Assessment

Dr Jen Harvey, DIT and Dr Marion Palmer, IADT
Wed Dec 15th at 1.10pm
Assessment

This webinar looks at assessment from the point of view of practice. Critical incidents are events that change the way you think. A critical incident in assessment might be an event - remark, action, observation - that changed the way in which you thought about assessment. Before the webinar starts, from your work experience, please try and identify a critical incident related to assessment. During the webinar we will be analysing sample critical incidents, identifying the issues in assessment practice and finding ways in which they can be addressed. The relevance of programme and modules assessment strategies will be discussed. Do join in and take part. 

Dr Jen Harvey is currently the Head of the Learning, Teaching and Technology Centre (LTTC) of the Dublin Institute of Technology. The LTTC provides a range of academic development and support for staff involved in third level teaching including a suite of Postgraduate Programmes. Jen has been in this role from 2003, prior to this she was the DIT Head of Distance Education. Before moving to Dublin she worked as an Implementation Consultant for the LTDI a SHEFC funded project based in ICBL, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh. Jen is involved in a number of local and national collaborative Strategic Innovation Projects and has recently initiated the DIT Realigning Assessment (and Feedback) to support Lifelong Learning (ReALL) project within the DIT. In addition to her interest in using assessment and feedback to support learning,current research interests relate to the use of technology to support learning, student assessment strategies, practitioner based evaluations and Communities of Practice.

Dr Marion Palmer is Head of the Department of Learning Sciences at IADT. She is chair of the Institute’s Teaching and Learning Committee. Prior to becoming Head of Department Marion was a lecturer at IADT, teaching instructional design, physics, and science and working in science education. Marion is a member of the Council of the Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC) and has been awarded a doctorate in education at Queen’s University Belfast on teaching in Institutes of Technology.

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A Demonstration of Student Diary Pro

Terry Maguire

 ITT Dublin
 Thursday, December 16, 2010 from 12:10 PM - 1:00 PM (GMT)

This is not strictly part of the webinar series, but we thought we would list it here as many of the subscribers would be interested in this Moodle add-on  which can be used for monitoring student projects or placements or even as a light-weight e-portfolio tool.

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Plagiarism, intertextuality and the ethical (re-)use of information

Plagiarism, intertextuality and the ethical (re-)use of information

Dr Perry Share

Head of Department of Humanities
Institute of Technology, Sligo.

Wednesday, December 08, 2010 from 1:10 PM - 2:00 PM (GMT)

Regularly, in the Irish and international media, there are eruptions of concern about ‘plagiarism’ in third level institutions, invariably linked to words like ‘standards’, ‘dumbing down’, ‘cheating’ and, of course, ‘the Internet’. From time to time higher education institutions enact new policies and procedures, investments are made in ‘plagiarism detection software’ and – very occasionally – some scapegoats are ‘punished’ as an example to others.

Arguably there is no real development in our understanding of the issues involved. The more enlightened and resource-rich institutions support comprehensive academic writing centres and programmes; they seek to address some issues of assessment; and they send their staff on training courses and to international plagiarism conferences. Others just turn a ‘blind eye’ to what many of their staff (and indeed students) see as unacceptable practice.

This webinar argues that we need to reconceptualise our approach to ‘plagiarism’ as part of a wholesale reshaping of teaching and learning processes. In particular, the development and ubiquitous adoption of digital technology has fundamentally altered the nature of education to an extent not seen since the development of the printing press. Notions of writing, originality, research, collaboration, identity, learning and teaching are literally up for grabs.

The webinar outlines the pedagogical challenges posed by contemporary and emergent digital technologies; it locates intertextuality and repurposing of materials in a broader cultural context – the one inhabited by all our students – and asks about the implications for our practice. It points to hidden issues of power and authority in the academic and broader worlds and argues that ‘plagiarism’ is an issue related to the ethical use of information.

We will explore – interactively – some of these ethical issues and dilemmas and consider how learners can be supported in ethical decision-making around use/re-use of material: based in the idea that assessment of learning is above all a communicative process. An example from my own teaching practice will be offered for consideration.

Finally the webinar will consider how these issues might be addressed through educational integrity policies and processes at the institutional level.

Dr Perry Share is Head of Department of Humanities at the Institute of Technology, Sligo, Ireland. He is a sociologist by training and has lectured for over 20 years in Australia and Ireland in a broad range of areas in sociology and communication. He is the co-author of the widely used text A sociology of Ireland and has also co-edited a number of texts in the fields of sociology and social care practice. His current research interests are varied, but include the sociology of food and eating; professionalisation; and plagiarism and intertextuality. He completed an MA in Educational Management at Waterford Institute of Technology, and his minor thesis for that award – Managing intertexuality - has been partially repurposed for the purpose of this webinar.  He has participated in and presented at the international conferences on plagiarism held biennially in Newcastle/Gateshead in the UK.

Click here to access the recording.

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Please use this blog to post comments and questions before and after the webinar.