Beyond the Technology

In this third episode of our mini-series on rethinking assessment and feedback, we are joined by Karen Barton, director of the learning and teaching innovation centre at the University of Hertfordshire. Karen shares some of the feedback they have had from students on assessment including, providing authentic assessment, providing personalised assessment where possible and changes to the workloads/phasing of assessment. We then discuss a recent consultation and review that the university has taken to help identify the changes needed to support their vision for teaching, learning, and assessment. The review helped develop the 'Herts learning principles', which were created to help address some areas that the university sees as important in the future, with one of these principles being around how they harness technology to support their strategy. We also discuss how the university is supporting staff to take these new assessment practices forward, discussing how they created an assessment experts group within the university to provide policy outputs, direction, and guidance for staff. Lastly, Karen shares what she thinks are the critical success factors that need to be in place within an institution to help realise affective assessment and feedback.

In this episode of our rethinking assessment and feedback mini-series, Sarah Knight chats with Danny Liu and Benjamin Miller about how they are adapting their assessment and feedback practices at The University of Sydney. Danny and Benjamin start by sharing some of the issues and challenges that an institution-wide review into assessment picked up, including assessment weighting, group work and assessment feedback. They then talk about how the development of the student relationship engagement system (SRES) has helped solve the problem of engaging a large number of students with personalised feedback and personal care. Finally, they share their tips and advice on the steps UK universities could take to improve their assessment and feedback practices.

The podcast discusses the review of UK assessment and feedback landscape in higher education, sharing insights from a survey of 46 providers on technology support and online submissions. They explore principles of good assessment and real-world examples of effective application. Also, they highlight the use of technology for assessment practices, innovative collaborative efforts for pedagogically sound tools, and the necessity of reevaluating assessment strategies in universities.

Explore the shift to online exams at the University of Gloucestershire with insights from Rob Blagden. Learn about the advancements in technology within the NHS and the potential for a digital revolution in education. Discover the successful transition to digital exams in academia and the future of online practical exams using simulations and VR technology. Dive into innovative education technology integration with cloud technology and AI tools.

This week we chatted with Aftab Hussain, information learning technology manager at Bolton College, about Firstpass, an automated system that helps automate the marking and feedback of open-ended questions using artificial intelligence Aftab talks through the benefits of Firstpass, sharing how the system can help reduce the burden on teachers when marking formative assessments, whilst providing students with instant feedback to their answers. Lastly, Aftab shares the latest updates and progress of Ada, Bolton college's digital assistant which went live in 2017.

This week Derfel Owen, Registrar and director of student and registry services at University College London, joins us to talk about how the university moved their exams online as part of a university wide digital assessment strategy. Derfel explains how and why the university chose to transition exams to online at such scale, providing more than 20,000 students with 1200 digital exams in Spring 2021. He also shares the lessons learnt from the project, and provides advice about how other institutions could approach bringing assessments online. We also discuss the future of assessment, looking into how things such as artificial intelligence help to improve the assessment marking process.

In this episode we are joined by Clare Killen, senior consultant for the business intelligence team at Jisc, to talk about the findings from the recently released HE and FE staff digital experience insight surveys. The annual survey polls over 6,500 teaching staff in further and higher education, looking into their experiences of using technology to support their teaching. Clare provides an interesting deep dive analysis into the results, as well as suggesting what can be done to support staff digital skills going forward. The episode also investigates how the role of teaching staff has changed since the pandemic.

Our guest this week is Debs Gray, Principal of Grimsby Institute, and Jisc trustee. She joined us to talk all about the college's trailblazing industry 4.0 programme. This episode is packed with advice about how to support staff and students to prepare for the workplace of the future, in terms of digital skills and making the most out of the tools you already have. Debs maintains a strong focus on not just levelling the field, but tilting it, giving every student a fair chance. You'd be hard pushed to find someone more passionate about further education. A big thank you to Debs for coming on the show!

We're joined by Dr Jill McKay, a senior lecturer of veterinary science education at the University of Edinburgh. Jill has completed some fascinating research into lecture capture, how students use recordings, and why. The data is really encouraging, so it's worth a listen to hear some of the benefits, in particular for students from widening participation backgrounds. As you'll be able to tell, this was a wonderfully fun and interesting chat. Jill is a brilliant speaker, and shares some great resources to help you to use recordings to their best potential, in a way that helps both staff and students.

Dr Phil Anthony, learning technologist from the division of natural sciences at the University of Kent, joins us to talk about his international digital teaching best practice community, where sector professionals from all around the world now engage to share advice, experiences and ideas about teaching online and digitally. Phil is a brilliant guest, full of ideas and insights from what he's learned from setting up the community. The group has proved a huge success in so many ways, reassuring staff around the world on mutual experiences (enter the great cameras on or off debate again, Phil shares a really interesting story there). Phil also shares his top tips on making online teaching engaging, and how you can join in with the online community yourself – by visiting the link in our show notes.