Peer review improves student writing and teaches valuable skills related to critical assessment of others’ and one’s own work. In an environment where staff are encouraged to “assess efficiently”, peer review also has the potential to replace some instructor marking. Effective peer review, however, requires an effective but easy-to-use platform to manage logistics (e.g., anonymising submissions, distribution of the assignment to be reviewed and the reviews themselves) and provision of adequate support material for students (e.g., instructions, rubrics for assessment, exemplars).
PeerMark, a component of TurnItIn integrated with Blackboard, provides an accessible yet robust platform for peer review, one that provides necessary features without excessive complexity. In this interactive seminar, Dr Ross (School of History and Philosophy) will demonstrate the use of PeerMark, and discuss some of the components of successful peer review, using examples involving a range of History and Archaeology assignments and paper writer drawn from courses of various levels and sizes. Time will be set aside for discussion of the pros and cons of peer review, peer review vs. peer marking, and ideas for implementation.
]]>In large and diverse groups of students, it is often difficult to identify and help the students who are struggling. In 1st year Engineering Mechanics 1 (>275 students) and 2nd year Solid Mechanics 1 (>300 students) at UNSW, Dr Ganga Prusty has used a blend of online and face-to-face teaching to help students learn threshold concepts needed to progress in their studies.
Dr. Prusty combines traditional classroom teaching with use of a new online teaching tool – the Adaptive eLearning Platform, to create a learning environment for 21st century multi-tasking, netgen students, who learn differently from their predecessors. The result is a smooth and enjoyable learning process which goes beyond the ‘book and board’ and engages and stimulates students to learn and achieve. Evidence of the effectiveness of the approach includes a significant reduction in failure rates, improved student satisfaction with the courses and improved performance in subsequent courses.
Dr. Prusty is leading a project entitled “An adaptive eLearning community of practice for mechanics courses in engineering” funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC), in which the Adaptive eLearning Platform is being evaluated across several universities for learning of threshold concepts in engineering mechanics. The technology supports interactive virtual laboratory activities (simulations) through which teachers can diagnose common conceptual sticking points in large classes – sticking points that would otherwise only be picked up by skilled one-to-one coaching.
]]>Some questions to explore:
We welcome your input to this session, which will be chaired by Jacky Cranney, ALTC National Teaching Fellow, and will feature a panel of colleagues from across the university, including Janet Chan (President, Academic Board), and Stephen Marshall (Director, Learning and Teaching@UNSW)
You must register to attend. For more information and to register online, go to: www.edtec.unsw.edu.au/event_rego/events.cfm
]]>In this interactive session, Dr Patsie Polly (School of Medical Sciences, Medicine) and Ms Gwyn Jones (Learning Centre) share their experience of designing and implementing an approach to assessment to enhance student learning and engage them as researchers. Their approach, which engages tutors and students into a community of practice, has resulted in both positive learning outcomes and increased confidence amongst students as researchers. Aspects include: development of standardised and explicit marking criteria, skills workshops (SWLs) and a skills focus guide (SFG). Come along to hear about how this approach was implemented and the impact it has had; plus discuss how it can be applied in a range of different assessment contexts to build student engagement and skills development.
You must register to attend. For more information and to register online, go to: www.edtec.unsw.edu.au/event_rego/events.cfm
]]>You must register to attend. For more information and to register online, go to: www.edtec.unsw.edu.au/event_rego/events.cfm
]]>You must register at: www.edtec.unsw.edu.au/event_rego/events.cfm.
For more information please contact Erin Withers on ext 58636 or e.withers@unsw.edu.au.
Email ltevents@unsw.edu.au to get on the mailing list for Connections updates.
]]>The project has now gone live and you can access professional development resources here, including videos on managing your time; using blogs for peer feedback; online medical tutorials and more…
You may like to discuss and contribute feedback and comments in our online forum: http://online.cofa.unsw.edu.au/forums/forum.php
]]>Diigo is a social bookmarking site. You can read about it- including a ‘how-to’ guide on how to join etc here: http://telt.unsw.wikispaces.net/Social+bookmarking
]]>You must register to attend. For more information and to register online, go to: www.edtec.unsw.edu.au/event_rego/events.cfm.
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