"Is this your first year as a lecturer or have you been lecturing for several years already? Do you sometimes feel daunted or overwhelmed by the thought of the academic year ahead? Are there times you get that Groundhog Day feeling and wish you could do things differently? Are there aspects of your teaching and assessment practice that frustrate and annoy you? The Teaching and Learning Unit (TLU), part of the Office of Registrar and VP for Academic Affairs, was formed to support the work of the Registrar in a wide range of quality enhancement initiatives associated with teaching and learning. In this session, we aimed to: Introduce you to the TLU Team – who we are and what we do? Give an insight into the supports and services available from the TLU that can help you in your day-to day role from: Professional Development Opportunities such as our MA in Teaching & Learning in Higher Education and the variety of workshops and seminars we offer throughout the year Research and Funding Opportunities that you can access Resources we have developed in conjunction with experts in the field of teaching and learning Projects that we are pursuing Gain an understanding from you of any other ways you would like our help"

"How can we design assessment tasks, so they inspire our students to learn? How can we use assessment to enthuse our learners, and keep them engaged? What are the processes which underpin effective feedback and what are some of the barriers and challenges we face in helping students’ uptake of feedback? How can we approach feedback so that it is meaningful and useful to students, but manageable for ourselves? How far and in what ways do we involve students in the process of evaluative judgment, so they learn to see how they are going while they are working on tasks? These are some of the questions and issues that were explored and discussed in this interactive seminar on engaging students in assessment and feedback processes. Participants who attended this: Explored key principles underpinning the design of Assessment for Learning (AfL) in Higher Education (Sambell et al, 2013), which include assessment for and as learning; Discussed the benefits, challenges and strategies colleagues in different disciplines use to engage learners as productively as possible in assessment and feedback processes; Gained access to practical AfL resources, shared ideas with each other and considered pragmatic tactics to develop students’ assessment and feedback literacy."

This seminar considered key theoretical perspectives on work-based assessment. It discussed: The nature of work-based learning and its role in: Developing key graduate skills The wider life-long learning society. Different approaches to work-based learning practice, including the new apprenticeship model. The context of learning, including the role and responsibilities of both the learner and the employer, with a focus on authentic assessment approaches that support individualised learning. Participants were encouraged to bring along module descriptors, related to learning in the workplace, so that these theoretical perspectives could be applied to practice. n the workshop component, participants, in small groups, discussed, critiqued and developed the methods and processes that they currently use to assess placements in their own disciplines. They were encouraged to examine the ways in which current theory and best practice could inform and develop their disciplinary approaches.

"Assessment is probably the most important thing we can do to help our students learn. Traditionally, our assessment practices tend to be summative, for the purposes of progression and completion, rather than formative, for the purposes of improving instruction and student learning. If assessment is to be an integral part of student learning, formative assessment must be at the heart of the process. Formative assessment refers to a wide variety of methods that educators can use to conduct in-process evaluations of student comprehension, learning needs, and academic progress during a lesson, module, or programme. Formative assessments help educators identify concepts that students are struggling to understand, skills they are having difficulty acquiring, or learning standards they have not yet achieved so that adjustments can be made to lessons, instructional techniques, and academic support. If we wish to use assessment as a tool to enhance student learning the provision of formative feedback is crucial. We need to help students understand not only where they have gone wrong, but also what they need to do to improve and when they have done well, we need to help them understand what is good about their work and how they can build on it and develop further. This workshop was aimed at all academic staff, whether new to the whole notion of formative assessment and feedback, or those who wanted to improve their feedback practice to students, or those looking for innovative ideas on how to enhance their current practices. It provided participants with an opportunity to think about the benefits of formative assessment and providing formative feedback to learners and an opportunity to examine some case studies of how this can be done in practice."

"Assessment is a complex, nuanced and highly important process and if we want students to engage fully, we must make it really meaningful to them and convince them that there is merit in the activities we ask them to undertake. To focus students’ effort and improve their engagement with learning, we need to take a fresh look at our current practice to make sure assessment is for rather than just of learning, with students learning while they are being assessed rather than it being merely a summative end process. We also need to ensure that we provide explicit and implicit messages to students and indeed all other stakeholders about how we assess. By the end of this workshop, participants had had opportunities to: Consider how to make assessment truly integrated with the learning process; Review what kinds of feedback can be helpful to students in achieving their potential; Discuss how to make assessment manageable without losing the learning payoff that fit-for-purpose assessment can bring."

How can we inspire our students to learn? How can we engage them, and keep them engaged? How best can we use the tools available to us in this digital age to enthuse them? What are the processes which underpin successful learning now? How can we ourselves be inspired and enthused, so that we enjoy our work as teachers more than ever? These are some of the questions that were explored in this interactive workshop on learning and teaching in the 21st Century. By the end of this workshop, participants had: Explored some answers to the questions above, and thought of better ones; Shared ideas with each other and with Phil; Discussed the need to re-invent feedback and assessment for the 21st Century

"If we want to improve students’ engagement with learning, a key focus of enhancement can be refreshing our approaches to assessment. Sometimes we need to take a fresh look at our current practice to ensure assessment is for rather than just of learning. In addition, we as educators in higher education understand the importance of giving good feedback to students, both to maximize achievement and to support retention. Research in the field suggests that good feedback has a significant impact on student achievement, enabling students to become adept at judging the quality of their own work during its production. In this workshop, the following aspects of assessment were considered: Fit for purpose assessment: designing assessments to promote student learning Assessing more students: ways of using productive assessment with large numbers Assessing first-year students well to promote retention Streamlining assessment: giving feedback effectively and efficiently"

The literature review is a core component of many, if not all, final year programmes at third level. Despite the importance of this, many undergraduate students are not given the instructional tools to complete the onerous tasks of organising and planning a literature review. This seminar presented results of a pilot study initiated by the Department of Biological Sciences with over 100 final year undergraduate life science students. These students attended a 1-hour weekly instructional lecture as part of the literature review module. The seminar was targeted at academic staff and focused on: What tools were made available to students How well students engaged with the tools What the learning experience was for both lecturers and students How this approach could be modified across different disciplines

Providing learners with feedback is known to be one of the most impactful things we can do to enhance learning, it can also be very time-consuming. Often it also seems that learners are not acting on that feedback. This session will explore issues with feedback, and ways in which learners can be provided with feedback that are both efficient and effective for us. We will discuss the ‘power of words’ and explore the value of commenting constructively on assignments and assessments.

Providing learners with feedback is known to be one of the most impactful things we can do to enhance learning, it can also be very time-consuming. Often it also seems that learners are not acting on that feedback. This session will explore issues with feedback, and ways in which learners can be provided with feedback that are both efficient and effective for us. We will discuss the ‘power of words’ and explore the value of commenting constructively on assignments and assessments.

Using phenomenological and performative action research methods as a way to explore space, place and context Collette and Bill outlined their recent research projects and showed how the research outcomes were introduced into the Year 1 curriculum.

Spoken language is, arguably, the primary means by which teachers teach and students learn. Much of the literature on language in classrooms has focused on disc...

When students answer an in-class conceptual question individually using clickers, discuss it with their neighbors, and then revote on the same question, the percentage of correct answers typically increases. This outcome could result from gains in understanding during discussion, or simply from peer …

"Designing and managing in-class discussions is more challenging than the pause procedure or minute paper, but there is convincing evidence that collaborative learning works. This session will model an in-class discussion and discuss some of the evidence that supports this strategy."

"Designing and managing in-class discussions is more challenging than the pause procedure or minute paper, but there is convincing evidence that collaborative learning works. This session will model an in-class discussion and discuss some of the evidence that supports this strategy."

Three Student Team Learning techniques have been extensively researched and found to significantly increase student learning. In Student Teams Achievement...

Cooperative learning is an example of how theory validated by research may be applied to instructional practice. The major theoretical base for...

The jigsaw technique is a cooperative learning approach that reduces racial conflict among school children, promotes better learning, improves student motivation, and increases enjoyment of the learning experience.

Virtual reality simulators have shown to be valid and useful tools for training psychomotor skills for endoscopic surgery. Discussion arises how to integrate these simulators into the surgical training curriculum. Distributed training is referred to as short training periods, with rest periods in between. Massed training is training in continuous and longer training blocks. This study investigates the difference between distributed and massed training on the initial development and retention of psychomotor skills on a virtual reality simulator. Four groups of eight medical students lacking any experience in endoscopic training were created. Two groups trained in a distributed fashion, one group trained in a massed fashion and the last group not at all (control group). All performed a post-test immediately after finishing their training schedule. Two months after this test a second post- test was performed. The one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Post-Hoc test Tukey-Bonferoni was used to determine differences in mean scores between the four groups, whereas a p-value ≤ 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Distributed training resulted in higher scores and a better retention of relevant psychomotor skills. Distributed as well as massed training resulted in better scores and retention of skills than no training at all. Our study clearly shows that distributed training yields better results in psychomotor endoscopic skills. Therefore, in order to train as efficient as possible, training programs should be (re)-programmed accordingly.

PDF | A major decision that must be made during study pertains to the distribution, or the scheduling, of study. In this paper, we review the literature... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate

"The spacing effect refers to the process of spacing a topic that is to be learned over time, rather than teaching the topic in an intensive session. The implication for our modules is that rather than teaching all of LO1 in weeks 1 and 2 (for example) we should consider if it is possible to divide the topic and teach some in week 1 and then revisit (perhaps in greater depth) later on in the semester. The topic is then spaced out over the semester. The available evidence tells us that this is a more effective strategy. This session will explore this strategy in more detail and present some of the evidence that supports this strategy"

In-course assessment, such as midterms, quizzes or presentations, is often an integral part of higher education courses. These so-called intermediate assessments influence students’ final grades. T...

PDF | Engaging in a test over previously studied information can serve as a potent learning event, a phenomenon referred to as the testing effect.... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate

"Having students retrieve information from long-term memory on a regular basis, is known to have a positive impact on learning. This is especially true when learners need to put a bit of effort into that retrieval process. Hence providing opportunities for learners to take tests (e.g. computer based multiple choice tests) can be a very effective strategy. This session will examine some of the evidence in favour of testing and discuss options for using this strategy."

"Having students retrieve information from long-term memory on a regular basis, is known to have a positive impact on learning. This is especially true when learners need to put a bit of effort into that retrieval process. Hence providing opportunities for learners to take tests (e.g. computer based multiple choice tests) can be a very effective strategy. This session will examine some of the evidence in favour of testing and discuss options for using this strategy."

This study is a quantitative approach to unravel the effect of pause procedure on two dependent variables (student performance and student...

The pause procedure and minute paper are two simple teaching strategies that can be introduced into any lecture. This session will provide examples of their use in action and point to some evidence of their effectiveness.

The pause procedure and minute paper are two simple teaching strategies that can be introduced into any lecture. This session will provide examples of their use in action and point to some evidence of their effectiveness.

Instructors often state that they provide lots of feedback but to little effect. This session will explore some of the reasons why this may happen and outline options for engaging students with assessment and feedback. In particular, providing choice, opportunities to apply feedback and cultivating trust are all known to encourage students to engage with the assessment processes.

Instructors often state that they provide lots of feedback but to little effect. This session will explore some of the reasons why this may happen and outline options for engaging students with assessment and feedback. In particular, providing choice, opportunities to apply feedback and cultivating trust are all known to encourage students to engage with the assessment processes.