Use of recording software to facilitate authentic assessment

Posted on by Rachael Thomas
Photo by Soundtrap on Unsplash

What is Authentic Assessment?

An authentic assessment is one in which students are presented with real-world tasks to demonstrate how to apply knowledge and skills.

As well as testing their knowledge of subjects they learn in class, an authentic assessment also focuses on their creativity, problem solving skills, written and oral expression and ability to apply what they have learnt to real situations experienced by professionals in the world of work.

Benefits to Using Authentic Assessment

Acknowledged benefits of implementing authentic assessment include:

  • Authentic assessments test ’high order thinking skills’
  • Assessments are more interesting and motivating for students as tasks are based on real life situations.
  • Interdisciplinary knowledge and skills for life are usually required for effective accomplishment, and so employable skills are developed.
  • The assessments provide opportunities to practise new skills in unfamiliar situations, mirroring real life – making engagement meaningful for students.

Senior Lecturer of Law, Dr Verona Ni Drisceoil, set her students an authentic presentation assessment, to improve their employability skills, while at the same time assessing key academic material regarding the English Legal System taught during the previous semester.

The Assignment

Dr Ni Drisceoil asked her students to imagine they were a trainee solicitor at a law firm, working on a case with their supervising solicitor.  She presented them with a fictional case regarding a doctor who has been hosting online meetings with people wishing to end their lives due to terminal illness or irreversible conditions. A group called ‘Care to the End’ reported the doctor to the medical council and the local police, and he was subsequently charged with assisting suicide.

Verona asked the students to research a recent European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) case, as well as the law on assisted suicide in England and Wales, and to prepare a Legal Case Presentation Briefing of 8-10 minutes for the doctor and two Partner Solicitors. As the client was unable to attend the briefing in person, they were asked to record the presentation to add it to the client’s file.

Verona issued the students with the following guidance and instructions:

  • Ensure you wear something smart/professional.
  • At the start of the presentation recording, introduce yourself, greet the client and partners and explain your brief.
  • Share your presentation slides.
  • Introduce the background of the previous legal case and the key legal issues of the case.
  • Explain the reasoning of the ECtHR case.
  • What elements of the ECtHR case support/weaken the doctor’s case?
  • Outline your recommendations for the next steps in preparing the doctor’s case. Remember criminal law is premised on advocating on behalf of the client. The arguments made must be convincing.
  • Conclude and thank everyone for listening.

After the Legal Case Briefing, she asked them to stay online to have a reflective debrief with the supervising solicitor, where she asked them to respond to the following questions:

  • How did you find that experience?
  • What did you do well?
  • What aspects of the task did you find challenging?
  • What could you improve on for next time?

Students were also provided with the following practical information:

  • Instructions showing them how to record their presentation (which could be done using any screen recording software).
  • Instructions advising them how to upload their recording to the assignment.
  • Guidance on producing a presentation.
  • The marking criteria used to assess the submission.

Feedback from tutors and students

During the reflective element of the assignment, students reported that they found the task challenging, as they had never done anything like this before. Despite this they were able to see the benefits. Many acknowledged that they are likely to be asked to do something similar when they enter the world of work, so it was good to be pushed out of their comfort zone while in a supportive environment, so that they were able to learn from the process.

While some of them commented that they found it strange speaking with no one else there, and some encountered technical issues, many acknowledged that they are likely to experience similar issues when working, so this developed their employable experience. Other feedback from the students and markers included that they found the task a refreshing change.

Markers also reported the process was more interesting, and so less taxing than marking a written submission. One marker noted ’It is a great idea to have these kinds of assignments. The students I have seen so far have appreciated the challenge and the relevance of this assignment to their future working lives.’

Lessons learnt

To improve the success of this assessment in future, we will act on the following observations:

  • Students were unfamiliar with the technology used to produce the recording, as well as a new way to submit their assignment, and a few technical issues arose at the time of submission.
  • For future assignments of this type, we agree that it is sensible to explore using a smaller, formative assessment beforehand, and possibly include participation in that assessment as part of the marking criteria for the summative assessment.
  • We produced a list of FAQs, addressing troubleshooting and contingency issues, which can be given out at the start of the assignment, so students are aware of potential pitfalls and how to navigate them.
  • It is useful to alert someone from the IT team beforehand, that there may be more technical calls on the day of submission, so that someone familiar with the issues is able to provide advice and reassurance to students when they are trying to record and submit their assignments.
  • The use of a rubric to reflect the marking criteria made the marking of this assignment a much more objective and straightforward process.

If you would like help to explore or set up an assessment like this, please contact the Educational Enhancement team on tel@sussex.ac.uk.

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Posted in Case Study

Presentation tips: accessible slides and free-to-use images

Posted on by Anne Hole
Photo by ThisisEngineering RAEng on Unsplash

Some topics are of perennial interest and given that technologies are constantly changing there is usually something new to say. Two of the most popular posts on this blog have been on using Creative Commons images (2014) and making presentations accessible (2018). As presentations remain a staple of Higher Education for staff and students alike, it is worth looking at this topic again in 2023.

Accessibility

Making sure all presentations are accessible to all students should now be part of everyday practice. If you are new to creating presentations please have a look at the Educational Enhancement guidance on Digital Accessibility which looks at student needs, some available tools and how you can create and check your teaching materials.

Some of the newer presentation tools, such as Prezi, do not always have the accessibility features that are needed. Although PowerPoint has been around for a long time it has been updated to have some excellent accessibility features. The University of Sussex has an accessible PowerPoint template that you can download and use. If you are not using the template then be sure to choose an accessible theme and the pre-defined layouts which will help you to make your presentation accessible. Microsoft provide additional guidance on how to make your PowerPoint presentations accessible including using the Office accessibility checker.

One thing that it is easy to overlook is the reading order of elements in a slide. As you look at your slide it may seem obvious which order things should be read in, but screen readers are likely to read them in the order you added them. You can use the Arrange tool in PowerPoint to set the reading order.

Your presentation is likely to include images and it is vital that these have alternative text (alt-text) that will be read by screen-readers and anyone unable to view the image directly. You can do this easily in PowerPoint but it is important to make the descriptions as useful as possible. Keep the alt-text short (generally up to 125 characters) and avoid unnecessary text such as ‘a photo of…’. The key is to convey in words the meaning the image is intended to give. Any purely decorative images should not have alt-text, but you will want to limit use of non-essential images.

For the step-by-step instructions on how to add or edit alt text, go to Add alternative text to a shape, picture, chart, SmartArt graphic, or other object and Video: Improve image accessibility in PowerPoint.

Choosing images

A well-chosen image can add layers of meaning to a presentation but not all images are available to be used. Too many people use an internet search to find an image and think that if it’s on the internet it’s okay to use – it’s not. Most images you will find using internet image searches are copyrighted.

You may want to use images that have a Creative Commons (CC) licence. These all require attribution and any that are not CC-BY or CC0 (public domain) will have further restrictions on their use. You can use Advanced Search or Advanced Image Search in Google to find images that are licensed for reuse and Creative Commons Search lets you search across a range of CC licensed resources (images and media) provided by various organisations.

Alternatively, there are sites that provide collections of images that are free to use, either using their own licences or CC0 (Creative Commons No Rights Reserved). Usually these images will be mixed with some paid-for images to tempt you, but you can search just for the free images. We often use Unsplash for education or Pixabay and Pexels (now both owned by Canva, the graphic design platform).

Support and further guidance

The Library has a Copyright Guide which will give you more information on copyright in teaching materials.

If you would like to discuss the accessibility of the materials used in your Sussex teaching please contact Educational Enhancement on tel@sussex.ac.uk

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Posted in Accessibility, Learning Technologies

Considering the user experience of VLEs: reviewing our Canvas templates.

Posted on by Helen Morley
Person using laptop and mobile phone
Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

I first learnt about Virtual Learning Environments almost twenty years ago. As a high school teacher I attended a training session on a ‘platform’ designed to record students’ homework tasks which would one day remove the need for planners (the spiral-bound diaries all students were issued) and liberate the five minutes of lesson time used for setting the task and getting each and every child to note down the instructions and due date. Opinions in that session were varied and broad but what we could agree on was that this was a game-changer; we were witnessing a new dawn in education.

VLEs evolved and spread across the sector. Tech companies launched their own and Becta (or the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency) proclaimed that all schools would have to have one by 2010. Becta has long been disbanded and it wasn’t until something happened in March 2020 that many turned their attention back to their digital provision. Time had moved on, and what we needed these tools to do had changed.

At Sussex we use Canvas as our VLE, and have done since 2018. Strictly speaking a LMS (Learning Management System), Canvas offers much of the interactivity we expect from a VLE. There are many routes to generating this interactivity and engagement and for the past few weeks I have been paying particular attention to the user experience of our Canvas sites. Here’s a quick overview of what I’ve been doing and why.

Background and Brief

Recently, feedback reached the Educational Enhancement (EE) team that some students were finding their Canvas sites difficult to navigate, especially when using handheld devices such as phones and small tablets. Canvas has a mobile app but ultimately intends its product to be accessed on desktops and laptops. However, we felt that as our students had taken the time to share their preference for mobiles (one that is rather global), we needed to bring the mountain to them.

Dashboard and Landing Pages

The Student app for Canvas opens to the user’s dashboard, with module buttons which they can choose between organising  as a list or as tiles. So far pretty simple. As we currently have our template set up, once the module is opened the user is presented with an image related to their topic and a long list of formatted links, which on a desktop is the menu to the left of the screen. A click away is the actual homepage which hosts another long list of formatted links, including to key information and then course content week by week. The page is tidy and legible but does call for a dreaded scroll, which we know is hardly desirable in mobile design.

We will be reviewing the amount of content on the module homepages so it fits on one screen.

Navigation

Canvas makes good use of ‘previous’ and ‘next’ buttons to direct students through the weekly content (set up as ‘units’) and on a larger screen it is quite easy for most users to move around the site. On mobile devices though, it can be tricky to locate particular pages. We know that students like to double-check things like assignment details as and when the idea comes to them so we really need it to be more straightforward to do this on the move.

We will be reviewing how many separate pages we need for each week and what key links should appear throughout any module.

Coding

All of the HTML formatting we have currently built into our module pages makes for a tidy and well-organised interface. Realistically though it is all-too-easy for the code to become corrupted as content is edited as part of anyone’s reflective practice. 

While we’d be sorry to see some of the more eye-catching graphics go, usability is paramount so we will be stripping out some of the HTML in favour of a more robust template.

It’s important to share that the work on this project is not finished and no decisions are being taken without consultation. Our goal, as always, is to find the solution that works for as many people as possible and disenfranchises no one.

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Posted in Canvas

Call for Participation now open for the first Sussex University Education Festival

Posted on by Katie Piatt
Four people in a classroom, with a projection screen on the left. The two standing people are presenting their work to the two colleagues sitting down.
Sussex staff and students at a recent education event

Call for Participation now open for the first Sussex University Education Festival


Do you have an example of good practice, innovation or research in teaching and learning that you would like to share with your colleagues?

  • Propose a session now

We are pleased to announce the very first Education Festival at Sussex. The Festival, open to all University of Sussex staff, will take place at the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts (ACCA) on the afternoon of May 4th, ahead of the Education Awards that evening. The afternoon will be a relaxed space to share good practice, innovation, and research in teaching and learning (lightsabres and blasters optional).


What could you propose?

We hope the Education Festival will appeal to colleagues who would like to share teaching and learning practice and research at any stage. To reflect that aim, we’re asking for contributions in a variety of formats, from five-minute speed presentations to thirty-minute interactive sessions.

The speed presentations are a chance to present work-in-progress, short reflections on current practice, or present an idea for a pedagogic development you would like to make.

The 30-minute interactive sessions can be run in any way you’d like; they could be used to demonstrate a new tool or teaching technique, to workshop an idea or challenge, or to access the hivemind of fellow colleagues interested in teaching and learning.

We will also be facilitating a Solution Room dedicated to assessment and feedback here at Sussex. We’re inviting participants to propose a short provocation or challenge they would like to explore. For example:

  • Why do students rate feedback poorly?
  • What are the challenges facing staff wanting to assess their students differently?

These provocations will inspire several breakout spaces for colleagues to share experiences and
thoughts around those challenges. Send us provocations you would like to pose to colleagues. The
solutions generated by the session will be collated together into a suitable resource and shared
afterwards.

We’re excited to celebrate and reflect on all the amazing work that goes in to teaching at learning
here at Sussex. Further information and the form to propose a presentation can be found on the Staff Hub.

Posted in Events

LGBT+ History Month: focus on inclusive teaching, learning and assessment

Posted on by Anne Hole
Nonbinary Person Working At Table With Macramé On The Wall by Noun Project from NounProject.com

This year’s theme for LGBT+ History Month is ‘Behind the Lens’ and seeks to focus attention on the makers of images. However, everyone is a creator of representations and technology has made a huge contribution by providing the means for individuals who identify as LGBT+ to represent themselves. As a team devoted to the enhancement of students’ educational experiences at the University of Sussex, we wanted to take this opportunity to highlight some of the ways in which staff and students can be inclusive in teaching practice and reflect a wide range of lived experience. 

Behind my lens 

Reflecting on my history of when I came out in my mid 20’s, the 2004 lesbian TV show (L Word), played a significant role throughout my journey of coming out. It helped me learn about my identity and was a means of support during a time when I was confused and had many questions. The influence of the show, plus the increase of other LGBT+ shows and films over time, illustrates the importance of inclusivity and representation of those who identify as LGBT+, including relatable characters and experiences, able to reach many others on their unique journey. 

The progressivity of LGBT+ art in its many forms, invokes courage, raw expression, and empowers, whilst truly enhancing the world through highlighting the beauty of various identities, individuality, acceptance, creativity and talent.  

The Education Enhancement Team and I proudly raise awareness and celebrate the ‘Behind the Lens’ theme for LGBT+ History Month. 

Keira Thomas (Education Enhancement Coordinator)

Building inclusive learning communities 

In order to get ‘behind the lens’ of media representations it’s important for students to be able to share their lived experience. The Academic Developers in the Educational Enhancement (EE) team have put together some key principles and guidelines for academics on building inclusive learning communities as a first step to creating an environment where this can happen. 

As online interactions supplement in-person encounters we want to ensure that staff and students can use the learning technologies available to reflect on their personal histories and represent their identities as they want to.  

There are a couple of ways that Canvas, the university’s online study platform, allows users to personalise their virtual presence. Staff and students can edit their account settings to show their preferred pronouns. The Canvas guide ‘How do I select personal pronouns in my user account’ shows you how to do that. You can also add a profile image that will appear across Canvas such as in Discussions and Groups. The Canvas guide ‘How do I add a profile picture in my user account’ shows the steps to adding or editing an image.  

Inclusive teaching, learning and assessment 

When creating teaching and learning materials it is important to be inclusive and there are some great LGBT+ images and icons available from the Noun Project which carry a Creative Commons licence. 

Assessment design can also be an important tool in making students’ learning experience a creative one. The EE resources on Flexible assessment suggest ‘a transition from “This is how I want you to show me you’ve achieved the learning objectives” to “How do you want to show me you’ve achieved the learning objectives” which could help to give all students greater agency. 

Support and guidance from EE 

University of Sussex staff who would like to discuss ways in which they can make teaching, learning and assessment more inclusive – with or without technology – can contact us at tel@sussex.ac.uk. 

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Posted in Inclusive teaching, Uncategorized

Some new features in Canvas, Panopto and Padlet

Posted on by Faye Brockwell

The key learning technologies in use here at Sussex are regularly updated in response to customer feedback. In this post we’ve cherry-picked some of the most recent updates you may find useful.

Canvas

Canvas have recently introduced a feature that many people have wanted to see. You can now schedule when pages will be published, which saves you having to remember to do so as the term progresses.

To schedule publishing of a page, first check that the page is unpublished. Then edit the page and use the Publish At box to specify the date and time when the page should be published.

screenshot of unpublished Canvas page in Edit mode showing the Publish At box
Screenshot of unpublished Canvas page in Edit mode showing the Publish At box

This video demo shows how to schedule a page to publish at a later date.

Panopto

Improvements to Panopto since our last update will save time when checking captions. There are four significant new features for captions:

Panopto caption editor showing Find and Replace and Confidence Highlights
Panopto caption editor showing Find and Replace and Confidence Highlights
  • Find and replace: You can now find all instances of a mis-transcribed word and replace them in one hit.
  • Confidence Highlights: In the caption editor, Panopto will underline any words that it suspects have not been transcribed correctly. You can then click on these and use the Find and Replace function to update all instances.
  • Custom Dictionary: If you find that Panopto regularly mis-transcribes words you use often in lectures, you can submit them to Sussex’s own Panopto custom dictionary. To submit words to the dictionary, email tel@sussex.ac.uk
  • Caption end-times: you can now specify an end time on captions so that they do not remain on screen for too long.
Panopto caption editor showing caption end-times.
Panopto caption editor showing caption end-times.

See this page on the Panopto website for more information on the new caption tools.

Padlet

Receive email notifications about updates to your padlets (or don’t)

Padlet will now send you real-time email and push notifications (if enabled on your browser) when someone posts or comments on a padlet that you follow. If there’s a lot of activity on a padlet, you will be sent a summary email. You should receive no more than three notifications per padlet per day. For some of us, that’s still too many emails, so you can turn off or change your notifications via the new notifications page in Padlet. To do this, from within Padlet, click on the three dots (…) in the left-hand menu to open the user menu, then choose Settings.

Screenshot of Padlet dashboard showing the Open User Menu icon
Screenshot of Padlet dashboard showing the Open User Menu icon.

In the left-hand menu, click Notifications. Then use the checkboxes to the right to choose your notification preferences.

Notifications centre in Padlet
Notifications centre in Padlet

You can also use the activity panel on any padlet you follow to see the most recent activity in chronological order. To access this, click on the Open Activity Pane icon in the Action Bar (which has now moved to the right-hand side of the screen).

Action bar in Padlet showing the Open Activity Panel icon
Action bar in Padlet showing the Open Activity Panel icon
Activity panel in a padlet
Activity panel in a padlet

New wallpapers

Padlet have added several new wallpapers, including artwork from Seurat, Hopper and Van Gogh. Also, the title and description text will change to be readable in a font colour that contrasts clearly against the backdrop.

Starry Night by Van Gogh padlet wallpaper, showing readable title.
Starry Night by Van Gogh padlet wallpaper, showing readable title.

These are only a few of the recent updates to Padlet. For more details have a look at the Padlet Blog where you can also subscribe to get news of updates as they happen.

And remember, our team are here to support you with using these or any of the other core learning technologies at Sussex. If you’d like to know more, please visit the Educational Enhancement website or contact us at tel@sussex.ac.uk

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Posted in Learning Technologies

Sussex LearnTech meetup

Posted on by Tyrone Knight

Sometimes connections fade away due to inevitable change, but if they really did work, why not bring them back? 

When asked to setup a new network to connect old colleagues and bring in new connections, you really can’t say no. Senior staff in Educational Enhancement (EE) asked for existing networks to be explored, with the aim of creating something that wasn’t currently offered in the local area. It was soon realised during the network planning stage that many members of EE first met at a networking group that ran over 5 years ago.

A network can help you to meet like-minded people and share ideas in a safe community, but sometimes its potential can be untapped, due to not being adaptable or limits on people’s availability.

On 23rd November 2022 the new Sussex LearnTech meetup was formed, and its first meeting largely consisted of University of Sussex and University of Brighton colleagues. The network is open to local specialists that use technology to support and enhance learning, largely within but not limited to Higher Education.

The plan so far

The plan for the first meetup, where if more formal could be considered the agenda, was loosely based on past experiences and an internal EE survey that was run earlier in the year. The survey had asked the EE team to share what they find important in a network, and what else they would like to see from a new one.

Feedback from the EE survey included:

  • Asking what individuals and teams are doing to help students with the cost-of-living crisis.
  • Sharing projects from the past, present, and future.
  • Finding and sharing collaboration opportunities and benefits.
  • Forming mentor opportunities, for people wanting a buddy in the sector.

The initial aim is for the network is to run 6 times a year, twice in person and four times online, and to be adaptable to help include as many people as possible in the area. This will include running on different days and times, and for in person sessions to be open to different institutions to host.

The first Meetup

At the first meeting, previous and new colleagues had the chance to introduce themselves to the other attendees. The tone was casual, people were eager to find out what others had been doing, and what was currently important in their working lives. Although many attendees were not student-facing, existing practices and local communities that can support students with the cost-of-living crisis were shared. These organisations and links were sent out following the meeting to ensure everyone had access. Progress and challenges around major projects were discussed, some given a short mention, whereas others were more detailed, as the wider group could relate to them and the members were passionate about that work. Other potential attendees were also mentioned, and quickly followed up after the meetup. This should allow the network to grow and expand its combined knowledge and experience.

Are you interested?

The next online meeting is in early February 2023, and we aim to run an in-person session in April 2023 at the University of Sussex. Many of the members are passionate about playful learning, so anything could happen in person.

If you support learning through technology in the local area (where you would happily travel to the in-person meetings), contact Ty via t.j.knight@sussex.ac.uk to be added to the list for Sussex LearnTech.

Posted in Events

Autumn Term Conference and Event round-up

Posted on by Katie Piatt

Educational Enhancement (EE) team members have been organising, attending, and presenting at a range of conferences and events over the Autumn term. This is part of our work keeping an eye on sector developments as well as disseminating our own good practice and research. This post lists some of the events we have been taking part in.

Pedagogic Revolution: Co-creation in the curriculum – November 2022

The Pedagogic Revolution ran a workshop on Student co-creation in the curriculum in November. Co-creation in the curriculum can help empower and engage your students, while developing a collaborative environment that reflects the diversity of your learning community. The workshop explored co-creation in theory and in practice and showcased co-creation from across the University. The following students and staff spoke about their projects:

  • Class, culture, and conflict – a view from within: Carli Rowell (LPS)
  • Assessment criteria and feedback: Susan Smith (USBS) and Dan Axson (EE)
  • Inclusivity within the curriculum: Katherine Kruger (MAH)

Following on from the talks, participants were given the time and resources to consider how co-creation could be embedded into their own teaching.

Playful Leadership Workshop – Huddersfield, November 2022

Playful Learning Association members met at the University of Huddersfield for a two-day event exploring the theme of Playful Leadership. A blog post about the event is available through the Playful Learning Association website.

three overlapping cards with "Playful Leadership is..." printed at the top and various text hand printed in bright colours underneath, including: Inclusion and A State of Mind
A printing activity to define Playful Leadership.

DARE to Transform Community of Practice – November 2022

Dr Emma Newport provided the first lightening talk for the DARE Community of Practice this year. Emma showcased her project Sussex Writes, a creative writing programme with the aim of widening university participation through collaboration between the School of Media, Arts and Humanities and local schools and organisations.

The Community of Practice is a supportive space where ideas and opinions can be discussed honestly and opportunities for collaboration are welcome. Further events will be advertised over the year.

China and Higher Education 2022: (Re)imagining Kindness in Times of Conflict – December 2022 (online)

The 2022 China and Higher Education (#ChinaHE22) conference focused on ‘kindness’, in light of social and political climates characterised by increasing levels of polarisation and even international conflict. The conference presented a diverse range of views on what it means to be kind in higher education and the impact kindness has on academic and personal progression. Here is a list of the conference presentations and their recordings.

Coming Up

Thursday May 4th – Educational Enhancement will be hosting an Education Festival during the day followed by the Education Awards in the evening, both at the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts. The festival will be a chance to share your practice with colleagues across the University.

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Posted in Events, External events

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We are the Educational Enhancement team at the University of Sussex. We publish posts each fortnight about the use of technology to support teaching and learning. Read more about us.

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Based on a work at https://blogs.sussex.ac.uk/tel/.