Month: March 2022

Here is my final blog of the unit in audio form. Reflecting on how Unit 1 has gone.

Takeaways from the Teaching for Retention Pdf from the Academic Enhancement Model Toolbox on the AEM and Attainment Resources website.

As first year lead on BAPJD, the subject of student retention is very relevant to me. Retention is without doubt linked not only to helping students pass their required units but on a deeper level it’s about their sense of belonging. This pdf, which is part of the AEM Toolbox, suggested interventions that can improve retention rates, from using data gathered in student surveys to teaching strategies such as using formative feedback as a diagnostic tool.

This year’s cohort told me directly that they wanted more help in bonding as a group during Block 1. Although by Block 2 I could see that friendship groups were being formed, as evidenced by a week where at least 6 students were sick and absent from my group tutorial. When I made a joke the following week that they must all have been at the same party, they all laughed and looked sheepish admitting this is exactly what had happened!

Some of the teaching strategies and social integration interventions that were suggested could certainly be could put in place in the ‘Intro To’ unit. The points that resonated with me were:

• How can current students input more into welcoming new students?
• Should we reconsider the assessment brief in ‘Intro To’, which to me is extremely rigorous and challenging for such an early point in the year?
• Can we incorporate more student-centred learning?
• How can we emphasise and assist more with building peer relationships?

In my experience creating small peer group activities every week helps students get to know each other. As do ice-breaker exercises at the beginning of class. But these should happen regularly throughout Block 1 rather than just in the first session. I’d like to introduce Object Based Learning sessions throughout Year 1 as a peer bonding opportunity – with students bringing in objects that are important to them. And I want to set regular mini-photography challenges for all 3 year groups to respond to. These challenges will be a chance for students to take pictures for fun, without being assessed, and will also be opportunities for students to work in pairs or small groups. Throughout the year, work from each year group will be rewarded – as in incentive to take part and to bring different year groups together. Rewards might be tickets to see a film screening or for the opening night of an exhibition. This also feeds into creating scaffolding for students to practice their technical skills.

The pdf also touches on how important it is for students to feel known by the staff, and an important question it posed was: How are students given the opportunity to understand how the relationship with University staff may differ from their previous experience?

This is something that I’ve prehaps taken for granted, even though its clear at the beginning of the year that students are unsure of what name or title to give me or even how to talk to me. I will take the time to address this moving forwards.

Block 1 pastoral tutorials are important in getting to know students and checking in with them, but this year none of the first year students signed up for them in Block 1. I felt that I had explained clearly what they were for, however having spoken to the students about it since, there was some confusion still and I should have taken more time to explain to them in person what these tutorials were for.

Lots to think about and lots of actions that I can implement for 2022/23!

Reference list:

Suka-Bill, Z and Clay, S , (Undated), AEM Toolbox, University of the Arts London. Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/201935/Teaching-for-Retention-PDF-489KB.pdf (Accessed March 2022)

An audio blog reflecting on student mental health over the course of a final year project

I run a seminar group of 3rd year students working on their Final Major Project for BA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography. We meet once a week over the course of the final year.

Here is my audio blog about my recent experience working with students who are struggling with mental health problems.

This recording leads straight on to the next clip below.

After recording the first two sections I’ve added a final section reflecting on how what I’ve learned on the PgCert has informed my feelings about student assessment. Particularly important has been Dr Maha Bali’s keynote address in the ‘Belonging in assessment’ symposium.

Finally I feel very strongly that all staff should be receiving mental health training so that we have some of the basic tools that we need to help our students, particularly when they are sharing details of traumatic events in one-to-ones.

I spent three years as an AL before moving into my current post as senior lecturer and year 1 lead on BAPJD. In my first AL role, I was assessing first year students using the Pass/Grade system. This felt very comfortable to me, being used to this from my own educational background. When we moved to pass/fail in 2019/20 I wasn’t aware of the reasons behind the change – except that it was precipitated by the pandemic. My first thought was that while this was easier on the tutors in terms of working through the marking, it felt unfair on students. I found myself wanting to let the students know, within the feedback, what grade they might have received. This felt particularly important for the highest and lowest achieving students. My instinct was to fall back on grading to highlight the best and worst submissions rather than relying on the quality of my feedback. I felt it was unfair to give two students from opposite ends of the scale the same ‘grade’ (a pass) when their effort and attainment was so different. This has been at the back of my mind since the change to pass/fail, even though I’ve become more confident that my feedback is detailed and personalized.

Coming across the Pass/Fail episode of the UAL podcast Interrogating Space has given me some much needed clarity on both why the change was made but also the value judgements behind the decision.

The podcast took the format of a panel discussion recorded during the ‘Belonging through assessment: Pipelines of compassion’ symposium on 21st October 2021. The panel speakers were: Professor Sam Broadhead (LAU), Dr Neil Currant, (UAL) and Peter Hughes, (LAU) and the facilitator Dr Kate Mori (Academic Engagement Manager, QAA).

The panel discussed pass/fail as a “compassionate approach to assessment” it also explored ” the challenges in changing practice and policies from the perspective of staff, students and the wider institution.”

https://interrogatingspaces.buzzsprout.com/683798/9644305-pass-fail-assessment-in-arts-higher-education

All three of the speakers had been involved in research that led to their institutions switching to Pass/Fail, primarily as a result of the pandemic. The discussion covered the benefits of pass/fail, and the challenges, both for students and staff.

After listening to the podcast clear themes emerged explaining the thinking behind Pass/Fail. Firstly there was the feeling amongst all 3 speakers that grading encouraged competition amongst students and a focus on ‘grade chasing’ (Hughes) rather than fostering a drive towards valuing ‘learning’.

This made a lot of sense to me and chimed with my own experience of being a student when I was at school. I was never a particularly conscientious or hard working student but I had a good memory and I performed well in exams, so consequently received A grades, which in reflection, rewarded my exam performance rather than my understanding or engagement with the learning. I was definitely guilty of grade chasing and valuing an A above any actual knowledge that I accrued.

Secondly there was reduction of stress in a pass/fail environment.

Dr Currant conducted research with first year students who were assessed using pass/fail and found that:

“one of the big things that we saw was that students felt there was a reduction in stress and anxiety. You know, students really talk about grades causing a lot of stress and a lot of anxiety. And so that pass fail, particularly during the pandemic was a real, really helped them calm down and come into university transition into university and feel they could get their feet, if you like, under the table, and not have to worry about performing. ” (Currant)

And thirdly there was some data that suggested that progression rates for Black and Asian students had increased relative to their white peers.

“And I think intriguingly, we got some data that suggests that our progression rates for Black and Asian students have increased relative to their white peers. So the gap of progression has actually decreased during the period when we had pass/ fail.” (Currant)

These are convincing and important findings that back up why pass/fail might be a better assessment criteria for a large percentage of students. However there is also the issue of how to help students, who like me had grown up in a grading environment and had become used to the validation or otherwise of grades, to adapt to and accept the value of pass/fail.

The panel discussed this at length with Professor Broadbent explaining that they start preparing students for a pass/fail environment right from open days so that students know what the are signing up for. He also talked about instilling a culture that values creative, independent thinking above grades and fosters a collegiate spirit as opposed to one of competition.

For me, helping students adapt to pass/fail also comes back to feedback and how important it is for it to be detailed and personalised, refering to specific areas in their projects and explaining what could be improved (and how) and praising what worked well. But also ensuring to give an overall feel of how well they have responded to the brief.

The speakers also spoke of evidence of students embracing collaborative working and seeing themselves as a cohort rather than individuals in competition with each other.

One of units that I currently lead is based on collaborative working so this is very relevant to me. I try to instil a mentality of ‘no man left behind’ and encourage students to embrace group work, whether they are natural leaders, or prefer to work in the background. After listening to the podcast I feel that students might find it easier embrace a group ethos knowing that other people’s performance won’t affect their own grades. Groups that I’ve worked with on collaborative projects have occassionally had issues working together, and I’ve been asked if another student’s performance will affect their own grade. Being able to answer simply that students will either pass or fail in this unit, has immediately de-escalated what could be an area of contention in a grading environment.

The panel also touched on how taking away grading encourages risk taking and a focus on learning rather than reproducing, which is particularly important for arts’ students. There was also evidence that students were more willing to take on extracurricular activites. I have not seen evidence of this myself, I find that first years in particular are generally not willing to take risks or take on extra external activities. In the second and third year this changes a lot so I wonder if this was taken into consideration.

The podcast was enlightening and helped me understand the reason behind installing pass/fail. It also made me reflect again on the importance of feedback and has given me important insight to share with the ALs and unit tutors who work with me.

Works Cited:

“Interrogating Spaces. Pass/fail assessment in arts higher education” 01 Dec. 2021. www.interrogatingspaces.buzzsprout.com/683798/9644305-pass-fail-assessment-in-arts-higher-education