Following our submission of a response to the document ‘SHU Initial Comments on the eCommunications Public Sector FdA’ we were asked to provide two further responses, these were:
A Formal Response to the Approval Conditions
(Approval conditions are made when a Foundation Degree is approved and consist of things that SHU want to be changed, addressed or altered in order for the approval to be confirmed)
A response to the document ‘Additional Wording’
(This response was to be made to several queries made by SHU. Our response here might mean that the Approval Conditions would be reworded.)
To complete the Approval Conditions, several changes had to be made to the submission document. These changes were recorded on a separate document and I was asked to send the final version of the submission document to SHU by the 16th of December so that it could be retyped in time for the final deadline for the process of approval on the 6th of January 2009.
I completed all the requirements here but was then asked to address a point about in-module retrieval that I had not explicitly addressed in an earlier response. I was also asked to summarise my responses and include this summary in the submission document. I chose to add this summary as an appendix as we were now approaching the 6th of January deadline. I completed all of the new requirements and sent them off to SHU over the Xmas holidays.
Most of the points that we have been asked to address are about the nature of delivering a Foundation Degree through online learning. The summary is included here.
SUMMARY OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION THAT WAS REQUESTED TO BE SUPPLIED BEFORE THE FORMAL RESPONSE TO THE APPROVAL CONDITIONS
Student workload
In distance learning it is necessary for the students to be required to engage with the content and be active learners. We address this in several ways.
• Assessed tasks
• eNotebook activities. These are not assessed but students are encouraged to do these as they are marked and guidance is given on how to improve for future assessed tasks
• Activities that cover skills, knowledge and understanding
required in a future assessed task
Assessed tasks
In order to encourage engagement many of the activities are assessed. Our experience of online learning is that if an activity is assessed, then a student is more likely to undertake that activity. We have followed SHU advice and built on our own experience of online learning here, both in the eComms FdA and in our other online courses. As a rule assessed tasks are not set until at least four weeks into a module. This is to ensure that students have the opportunity to become familiar with a module and its requirements. We have also followed comments from the eComms FdA Exam Boards where we were asked to be mindful that setting too many assessed tasks that each carried a small percentage of the marks for a module might result in a lot of students being able to achieve a high mark without having to undertake a sustained, complex assessed task.
We do, though, believe that it is necessary to have some assessed tasks that still carry a small percentage. An example of this would be a small percentage attached to a forum activity. The activity itself wouldn’t merit a high percentage but if we didn’t do so, then some students might not participate. This would result in less student interaction and collaboration.
Some assessed tasks are broken down into components and each component is assessed separately. Most modules follow this pattern.
A deadline of one clear working week is given for most assessed tasks. information about deadlines is given in the course materials and in weekly emails. Other assessed tasks might have different deadlines, for example three weeks or four weeks. Again clear information is given about this.
Tutors make every effort to make sure that students manage their studies and keep up with the assessed tasks. To be successful a student needs to be producing work regularly throughout each module and the tutors spend a lot of time encouraging good study habits in the students.
In designing the modules, care is taken to make sure that the workload is balanced and spread out throughout the semester and across the modules. Care is also taken to integrate modules.
eNotebook activities
These activities were specifically introduced to reduce the assessed tasks on the course. An eNotebook activity is not assessed but the students are encouraged to complete them as they are marked by the tutor and useful feedback is provided on how a student might be able to improve their performance in a future assessed task.
Activities that cover skills, knowledge and understanding
required in a future assessed task
Sometimes it is possible to present an unassessed activity that a student can see will need to be completed if that student is to be successful in a later assessed task. On this course, the reading activities fall into this category.
Reviewing content and assessed tasks
We are constantly reviewing how we deliver. Since first delivering the eComms FdA in Feb 2007 we have completely rewritten the assessed tasks for one module and made significant changes to the tasks and number of tasks in other modules. Throughout the reviewing process and the production of new content and assessed tasks we are mindful of the issue of student workload and the need to produce an assessment pattern that is balanced throughout the semester and across the modules in that semester.
The success rates in the eCommunications FdA are good. In the academic year 2008-2009 the First Cohort (Feb 08 Start) had a success rate of 83%; the Second Cohort (Sept 08) had a success rate of 72%. In this period the retention was respectively 64.25% and 82.75%. In the last Exam Board ( Sept 09 ), the averaged student mark for the First Cohort produced 10 distinctions, 1 good merit, 1 merit, and 3 passes. 3 students needed referrals. The averaged student mark for the Second Cohort produced 10 distinctions, 3 good merits, 1 merit and 3 passes. 3 students needed referrals.
This process is ongoing and we are continually trying to improve this aspect of our course.
Formative and summative feedback
Detailed feedback is given for each assessed task. The aim is to give the student a clear understanding of why a piece of work has achieved a particular mark and note the positive aspects of a student’s work. In addition tutors give advice about how a piece of work could have been improved so that a student knows how to produce better work for the next assessed task. eNotebook activities are set in most modules, these are not assessed but they are marked and feedback is provided in the same way as feedback is provided for assessed tasks. In the student handbooks for all the online courses at TSC it states that tutors will endeavour to mark assessed tasks and provide feedback within ten days of the deadline set for that assessed task. All online tutors strive to meet this. In this way students are provided with formative assessment throughout each module. On the completion of each module, the tutor provides each student with feedback on the whole module. Specific reference is made to individual assessed tasks but the feedback also includes a general comment on how the student has achieved and advice is given on how the student might improve in the coming modules.
The number of assessment tasks
We feel that it is necessary to have a number of assessed tasks in each module as in this way we can be sure that students are engaging with the course materials. Feedback is provided on the completion of each assessed task and also on completion of each eNotebook task. Students therefore receive formative feedback throughout each module. Generally a higher percentage is given to later collaborative and reflective tasks than to earlier ones.
Because of the number of assessed tasks in each module, we do not feel that in-module retrieval is appropriate for this FD. We have considered and discussed this but have concluded that it would not benefit the students. If a student failed to achieve 40% for an assessed task in a module and was then given the opportunity to redo the task, we have concluded that the student might not be able to keep pace with the rest of the work in that module. This might result in the student not being able to achieve good marks in later assessed tasks. Our view is that it is better to give a student clear feedback on their strengths and weaknesses for an assessed task that has failed to achieve 40% so that the student will be able to be more successful in the next assessed task. Additionally, as in-module retrieval is capped at 40%, there would not be a large benefit to the student in terms of the final mark for a module when redoing a typical assessed task that was weighted at, say 25%. If a student failed an assessed task with this weighting and achieved a mark of 25%, they would only be able to receive an extra 3.75% for the final mark for the module after in-module retrieval.
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
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