1. Students in the feedback loop Cathy Dantec & Wayne Britcliffe University of York, UK ALT-C Shaping the Future of Learning Together 8 th – 10 th September 2015

2. Background  First year UG Language students  Cohort: –34 students (2013/14) –24 students (2014/15)  No mature students  Runs over three terms

3. Funding  Successful bid made for strategic funding to buy out staff time for development –The student skills deficit was felt to be so underpinning that the module needed to be radically re-shaped to address the problem

4. Original Aims and Objectives  Improve students’ transition from A Level to university study, promote the development of self-regulated learners  Provide a framework for investigating effective feedback, from the perspective of both tutors and students  Ensure consistent and high quality teaching without increasing staff hours  Improve student’s transferable skills, employability and general digital literacy

5. Drivers - Key skills lacking in Year 1 students  An ability to critically assess and exploit sources for their own production  An awareness of language norms and register in various types of communication  The ability to analyse and therefore acquire language by themselves

6. Conceptual Shifts  Maximising students’ ability for self- regulation and decreasing their reliance on external expert feedback  Changing students’ perceptions of learning, from passive absorption of external data to active construction of knowledge  The importance of embedding skills development within the discipline and at programme level

7. Reflective Practice  Prior experience with providing screencast feedback informed thinking –Indulging student demands for constant external feedback was leading to tutor dependence  First delivery clearly divided Term 1 (VLE Exercises) and Terms 2 and 3 (portfolio) –Intellectual demands of portfolio more challenging than expected, now start establishing question mid Term 1

8. Overview of Implementation  Two strands delivered via VLE and Google apps  Strand 1 centres around self-assessed activities delivered via the VLE and Google Docs  Strand 2 supports and applies the principles covered in strand 1  Each student is allocated a personal tutor  Regular online communication and face-to-face meetings between students and tutors  Explicit links made between online activity, this module and face-to-face core modules

9. Strand 1 – 2 Main Components VLE Tests Google Docs Exercise Model Answer

10. Strand 1 – Facilitating Google Doc Exercises

11. Strand 2 - Creation of an Online Portfolio Aim Immerse students in the process of exploring, questioning and communicating their understanding of new knowledge in the target language. Focus on process.

12. Strand 2 - Supporting the Online Portfolio VLE Video Resources 9 Clips on subjects recently in French news

13. Strand 2 – Iterative Drafting using Google Docs

14. Strand 2 – Final Product using Google Sites

15. Outcomes – Window on Students’ Perceptions  The transparent, two way process provided a clear window on students’ perceptions in key areas of their development: –Understanding the purpose and norms of higher level communication –Their capacity to critically review writing –The importance of modelling –Types of feedback –Language used to provide feedback –Assumptions acquired in previous learning

16. Reacting to Student Feedback and Activity  Refine and more clearly articulate a frame of reference  Provide training for proofreading/peer evaluation and examples for modelling  Types of feedback and minimum level of information necessary for students to self-correct  Explicitly address some misunderstanding/gaps of knowledge acquired in previous learning

17. Outcomes  Supporting students through the process rather than focusing on product, dialogue centred on “how” rather than “what”  Encouraging students to operate at a higher level rather than merely acquiring language items  More responsibility given to students in terms of their self-management and provision of a structured self-study programme  Building a shared understanding amongst staff  Transferable model –New Italian programme now using Google to facilitate language portfolio activities

18. “The face-to-face was really good too, technology can’t replace people. With one of my essay drafts I wasn’t very good at first but, rather than put it in writing, she said let’s have a meeting about it so she could get my side of the story. She would ask me why I had written something and I’d be able to explain. I think there is a point at which technology cannot replace the face-to- face though I think it does a good job in general.” PGCE Feedback from Student Focus Group (2015) “I do quite like the opportunity of being able to see other people’s work and try and assess it ourselves, and see what Cathy had said. You would get different perspectives on what should be written. You could take inspiration from that and try and put it into your own writing ” “I was definitely more confident when I was doing the exam having done Apprentissage Autonome. I was more confident that I knew what was expected..”

19. Potential Developments (based on feedback)  Google Docs usage induction –Focus group feedback suggest some students initially struggled with some aspects of Google Doc use (particularly referencing)  Possibly schedule optional workshops tackling specific issues –Students picked up on topics such as analytical writing and register  Consider how earlier activities are articulated to students –Students didn’t always understand the significance of exercises until later on

20. Critical Revisions Implemented for 2015/16  Coming delivery revised again to explicitly integrate the stand-alone individual activities within face-to-face sessions  The whole project will be even more strongly embedded in the Y1 programme with clear links to the various comprising modules –This will be strongly reinforced; going through answers, practising with a similar task etc

21. Support Issues  Scalability –Support team need to ‘own’ exercises –Support team need to run scripts  Archiving –Use of Google platform complicates how student work and materials can be archived

22. Questions? Cathy Dantec & Wayne Britcliffe University of York, UK