me…” 38.7%… to structure 35.5%… to develop an argument 22.5%… to demonstrate understanding 39.7%… to critically evaluate 20.0%… feel more confident about writing essays 64.5 %… understand what makes a good essay 54.9%… understand assessment criteria

4th of July 2007Thames Valley University 2) Follow-up questionnaire Q: To “address the essay question”, structuring some relevant material to the essay title is more important than including ALL the right information. True or false? Fig 2. Percent answering ‘true’

4th of July 2007Thames Valley University 2) Follow-up questionnaire Q: Developing an argument in an essay is more about putting one’s view forward than examining the pros and cons of an issue. True or false? Fig 3. Percent answering ‘false’

4th of July 2007Thames Valley University Qualitative feedback “Helped more than many books that I’ve read about essay writing” “A waste of time, go revise and pass your A-levels instead” “Come to one it may help you because it helped me”

4th of July 2007Thames Valley University Conclusion & future research Overall appreciation of workshops Changed student belief about criteria FE over-confidence FE students’ grade analysis Huddersfield & Aston university Teaching material available at writenow website

Please visit our website Thanks to: – Psychology teachers at TVU Reading – NTFS for funding the project