Reflective Assessment #1: Evaluating Curriculum Design Practices

My assessment piece for reflecting on my teaching and learning practices, now and emerging

As I was early tropical morning chasing chickens about the run (legs need tending to keep mites at bay), I thought: How about updating your 13 y.o. Grad Cert of Tertiary Teaching & Learning Development (GCoLTaD)?

And so the becoming-a-student journey began…again. Motivating me is the yearn for professional development to deliver quality tutoring to psychology and statistics students. Anyways… here is a share of my first assessment (for the record, the rubric box for Excellent was ticked, #borntostrive).

Nota bene. As I am not applying for Convenor/Coordinator/Lecturer roles, these reflections are based on my experience as a tutor and my potential workshop designs.

Ornamental Lion Composed of Scrolls, Holding Pens, H. E. Forbes, c. 18th Century, pen and ink, MET Collection

Evaluation of my Course Design Practices

Strengths

The first course design practice I consider a strength for [Research Methods 101] is Engaging and Empowering Pedagogies. As such, in my teaching practice I strive to encourage active, authentic, and collaborative approaches to learning (Adeoye et al., 2024).

Predominantly, I draw on problem-based learning and flipped classroom techniques. This blend aims to provide students with a range of engaging learning activities and assessments that target the expected learning outcomes, such as the capacity for constructive self and peer critique, team and individual research, and the development of professional resilience and collaborative skills.

My second strength in course design is Future-Capable Graduates, as I actively prepare students for real-world ethical dilemmas, research design complexities, and conflicts within research teams (e.g., viewpoint diversity) through career development activities (Bridgestock, 2020). Digital and statistical literacies are crucial, along with fostering an appreciation for interdisciplinary differences and overlap.

Weaknesses
My weaknesses in course design practices include Partnership-Based Learning, due to policy restrictions on time allocated for Discussion Board monitoring and the lack of additional support staff for tutorials [personal communications, HE students and educators, 2024], which would enable students to collaborate on lesson and assessment design (e.g., Lubicz-Nawrocka & Owen, 2022). Additionally, my ability to provide timely, responsive action to formative structured feedback aligned with students' learning needs is limited, due to policy.

When policies do not support the use of this design practice, efforts to demonstrate its value in the re-design of the curriculum become moot (e.g., Kallio et al., 2020).

A Locally and Globally Connected practice could also be strengthened by incorporating more critique of recent news articles and current issues, international commitment documents, resource links, and local industry concepts and practices.

Guest speakers from the community would be a valuable addition; however, current policies for reimbursing their time are cumbersome and disrespectful, given the long processing times for payments. Realistically, it is difficult to arrange without the educator covering the costs from their own pay [personal communications, HE educators and payroll staff, 2019- current).

Learning & Teaching Assumptions

I assume that learning is collaborative dialogue, and that student feedback can guide improvements in my course design practices. Additionally, when students take greater ownership of their learning, such as through co-designing curriculum elements, it fosters their autonomy as learners.

Real-world application provides relevant opportunities for students to implement their knowledge, and considering cultural competencies can enhance course design by integrating diverse ways of knowing, being, and doing.

While these assumptions can increase engagement and practical skills, they also risk overwhelming students who lack confidence in their ability to learn or who may not see the value of their prior knowledge in current learning tasks (e.g., Morley & Jamil, 2020)

Course Design Quality Evaluation

In general, my course design practices are moderate to strong in creating effective learning environments, aligning learning outcomes, assessment for learning, and supporting teaching and learning throughout the course.

Areas for improvement include providing more structured formative feedback on students’ prior knowledge and finding creative ways to partner with students in co-designing elements of the course, despite policy limitations.

SMART Goal for Course Design

I will enhance the design of [Research Methods 101] by introducing a collaborative assessment task that requires integrating five relevant global and local resources into learning activities aligned with curriculum outcomes (Specific; Bulanov et al., 2024).

The success of this course design will be measured through student engagement and feedback during scaffolded class activities, including co-designing the rubric via Padlet discussion boards (I will code for themes using NVivo; Braun & Clarke, 2006), as well as assessment grades. Success criteria include at least 75% of students demonstrating consistent engagement and feedback, and achieving a minimum of a Credit (65-74%) on the assessment (Measurable; Bach Do et al., 2024).

I will consult with my line manager to plan and pilot the assessment and learning activities in order to determine the validity of the assessment (Achievable; Locke, 1968). These actions directly align with my learning and teaching assumptions, the [Research Methods 101] curriculum outcomes, and the student feedback I have gathered to date (Relevant; Poe et al., 2021).

By the start of T3, 2025, the assessment will be implemented for the 13-week semester (Timed; Woods et al., 2024).

En pige stående ved et vindue, Christian Aigens between 1888 and 1940, oil on canvas, Public Domain

Reflecting on my ‘Designing for Learning’ Capabilities

I can see how I have aligned with the [Research Methods 101] learning outcomes by considering the learning activities used during tutorials, discussion boards, and drop-in session, through the use of a curriculum map.

Having been a psychology and statistics tutor for over a decade, I have developed skills in designing for learning through teaching, marking, and providing feedback, as well as through ongoing professional development efforts.

I am passionate about enhancing my role as an educator to provide quality learning opportunities for students. However, due to not pursuing a permanent position, I have limited my involvement to providing feedback to the field of higher ed in the form of publication.

Nonetheless, completing the GCoLTaD program may enable me to contribute to curriculum changes and successfully 'pitch' a comprehensive, evidence-based concept to an scholarship of learning and teaching team.

Designing Learning Outcomes

When I reflect on the pattern of my goals as an educator in learning design being met or not, I feel more confident in my ability to meet student learning needs and adjust my approach accordingly.

My active development of skills and competencies in learning design stands out, and I can see improvement based on feedback from both students and peer colleagues. However, this data could be interpreted as others telling me what I want to hear, or it may reflect a bias toward self-fulfilling prophecy or confirmation bias. To mitigate this, I could benefit from discussing my curriculum choices more frequently with knowledgeable colleagues.

Designing Assessment for Learning

I’d like to improve my diagnostic assessment methods to gain a clearer understanding of what students bring to the table before engaging with the material.

Additionally, I want to better identify their misconceptions about the subject’s goals at the start of the unit. This would allow me to tailor content delivery more effectively to meet identified needs and compare their progress in assessments against these baseline findings.

Designing Learning & Teaching Across a Program
Early in the course, I could gather more information about students' learning preferences and cultural aspects they’d like me to consider incorporating, as well as their diversity of viewpoints on the scheduled weekly topics.

This would help toward co-creation of some content and to pre-plan guest speakers from the local community, as well as international contributors, using universal design platforms to better suit class composition.

Designing Learning Environments

I could attend more to spatial, temporal, and social features of online learning environments. For instance, I could design cyber learning activities that can be conducted in a variety of settings, such as outdoors [with the chickens!] or at an event.

Additionally, I could promote collaborative learning by integrating more group projects or peer discussions, using tools like breakout rooms, discussion board badges, friendly competitions, and opportunities for co-creating content.

SMART Goal for Capability Development

I will collaborate with at least three colleagues (Sinnayah et al., 2023) to discuss and review my curriculum design choices for [Research Methods 101], focusing on student engagement, learning outcomes, and assessment alignment (Specific; Bulanov et al., 2024).

Success will be measured by: scheduling nine meetings before the end of the T3 2024; incorporating student feedback from T1 and T2; as well as collegial feedback regarding future curriculum adjustments (I will code for themes using NVivo; Braun & Clarke, 2006)(Measurable; Bach Do et al., 2024).

I will set aside flexible meeting times, considering the workload of educator colleagues, and use Zoom and shared documents for collaboration (Achievable; Locke, 1968).

This process will broaden my understanding of diverse perspectives, as well as needs and expectations to consider, while reducing potential confirmation bias in my curriculum design (Relevant; Poe et al., 2021).

I will complete these meetings, consolidate my codes and create themes, and adjust the curriculum to present a potential line manager, within three months (i.e., by T2, 2025) (Timed; Woods et al., 2024).

Light & Life~
Charmayne

References
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