[12a] 11.00am: Horizon-scanning: designing assessments to equip students for 21st Century society – developing skills to understand key challenges and critically explore solutions.
Speaker
- Gemma Hobcraft, Senior Lecturer in Law, St Mary’s University
Abstract
Our current students will emerge into a world that has been turned on its head. More than ever, they need to be equipped with the skills to succeed. The World Economic Forum (WEF) were proved correct when (in 2018) they suggested key attributes needed for graduates in 2020 would include ‘cognitive flexibility’ and ‘complex problem solving’ skills! A pandemic did not deter WEF from publishing (in October 2020) key skills for 2025 graduates, which include ‘analytical thinking and innovation’ as well as ‘critical thinking and analysis’, ‘reasoning problem-solving and ideation’ and ‘creativity, originality and initiative’. This presentation explores assessments designed for a module for final year law students to aid the development of these WEF 2025 skills. This approach required students to creatively approach emerging areas of law to help to develop skills to assist with 21st Century society and lawyering within it. This talk will explore the benefits and pitfalls of this approach to assessment. It will invite participants to ‘horizon scan’ in their own field and reflect on how much 21st Century problems are built into assessment design to help to equip students with the opportunity to explore these challenges head on within the supportive environment of HE.
[12b] 11.30am: Exploring students' experience of learning through a co-operative learning model as an innovative pedagogical approach to learning.
Speakers
- Nic Evans, Programme Director, Physical Education, Sport and Youth Development Undergraduate programme, St Mary’s University
- Dr Michelle Flemmons, Senior Lecturer, Physical Education, Sport and Youth Development, St Mary’s University
- St Mary’s University UG students.
Abstract
Developing Creativity within Individual Activities module builds upon students’ experience and deepens their knowledge of teaching and coaching individual activities. Students engaged in seminars and practical workshops online to observe and support coaching/ teaching experiences through the co – operative learning model. Additionally, by learning the model through the model, this enabled students to plan with clarity, critically appraise and reflect on their own and others’ teaching and coaching practice. Adopting this pedagogical approach immersed students in an engaging and meaningful way through practical application and embodied experiences in their own environments. This fostered a deepened understanding of how CL could be used to develop creativity through gymnastics-based activity, dance, and OAA in a variety of different settings. Following lockdown and the return of face-to-face delivery, students were able to demonstrate real depth in their practical and theoretical understanding of the model through the planning and delivery of lessons to small groups. Students will reflect on experiences of becoming experts in their field, through immersive practice and taking ownership of their learning through the non – negotiables embedded within the model. Furthermore, the staff team will provide critical reflection on their collaborative knowledge and application of the model within higher education.
[13a] 11.00am University Students' Experiences of Remote Learning throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Speaker
- Ameera Ali, Post-Doctoral Researcher, York University.
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the ways educators have engaged with teaching, and subsequently, the ways that students have engaged in learning. Although remote learning is not a new practice, remote learning during a global pandemic is indeed a unique experience. This presentation will discuss preliminary findings from a current study on university students’ experiences of remote learning throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This research utilized individual interviews to speak with undergraduate and graduate students to gain a first-hand account of student experiences during this time. This presentation will fundamentally underscore the ways that students are experts in their own learning and the online experience by emphasizing the unique and direct perspectives they contribute to the topic of online learning. Moreover, this presentation strives to illuminate the varied experiences students’ share to move away from a ‘universal’ understanding of the student body and rather diversify student experiences. Topics to be discussed include advantages, disadvantages, and suggestions for future practice, as discussed by the student participants.
[13b] 11.30am Covid Keeps- What the pandemic has taught us about how we can reshape teaching and learning in higher education.
Speaker
- Viki Veale, Senior Lecturer, Early Years and Primary Education, St Mary’s University.
Abstract
This 15-minute oral presentation focuses on the ways that professional expertise is acquired and shaped through practical experience and critical self-reflection. Engagement data, qualitative written feedback and video reflections reveal how the ways of communicating and capturing learning explored in response to the pandemic have supported students. Reflecting on these changes, the pandemic has provided an opportunity to gain expertise and to reshape teaching and learning in higher education so that students and lecturers move into the 21st century together.