Integrating digital literacy and feeding forward in a Psychology assignment

Mani Das GuptaPsychology, Sport and Exercise

School of Health Sciences

Common Information Literacy Complaints

Another reference to Wikipedia!

They have used BLOGS

as references!

What is SO hard about academic

referencing?

B!!!! Internet! So much junk

and most of it is in this essay!

Why don’t they use

textbooks and journals?

What is SO hard about academic

referencing?

60/65 students on a Level 5 module knew they MUST reference properly but did not really understand WHY.Common responses:“Because that’s what you do for essays”

“It’s academic”

“Because they told us we had to use it for essays in first year”

PURPOSE of referencing often not explicitly explained to students

Why don’t students use

textbooks and journals?

Some explanations from students on my module

Often work at home at night, especially mature students OR at the last minute!

School does not prepare students in terms of using books as references

There may not be enough copies of some books in the library

Common sources used in Psychology essays:

psychology.about.com

www.psychologytoday.com/

www.simplypsychology.org

B!!!! Internet! So much junk

and most of it is in this essay!

PROBLEM:No questioning of sources of information OR Validity /Reliability of information

BAN IT? NOT an option todayThey will use it anyway!

Valuable resource

Informed usage is a LIFE-LONG learning skill

SCONUL: 7 pillars of Information Literacy

Embedded in assessment for L5 module:Children in Context

Article available on: www.sconul.ac.uk/sites/default/files/.../researchlens.pdf

Most Common assessment pattern

WEEK 1 WEEK 5/6

WEEK 12

Formative Task

SummativeTask

From JISC Design Studio (University of Hertfordshire Project:Effecting Sustainable Change in Assessment Practice and Experience (ESCAPE). Link: http://jiscdesignstudio.pbworks.com/w/page/30631817/ESCAPE%20-%20Assessment%20timelines

Assessment Information

Feed Forward Assessment (FFA) Method

IMPLEMENTATION of FFAWEEK 1: Assessment Information givenWorkbook – with 2 exercises – both require use of web-based resources

JANUARY Hand In: Summative Assessment

WEEK 4-6: Workshops and Independent work on Evaluating internet resources (including demo)

WEEK 7: Hand-In Formative Exercise 1

WEEK 9: Feedback on Formative Exercise 1 linking to Exercise 2

WEEK 9 & 11: Workshops on Exercise 2

The 2 Summative Exercises

EX1: Evaluation of websites relevant to module contente.g. parenting.com vs childrenandnature.org

EX2: Essays/presentation related to employability/real world issuese.g. • Putting in a tender for an intervention on

bullying• Explianing how skills acquired by doing a

Psychology degree will help with one of a selection of real job adverts etc.

Both require use and evaluation of web resources

Advantages• Students grasped web-evaluation and why it was essential much

better (ONLY 2 student complaints about doing it this year!)• Student engagement in assessment early on (not end-loaded)• Giving feedback BEFORE summative assessment enables

students to use feedback for the Summative assessment• By linking to employability in Exercise 2 – hopefully enables

students to see links between what they are studying and possible future employment

• Life-Long Learning: how to use internet resources effectively when they no longer have easy access to University journal, books and e-books

Other Useful Resources• JISC Design Studio http://jiscdesignstudio.pbworks.com

– – lots of material on assessment, feedback and how to integrate this into curriculum design etc. etc.

• The SCONUL Seven Pillars of Information Literacy Core Model for Higher Education

• http://www.sconul.ac.uk/sites/default/files/documents/coremodel.pdf• Brown, S. (2007) Feedback and Feed Forward.

http://www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/ftp/newsletters/bulletin22.pdf • Duncan, N., Prowse, s. Wakeman, C., Harrison, R. (2003/4) ‘Feed-Forward’:

Improving students use of tutor comments. Learning & Teaching Projects, University of Wolverhampton. http://wlv.openrepository.com/wlv/bitstream/2436/3778/1/Feed-forward%20pgs%20127-132.pdf

Positive ideas and innovations flow from an engagement with the scholarship of the subject, which often takes place in curriculum processes such as review and validation - if there is time and support for such conversations. Oxford Brookes and Leicester have pioneered the idea of course design intensives which explicitly ask curriculum teams to consider digital issues. The Viewpoints project has developed a curriculum design process that incorporates the seven pillars of information literacy. The involvement of specialist professionals in this process (e.g. library staff, TEL staff, academic advisors) allows new ideas to spread across subject boundaries. We have an emerging resource set 'Developing Digital Literacies in the Curriculum'