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Annual Teaching and Learning Conference 2018

Conference programme

For further details on each of the sessions, including biographies of facilitators, please see below. 

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Keynote - From transmission to transformation: Maximising the impact of assessment feedback through staff-student partnerships

From transmission to transformation: Maximising the impact of assessment feedback through staff-student partnerships

Delivered by Dr Naomi Winstone - University of Surrey

Synopsis:

Higher Education Institutions face what has been described as a ‘feedback paradox’: students are vociferous in telling us what they want from feedback, and educators have responded to the student voice by investing considerable time and effort in developing assessment and feedback practices, yet this remains the area of students’ experience with which they are least satisfied. Is the sector as a whole perhaps too focused on efforts to improve the delivery of feedback, without giving equal attention to how to improve its reception?

Our work has focused on students’ cognitive, motivational, and emotional landscapes and how they influence the ways in which students receive, process, and implement feedback on their work. I will discuss the importance of developing students’ ‘proactive recipience’, and illustrate how the responsibility for ensuring that feedback has high impact can, and should, be shared between educators and students.

Biography:

Naomi is a cognitive psychologist specialising in learning behaviour and engagement with education. Naomi’s research focuses on the processing and implementation of feedback, educational transitions, and educational identities. Naomi has extensive experience of academic leadership, having held the positions of Director of Undergraduate Studies and Director of Learning and Teaching in the School of Psychology at the University of Surrey, and Associate Dean (Learning and Teaching) in the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Surrey.  She also runs CPD events and workshops at Universities, Schools and Colleges across the UK, to support educators and students to enhance the impact of assessment and feedback on learning and development. Naomi is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and a National Teaching Fellow.

Presentation 1 - Supporting independent learning through immediate peer feedback

Supporting independent learning through immediate peer feedback

Delivered by Professor Alison Sinclair & Dr Lorraine Smith

Synopsis:

The challenge was to develop self-relective practice amongst undergraduate science students undertaking independent research projects. Drawing on experiences of leading research review and journal clubs for postgraduate research supervision. Professor Sinclair developed a framework for a supportive active learning environment. Initial experiences showed that the immediate verbal peer feedbackprovoked discussion and stimulated reflective practice in the particpants. Students appreciated this approach - ‘they were a really invaluable part of the research project’. The comment that ‘I cannot recommend them enough for future students’  prompted dissemination to other faculty. A stumbling block to rolling-out the approach to more students and faculty was the concern that not all students would have confidence to engage in questionning their peers and provining feedback. Dr Smith and Professor Sinclair developed a teaching resource of prompt questions that related to different areas of project learning objectives for faculty and students to use and collected feedback on the experience of both giving and receiving immediate peer feedback. Our experience of this approach and the student feedback will be presented with an opportunity for the audience to participate in developing further prompt and feedback questions for students to use in the future. 

Biography:

Professor Alison J. Sinclair has over 30 years of research and teaching experience in the UK and Germany. Professor Sinclair subscribes to the principle that the most effective teaching fosters an active participation in learning. Professor Sinclair is Director of Teaching and Learning for the School of Life Sciences and she has extensive experience in design, delivery, management, assessment and evaluation of teaching in Life Sciences. Her role also includes mentoring faculty and students, leading outreach activities and contributing to the Communications Committee of the Microbiology Society. Professor Sinclair has published a peer-reviewed pedagogical study and Blogs about teaching practice. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology. Professor Sinclair has presented at the HEA STEM conference in 2016 and will present at the HEA annual conference in 2018 and she is the recipient of a University of Sussex Excellence in Teaching Award.

Dr Lorraine Smith is currently a Teaching Fellow in the School of Life Sciences. She has over 10 years of research and teaching experience. Dr Smith is Course Convener BSc Biosciences (with a foundation year) and designs, delivers, assesses and evaluates teaching in levels 3-6 of the Life Sciences curriculum. Her role also includes mentoring students and faculty as a Senior Academic Advisor. She ran an interactive workshop at the HEA STEM conference 'Creativity in Teaching, Learning and Student Engagement' in 2018.

Presentation 2 - Using Q-methodology to understand perceptions and opinions of students (or staff)

Delivered by Isabel Fischer

Synopsis:

Q-methodology is a set of interconnected research techniques that aim to bring (mathematical) objectivity into subjective qualitative research. Q-methodology was developed in 1935 by William Stephenson. It is only through recent technology advances that the data collection and the data analysis processes have been made easily accessible. In this session participants will receive an overview of how Q-methodology has been used to analyse factors that students perceive as important for achieving both academic and mid-term career success. By the end of the presentation participants will have gained an insight into how they could conduct their own mixed-methods student or staff survey using Q-methodology, know which tools are available, and are aware of possible attribution biases. Participants will have also gained an insight into how Q-methodology represents an accessible research technique to analyse results by gender, nationality / ethnicity and degree courses as well as their intersectionality.

Biography:

Isabel Fischer convenes the Sussex MBA programme and is responsible for the internationalisation of the business school of the University of Sussex. Isabel’s teaching focus is on social responsibility, environmental sustainability and business ethics. Her research interest is in students’ learning and the setting of foundations for mid-term career success. Prior to joining Sussex in 2010, Isabel worked for over 20 years in senior positions in the payment card industry at American Express and at Visa, leading, for example, EU compliance related research projects on the cost of payment cards versus the cost of cash.

Presentation 3 - PeerGrade – an online tool for peer grading

PeerGrade – an online tool for peer grading

Delivered by Professor Peter Thomas 

Synopsis:

In the Spring semester, I tried out the PeerGrade online tool for enabling students to mark and give feedback on each other’s work.  I will describe how PeerGrade works, some of the pedagogical (and other) advantages and disadvantages/pitfalls, and I will summarise the student reaction.

Biography:

Peter joined Sussex in 1989 as a lecturer in Astronomy and has been here ever since. He is currently Director of Teaching and Learning for the School of Mathematics and Physical Sciences. He has become increasingly frustrated by the lack of student engagement in feedback, and is this year trialling PeerGrade which seems to provide an effective mechanism to counter this

Presentation 4 - Social Media Mentor Club – Co-investigating social media professionalism for medical students 

Delivered by Catherine Hennessy 

Synopsis:

This presentation will describe the first cycle of my Action Research PhD project which allowed collaborative research to be conducted with medical students on what their understanding is of being professional on social media. I describe how the Social Mentor Club formed and what allowed me to find out how medical students currently at BSMS learn about professionalism on social media and whether any improvement could be made to help students in this process. I will describe the actions that took place during the club (in particular the “stalking with consent exercise”) which helped all participants learn more about their online persona and how this persona might be perceived by the online audience. I will describe some of the observations that were made throughout the club about the active learning that was taking place about how medical students started to develop an awareness of their online persona and how this helped them reflect on how they wanted to be perceived by their online audience. I will finish by describing some of the key themes that were learned from the club and the plan of action for the next cycle of the research project.

Biography:

Catherine is a Teaching Fellow in Anatomy at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. She is the anatomy course lead for the Heart, Lungs and Blood module of the medical degree programme but also teaches gross anatomy to various other undergraduate and postgraduate students of pharmacy, radiology, sports therapy and physician associates. Catherine is also a PhD student at BSMS, her PhD is investigating how social media effects medical education. Catherine has been awarded a University of Brighton Teaching Excellence Award 2016.

Presentation 5 - The use of learning technologies to create classroom dialogues

Delivered by Dr Joanna Richardson 

Synopsis:

I will use the session to expand upon the definition of what we consider “feedback”, focussing some TEL techniques I have pioneered in large group lecture sessions. I will describe how I use Poll Everywhere to gather real-time student feedback on their own learning, using the “Muddiest Point” metacognitive approach. I have found that running these interactive polls over several sessions creates a classroom dialogue around topics that are interesting or challenging, even in a large cohort in which students are often otherwise intimidated from asking questions. Additionally, I can use it to feed forward to later lectures, and ask students questions which test their prior learning. I will also describe the use of Padlet to set clinical case studies for students and provide feedback before class discussion.

Biography:

Dr Joanna Richardson completed her doctorate at Cambridge University in 2005, subsequently spending several years doing postdoctoral research in developmental biology at King’s College London. After deciding that teaching was more her vocation than research, she took up a position as Teaching Fellow in Biochemistry at Sussex in 2016, receiving a student-led teaching award the following year.

Presentation 6 - Feeding the model: the Bayesian Brain hypothesis and teaching

Feeding the model: the Bayesian Brain hypothesis and teaching

Delivered by Simon Bowes

Synopsis:

"It is fairly easy to show that both perceptual inference and learning rest on a minimisation of free energy or suppression of prediction error."

Feedback is ubiquitous in life and mind.  Evolution and development are both feedback dynamics describable using the mathematics of dynamic systems (bifurcations, strange attractors etc.).  All hypothesised learning mechanisms rely on feedback, whether behaviourist reinforcement or cognitivist hypothesis testing.  The approach that is becoming the orthodoxy currently in cognitive science, not just regarding learning but perception in general, is the Bayesian Brain hypothesis.  Feedback and feedforward dynamics are central to this approach to minds, both natural and artificial, the idea being that what we perceive, including our understanding of language, is based partly on the incoming signal and partly on predictions of what that signal will contain.  Any difference between the prediction and the actual input is a surprise (feedback), which will be used to update the predictive model (feedforward) to be deployed in the future.  I will outline and demonstrate this approach, and attempt to relate it to our practice as educationalists.  For example: feedback in the form of a model presented immediately after a task is attempted may be better than first giving a model, then critiquing the student’s output a couple of weeks later; any comments on the output should be attached to specific parts rather than general comments.

It may be that this approach is more relevant to skills-based, rather than knowledge-based, learning.  However, it could be that our teaching of subjects should be more based on skills acquisition and less on knowledge regurgitation.  

Biography:

Simon has been training international students in Academic English Skills for many years, while at the same time teaching undergraduates and completing his own doctoral research in cognitive science.  Simon has experience of being an international student myself, doing a BA in Philosophy in Istanbul, which is also where he started teaching English.  Returning to the UK he continued his studies with an MSc in the philosophies of various sciences at LSE, and also continued to earn a living by teaching English.  Having settled on cognitive science for a PhD, Simon  came to Sussex, and started working with international students, as well as teaching home students in undergraduate courses.  This talk is informed by both Simon's experience as a teacher and the theories of cognition emerging in current cognitive science.

Presentation 7 - The co-creation of student learning through reflective writing

The co-creation of student learning through reflective writing

Delivered by Ruth Bowles and Dr Simon Williams

Synopsis:

Since the importance of reflection in education was first highlighted by Dewey (1933), there has been general agreement about its role in the experiential learning process (Kolb, 2015). The more recent discrimination of reflective activity into three distinct functions has advanced its recognition as a life skill that facilitates transition learning, eg into higher education, within university courses, and after graduation, and given particular prominence to reflection for action (Grushka et al., 2005; Killion and Todnem, 1991). This form of reflection is likely to contribute to improvements in general learning as well as student retention and employability. Yet, a paradox exists between students’ reluctance to engage in reflective practice unless it is shown to have immediate instrumental value (e.g. Grant et al., 2006) and the summative nature of much reflective assessment. In either case, immediate or delayed reward, students may fear the unknown reader and be anxious to adhere to idealized norms - an unhelpful attitude to being truly reflective (Boud, 2001) that makes it harder for them to acquire and apply reflective insight going forward.

In fact, students often find the techniques of self-reflection difficult to learn, even ‘through extended experience and the provision of continuous feedback from their tutors’ (Lew and Schmidt, 2011); and for tutors reflective writing can be challenging to teach, with much of the current material remaining model-based. However, rather than tutors’ offering mimetic engagement, we suggest that a more process-oriented approach, a combination of scaffolding and assessment credit, can break the cycle of student anomie and anxiety to please. In the materials that we are developing, we present tutors and students with a number of models of reflective practice with accompanying practical exercises. Pathways through the materials are offered to match users’ preferences for speed, intensity or thoroughness, and facilitate more personal, spontaneous, reflexivity.

Biography:

Ruth Bowles is an Academic Skills Consultant, providing workshops and online resources for Skills Hub. Prior to working in Higher Education, she held teaching and leadership roles in schools and colleges in the UK and abroad.

Simon Williams is a Tutorial Fellow in the Sussex Centre for Language Studies (SCLS). He has a particular interest in international students’ writing of reflection and is the recipient of a University Excellence in Teaching Award, 2018.

Presentation 8 - Designing experiential assessment and providing meaningful feedback using group poster presentations

Designing experiential assessment and providing meaningful feedback using group poster presentations

Delivered by Dr Jenna Macciochi 

Synopsis:

Bringing experiential group learning into summative assessment offers a great opportunity for active learning and development of key employment skills but implementation can be challenging and the outcomes can be varied and unpredictable.   Through this presentation, I explore what experiential learning means and how it can be a valid pedagogical tool for promoting development of desired key life sciences employment skills in combination with subject specific deep learning.  Using summative group poster assessment in a year 3 FHEQ level 6 module as an example, I share my current practice and experiences from incorporating experiential assessments into an existing Life Sciences curriculum.  I discuss the learning outcomes, assessment tools and the opportunity experiential assessment present for provision of comprehensive and meaningful feedback and the importance of including reflective self-assessment.  I comment the challenges involved and the investment in time and motivation required to prepare and support students.  Finally, I share some of feedback I received from the students about their experience at the end of the process and the impact this has had within the School of Life Sciences to introduce similar approaches earlier on in the curriculum.

Biography:

Dr Jenna Macciochi graduated with a BSc in Immunology from the University of Glasgow and then gained her PhD in Immunology from Imperial College London studying the immunological basis of allergy and asthma.  After graduating, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship working on allergy immunotherapy for the National Heart and Lung Institute in collaboration with Spanish Biotech Leti.  She was then awarded a Fellowship by Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research in Switzerland to work on nutritional mechanisms in the immunopathogenesis of inflammatory disease.  During her time in Switzerland, she also gained teaching experience at the University of Zurich.  In 2016, she moved back to the UK where she was appointed as a Teaching Fellow in Immunology at the University of Sussex. Jenna is also the Senior Academic Advisor for BSc. Biomedical Science has an active interest in the pastoral care of students and developing approaches to teaching that inspire students and equip them for employment.

Presentation 9 - The feedback project: Comparing the influence of mode of feedback on perecievd value

Delivered by Dr Wendy Garnham & Heather Taylor

Synopsis:

Do students find video feedback more useful than written feedback? Is audio feedback perceived to be more personalized than written feedback? This presentation will describe the initial findings of an on-going study conducted with Foundation Year students studying a Psychology module to compare the effectiveness of different modes of feedback given for assignments on a psychology module. The study serves a dual purpose in also acting as a model of how to conduct research which the students then follow in conducting their own independent research alongside.

Biography:

Wendy Garnham is a Teaching Fellow in Psychology. She is the recipient of a University Teaching Award for Innovative Undergraduate Teaching 2018 and a Technology Enhanced Learning Digital Practice Award 2017.

Heather Taylor is a Doctoral Tutor, teaching Psychology to Foundation Year Students. Heather is also completing a PhD in Mindfulness-Based Interventions for NHS staff, and is involved in Widening Participation working groups and events at the University. 

Presentation 10 - Enhancing feedback in Law

Enhancing feedback in Law

Delivered by Professor Donald McGillivray and Dr Verona Ní Drisceoil 

Synopsis:

In 2017/18 LPS and the Sussex Law School undertook measures designed to enhance student feedback. We discuss (i) an initiative within LPS addressed at final year students' engagement with feedback; and (ii) steps taken with the Law School (with the help of an external contributor) to reframe our understandings of effective feedback, and to encourage more student-focused delivery with an emphasis on growth, as opposed to fixed, mindsets. We also discuss the findings of student focus groups held at the end of April 2018 which had a feedback focus.

Biography:

Verona Ní Drisceoil is a Lecturer in Law at Sussex Law School with a particular interest in, and passion for, legal education, widening participation and the student experience. She teaches across a number of the core law subjects including Land Law and Criminal Law. Verona has won a number of teaching awards and has, most recently, been shortlisted for the OUP Law Teacher of the Year Award for 2018.

Donald McGillivray is Professor of Environmental Law and Deputy Head (Education) in the Sussex Law School. 

Workshop 1 - Hands-on workshop on assessment and feedback strategies in large group sessions: It doesn’t have to be a lecture all the time!

Delivered by Dr Prabha Parthasarathy

Synopsis:

Traditionally, large group teaching session are commonly conceived as lecture sessions, which tend to be didactic and have minimal assessment and feedback opportunities embedded within them. However, there are innovative ways by which we can use technology to support assessment and feedback; and facilitate it in large group sessions.  This workshop delves into this theme and will involve hand-on activities and equip teaching staff with key tools to plan such teaching sessions. The workshop will include a mock TBL session using the Intedashboard software and a feed forward activity followed by group discussions.

Biography:

Dr. Prabha Parthasarathy is a former Clinical Microbiologist and currently holds the position of Teaching Fellow and Degree Convener for Biomedical Science in the School of Life Sciences. She has an active pedagogic interest in “innovations on large group teaching“ and was awarded two student led Teaching awards in 2014 and 2016.

Workshop 2  - Feedback that starts and ends with the learner

Delivered by Cindy Cox and Toby Lindsay 

Synopsis:

This session will offer you a highly immersive and interactive exploration of the practice of Self-Managed Learning (SML) and how we work with it at Roffey Park to support our programmes. The philosophy of SML arose amid the challenges to societal norms that took place in the 1960s-70s. This included educators seeking new models to unlock learning potential (Cunningham, 1978). Key to the model developed and delivered by UK institutions during the 80s and 90s, and at the heart of Roffey Park’s contemporary approach, is a peer-based, learner-centred feedback and assessment process (Cunningham, Bennett and Dawes, 2000).

In this interactive session you will have the opportunity to taste and reflect upon the power of a learning and feedback process that is truly learner-led as well as considering fundamental questions that arise when working in this way, such as:

• What skills and protocols are required to make this unconventional approach a genuine learning experience and an academically valid one?
• Can a learner give a valid perspective on their own work?
• Can peer learners –dependent on each other for attaining their qualification – be depended upon for a valid, rigorous assessment that meets academic standards and avoids collusion?
• What are the limitations of this approach and what may be transferable to teaching and learning more broadly?

Biography:

Cindy Cox MSc

Cindy has 15 years’ experience designing and delivering leading development programmes and is an experienced trainer, facilitator and consultant with particular expertise in enabling growth and collaboration for individuals, organisations and networks. She is Course Director for Roffey Park’s Graduate Certificate in Organisation Development and co-Programme Director for the MSc in People and Organisational Development. Cindy has considerable experience of self-managed and experiential learning. With a background in creative and cultural industries, she has a commitment to celebrating diversity and working with a range of learning preferences and intelligences to foster innovation.

Toby Lindsay MSc

Toby has over twenty years’ experience working in executive education, working as a Consultant, Executive Coach and Facilitator for a range of organisations across private, public and third sectors for the past decade. Whilst working as a business executive in the international education sector Toby joined and achieved a Master’s in People and Organisational Development at Roffey Park. Recently returning to Roffey as a Senior Consultant Toby is co-Programme Director for the MSc and Programme Director for the Graduate Certificate in Organisation Development. He has held positions at Kent Business School, Sussex University and The University of Birmingham and works between the worlds of academia and consulting in helping others learn and develop.

Workshop 3 - Enhancing feedback with Canvas

Delivered by Technology Enhanced Learning

Synopsis:

This interactive workshop will introduce some of the ways in which the University’s new virtual learning environment (VLE) Canvas will support the development of feedback practices.

Participants will be encouraged to discuss and plan ways in which they can use the new VLE to provide feedback on learning, using tools such as:

• Quizzes
• Peer assessment
• Collaborative documents
• Video and audio recordings

Canvas allows us to significantly enhance our teaching and learning experience for students and staff. Designed to support innovative and student-centred teaching and learning, Canvas provides academics with opportunities to improve feedback and potentially reduce workloads.  By combining demonstrations of these user-friendly tools with pedagogical strategies which can be used to improve feedback, this session will give attendees the chance to learn about and consider how they will harness some of the most exciting aspects of our new VLE to enhance the student experience.

Attendees will leave the session with real examples of how they can go on to use Canvas to support a more innovative and seamless approach to feedback, understanding how core teaching and learning principles can be supported using the new tools available.

Biography:

Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) offers a specialist service focussed on enhancing teaching practices and enriching student learning. The team comprise a group of expert educators who work collaboratively with Schools to provide advice and support in the effective use of technologies in teaching, learning and assessment. For more detailed info, please visit this page from our blog: http://blogs.sussex.ac.uk/tel/us/

Panel Session - Feedback: It takes two

Chaired by Prof Michelle Lefevre

In this panel discussion, we bring together the contributers from across the day's sessions and colleagues with a particular specialism in the issues surrounding assessment and feedback. Through a combination of Q&A and open discussion, we'll explore the implications of understanding feedback as a dialogue. 

• Should we be focusing on tutors' approaches to feedback or on supporting student understanding of the purpose of feedback?
• What does the idea of 'dialogue' suggest to us about the relational aspect of feedback? The impact of emotion and/or power-relations in the feedback process for students and staff?
• What alternatives do we have to the transmission/consumer models of feedback that currently underpin much of HE approaches?

Michelle Lefevre is Professor of Social Work, and Head of the Dept. of Social Work & Social Care. Michelle came to Sussex following a career as a social worker and psychotherapist in child protection practice. Michelle’s particular research interest is developing social workers’ knowledge and skills for engaging and communicating with vulnerable children and she was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in 2015 for her teaching and pedagogical research in this field.

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