One of Sarah's last big jobs before heading off for maternity leave was to work with me (Nancy) on gathering together all the projects, events, changes, news, awards and accomplishments for the period 2015-19 and present them in a form that wouldn't put the reader to sleep. I think we've managed that by creating a document that balances coverage with brevity.
If you'd like to see what the BLE has been doing for the last four years (or to remind yourself what you've done, if you've been involved in any of our projects or events) you can download a copy from the BLE website ble.ac.uk/about (direct link to report).
Our new Open Access e-book provides valuable insight into the way technology can enhance assessment and feedback. It was launched formally on 26th October by Birkbeck’s Secretary Keith Harrison, with talks from the editors Leo Havemann (Birkbeck, University of London) and Sarah Sherman (BLE Consortium), three case study authors, and event sponsor Panopto.
Havemann, Leo; Sherman, Sarah (2017): Assessment, Feedback and Technology: Contexts and Case Studies in Bloomsbury. London: Bloomsbury Learning Environment. View and download from: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.5315224.v1
The Book
Book cover page
The book is a result of a two-year project on e-assessment and feedback run by the Bloomsbury Learning Environment (BLE), a collaboration between six institutions on issues around digital technology in Higher Education. It contains three research papers which capture snapshots of current practice, and 21 case studies from the BLE partner institutions and a little beyond.
The three papers focus on
the use of technology across the assessment lifecycle,
the roles played by administrative staff in assessment processes,
technology-supported assessment in distance learning.
The case studies are categorised under the headings:
alternative [assessment] tasks and formats,
students feeding back,
assessing at scale,
multimedia approaches, and
technical developments.
The 21 case studies report on examples of blogging, group assessment, peer, self and audiovisual feedback, on assessment in distance education, MOOCs and other online contexts, and on developments driven forward by Bloomsbury-based colleagues such as the My Feedback Report plugin for Moodle and the Coursework module.
Why you should read the e-book
BLE E-Book Launch Event
As one of the speakers at the entertaining launch event, I suggested three reasons why everybody involved in Higher Education should read this book, in particular the case studies:
Processes in context: The case studies succinctly describe assessment and feedback processes in context, so you can quickly decide whether these processes are transferable to your own situation, and you will get a basic prompt on how implement the assessment/feedback process.
Problems are highlighted: Some case studies don’t shy away from raising issues and difficulties, so you can judge for yourself whether these difficulties represent risks in your context, and how these risks can be managed.
Practical tips: All case studies follow the same structure. If you are in a hurry, make sure to read at least the Take Away sections of each case study, which are full of tips and tricks, many of which apply to situations beyond the case study.
Overall, this collection of papers and case studies on assessment and feedback is easily digestible and contributes to an exchange of good practice.
Me? Well, with Leo Havemann, I have spent a fair bit of time this summer putting together our long-awaited e-book, Assessment, Feedback and Technology: Contexts and Case Studies in Bloomsbury. The book is an amalgamation of the written outputs from the Bloomsbury Enhancing Assessment & Feedback project, which closed last year. The collection of research papers and case studies included offers a snapshot of the progress our Colleges have made in the processes around the Electronic Management of Assessment. This will (we hope) be of interest and real benefit to the education community at large.
The book will be freely available to download in the next few months - more details can be accessed here, including reserving a copy once it's available!
Improve your Moodle skills and enhance your online/blended teaching by participating in the BLOOC
The BLOOC (Bloomsbury Online Course) is enrolling now for teaching staff in the Bloomsbury Colleges. It starts on Monday 16th June 2014
If you teach at one of the five Bloomsbury Colleges (Birkbeck, IOE, LSHTM, RVC and SOAS) and want to find out more about using Moodle tools to create more interactive and dynamic online and blended learning classrooms, then enrol on the BLOOC.
The BLOOC is free and open to teaching staff in Birkbeck, IOE, LSHTM, RVC and SOAS. It is located on the BLE hub, to which all five college Moodle sites are connected.
The course is fully online and will take only 3 hours of your week; it will last 4 weeks in total, but the course is designed so you can take it as a whole, or simply pop in for the weeks that especially interest you.
Week One - using audio and video
Week Two - encouraging student production with wikis and blogs
Week Three - teaching synchronously in virtual classrooms
Week Four - subverting multiple choice questions for deep learning
If you've never taken an online course before, this is your chance to experience what it is like. You will become part of a network of Bloomsbury educators and you will be invited to meet up in person, discuss experiences and provide feedback when the course ends at our e-learning fayre on 16 July 2014 at the IOE.
ENROL NOW to join us in June and be part of the BLOOC.
