1. Student engagement - introduction
Tendency to teach in “large groups”
What is a Large Group?
Defining this at xx.
What is the purpose of teaching to large groups?
Sample scenarios to consider….
[all courses are 10 credit/3 hours per week over 1 term]
Options:
Didactic delivery (heap and hope)
Multiple teach
Use of tutor groups
Use of VLEs
Benefits/limitations
- [date]

2. Student engagement - Sample scenarios
Teaching mechanics to 1st year
You have a class of 160 students, all studying engineering in a common first year. The class is timetabled as 3 slots of 1 hour, in a tiered lecture theatre.
Teaching design to 2nd year
You have a class of 80 students, all studying mechanical engineering in second year, following a common first year in engineering. The class is timetabled as 1 slot of 3 hours, in a flat lecture theatre.
Teaching business management to 3rd year
You have a class of 120 students, studying on a diversity of electrical engineering programmes in their third year. The class is timetabled as 2 slots, of 2 and 1 hours respectively in a tiered lecture theatre.
Teaching programming to 1st year
You have a class of 160 students, all studying a module in computing in a common first year. The class is timetabled as 3 slots of 1 hour, in a tiered lecture theatre with access to a 40-seat computing lab. and 2 PGTs
Teaching teamskills to 2nd year
You have a class of 120 students, all studying on a diversity of engineering programmes. The class is timetabled as 3 slots of 1 hour, in a tiered lecture theatre.
Teaching sustainability to 3rd year
You have a class of 80 students, all studying on an elective module in sustainability. The class is timetabled as 1 slot of 3 hours, in a flat seminar room.
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3. Challenges, approaches
Student engagement  participation
Barriers to participation
Students’ attention span
Voting systems (EVS)
“Buzz” groups
Pyramid thinking/sharing
Problem/Enquiry-based Learning (PBL/EBL)
Feedback to peers
- [date]

4. Student engagement/participation (1)
Novel Approaches to Student Engagement (NAPSE) [
Papers:
Computer gameplay – inspiring students/digital games
WIKIs and BLOGs – sharing of experiences, inc. critique
“Mechanisms” for practical engagement
Experiential; problem-based (meaningful, creative, provoking)
Mobile technology [formative assessment] using EVS, iPods, mobiles, tablet PCs, interactive tablets
First year – design project; student transition
- [date]

5. Student engagement/participation (2)
Novel Approaches to Student Engagement (NAPSE) [
Posters:
Virtual 3D/Hand-held devices
WIKI (Masters course)
Personalised feedback
E-Learning material
“Boring” to “exciting”
Use of games
Imaginative engineers
- [date]

6. Student engagement/participation (3)
Novel Approaches to Student Engagement (NAPSE) [
“Imaginative” engineers:
Case studies in robotics
Robotics feasibility studies
Investigating developing technologies and management
Investigating businesses and organisations
Teamskills development
- [date]

7. Addressing the issues in engagement
Engagement: how to firstly engage, and then to maintain student commitment
Assessment: an assessment strategy appropriate to the credit/student effort hours
Formative/summative: blending of formative; progressive assessment
Feedback/feedforward: how to provide feedback, and to ensure timeliness as feedforward
Use of Enquiry-Based and Problem/Project-Based Learning
Students to take responsibility for their own learning
Resource in Project-Based Learning (PBLE): [
FDTL3 project funded at Nottingham in 2003
- [date]

8. Terminology Formative Assessment Summative Assessment
Assessment for providing feedback to learners in order to help them learn, and feedback to teachers for deciding how a student’s learning should be taken forward.
Summative Assessment
Assessment which provides overall evidence of the achievement of students and of what they know, understand and can do, by assigning a value to what the student achieves.
- [date]

9. Feedback AND Feed forward
comments on a completed work that the student cannot repeat. The comments are useful to inform the student about strengths of their work and areas for further development in future assessments.
Feed forward
mostly what has been called feedback – where a student has an opportunity to respond to the ‘comments’, e.g. a formative hand in – constructive.
- [date]

10. Publication available on HEA website:
Outline of SENLEF report - Student Enhanced Learning through Effective Feedback
Publication available on HEA website: [
Briefing Paper on formative assessment and feedback, and self-regulation of learning
Conceptual model
7 principles of good feedback practice
Simple strategies
50 case studies of good practice
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11. How to conceptualise formative assessment & feedback?
A process that builds up the students’ own skills and capacity to self-evaluate and self-correct [throughout their programme of study]
Formative assessment and feedback by others can only have an impact on learning when it influences a student’s own self-regulatory processes - whereby learners set goals (adapted from Boud, 1995).
[Boud, D. (1995). Enhancing Learning Through Self Assessment
Pub. Routledge, ISBN ]
The intention of most educational systems is to help the student….become progressively independent of the teacher for lifelong learning. Hence… some of what the teacher brings to the assessment act must itself become part of the curriculum of the student, not an accidental adjunct to it. (Sadler, 1998, p82)
- [date]

12. Self-regulated learning
Self-regulated learning is an active constructive process whereby learners set goals for their learning and monitor, regulate, and control their cognition, motivation, and behaviour, guided and constrained by their goals and the contextual features of the environment. (Pintrich and Zusho, p64)
[P. R. Pintrich and A. Zusho, (2002) “The Development of Academic Self-Regulation: The Role of Cognitive and Motivational Factors,” in Development of Achievement Motivation, eds. A. Wigfield and J. Eccles, San Diego, Calif.: Academic Press]
The intention of most educational systems is to help the student….become progressively independent of the teacher for lifelong learning. Hence… some of what the teacher brings to the assessment act must itself become part of the curriculum of the student, not an accidental adjunct to it. (Sadler, 1998, p82)
- [date]

13. Sadler’s argument:
For feedback to benefit learning, students must know:
1. What good performance is (goals, criteria)
2. How current performance relates to good performance (compare)
3. How to act to close the gap
Implies that students ‘must already possess some of the same evaluative skills as the teacher’ (Sadler, 1983).
[Sadler D (1983) ‘Evaluation and the improvement of student learning’ Journal of Higher Education 54:60-79]
- [date]

14. The Seven Feedback Principles:
[How can assessment and feedback help to build a learner’s capacity to self-regulate?]
Helps clarify what good performance is (goals, standards, criteria)
Facilitates development of self-assessment in learning
Delivers high quality information to students about their learning
Encourages teacher and peer dialogue around learning.
Encourages positive motivational beliefs and self-esteem.
Provides opportunities to close the gap between current and desired performance.
Provides information to teachers that can be used to shape teaching.
- [date]

15. Assessment and Feedback – resources (1)
Academy resources/webpage: [
Assessment and Feedback (student views) : video download
Marking Criteria and Assessment Methods (student and staff perspectives): video download
Plagiarism (student views): video download
Resources in Assessment: iPod podcast
Assessment - HE in FE: DVD
- [date]

16. Assessment and Feedback – resources (2)
EngSC resources/webpage: [
Assessment of Learning Outcomes (ALOE) Guide [
Feedback event (16th April Ulster) [
Mini-Projects, Teaching Awards
Novel Approaches to Student Engagement (NAPSE)
[ – poster presentations
- [date]

17. Assessment and Feedback – resources (3)
Other resources:
Designing student learning by promoting formative assessment (Bone, 2008) [
Scottish Quality Enhancement (SQE) themes: [
Hong Kong Polytechnic Assessment Resource Centre: [
Times Higher (29 January 2009) [
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18. Assessment, Feedback, Engagement – other resources
Supportive/general texts:
“A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Enhancing Academic Practice”, 3rd edition. Fry, H., Ketteridge, S., Marshall, S. (ed.), (2008), Routledge. ISBN:
“Teaching for quality learning at university”. Biggs, J. (2003) Second edition. Buckingham: SRHE & Open University Press
“The Lecturer’s Toolkit”, 3rd (Rev.) edition. Race, P., (2006), Routledge. ISBN:
“Introduction to learning and teaching - an Engineering Subject Centre Guide”. Pritchard, J., (2008), HEA Engineering Subject Centre. ISBN:
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19. Please write below one thing that you have personally learnt today:
What one thing….
Please write below one thing that you have personally learnt today:
- [date]

20. Action Points – Student Engagement
Please write below three action points you will take from today, with a planned start time:
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