Non-traditional assessment in traditional subjects Work Placement, Employability and ePortfolios.
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Transcript of Non-traditional assessment in traditional subjects Work Placement, Employability and ePortfolios.
Context
• Since the 1980s there have been consistent governmental drives to increase the effectiveness of HE in preparing students for working life
• Role of internships increasingly seen as critical in marketplace – improving candidates skills, widening access to professional networks and developing social capital
Work placement modules and humanities
• Hawkins and Woolf in Lavender ed. (2011) estimate that currently 32% of depts have wk placement provision
• Predominately those in the post-92 sector
• Assessments tended towards reflective essays and placement journals/diaries
• Hawkins and Woolf (2011)- ‘little use was made of any form of e-assessment’; ‘portfolios…involved students submitting a collection of items assessed individually, rather than…holistic portfolio[s]’
ePortfolios and employability
• ePortfolios have been seen for some time as a valuable extension of PDP
• Valued for developing goal-setting and reflecting skills, improving language and communication skills, and independent planning/initiative
• HEFCE e-learning objective (2005) – "encouraging e-based systems of describing learning achievement and personal development planning"
Why do we want to do it?
• To correct perceptions that humanities subjects do not develop transferable skills
• To improve the employability of our humanities students
• To encourage students to develop their career plans
Humanities Work Placement @ Roehampton
• Work placement originally assessed via essay alone
• Revised by Dr. Kathryn Tempest to include portfolio– Improve engagement
with placement– Greater integration of
academic subject and placement opportunity
• 2 & 3yr UG Students from TRS, Philosophy, History and Classical Civilisations
• Students secure their own placement
• Assessed via 25% eportfolio and 75% essay on subject related to placement
Requirements
• The ePortfolio is posted as a Mahara ‘view’• It must contain:
– A reflective journal– A copy of the student’s CV both before and after
placement– A description of the host institution– Other potential items – covering letter; references
from placement institution• But many of our students do an awful lot more…
Potential
• ePortfolios allow students greater flexibility in recording the placement experience (video, photographs, links as well as text)
• Gives students the freedom to create a very rich resources (so rich that some material ‘borrowed’ by placement institutions)
• Potential for peer-to-peer learning via Mahara group
References
• R. Hawkins and H. Woolf, ‘The Assessment of Work Placement Learning in UK Undergraduate History Programmes’ in L. Lavender ed., History Graduates with Impact (HEA, 2011), 37-43
• JISC myWorld case study
Questions for discussion
• Do ePortfolios deliver on the skills they are designed to foster (reflection, independence, language/communication)?
• How can employability be enhanced further?• Should ePortfolios be given more weighting in
module assessment?• Should we move towards outward-facing portfolios
for work placement modules (portfolios that can be shared with future employers)?