Collectively worth 10%, this assessment replaces tutorial participation marks. It encourages collaborative reflexivity through weekly electronic group journals and peer assessment. In small groups students craft 200-300 word responses to experiential questions, uploading to Blackboard. Suited to introductory/elective courses, this technique focuses on applying foundational disciplinary knowledge to personal experience.

Short (15-20 minutes) in-class practical quizzes in which students rotate around a room of artefacts. Designed to teach and test practical skills and/or the practical application of knowledge, these quizzes are most effectively administered intermittently (2-6 per semester) to test cumulative knowledge and to provide regular feedback on their learning.

Students are set discipline-specific problem-based exercises for completion during class. The objective is to craft a written response (1500 words) to the problem, or use group collaboration to develop and deliver a 10-15 minute presentation proposing a solution. This assessment requires active problem solving and engagement with relevant web sources.

Students complete a 3 hour in-class simulation where a hypothetical scenario occurs (in POLS7255, a foreign policy negotiation). Students form groups representing key stakeholders and must accurately represent their interests. Students prepare for the simulation (scheduled towards the end of semester) in advance and are assessed on preparation and participation.

Likened to a video essay, this technique sees students design and conduct an individual practical or experiential experiment based on course principles, documenting it (including background, rationale, results and implications) in a 10 minute YouTube video. Videos are edited and published online, with some being potentially translated into scholarly publications.

This five part assessment task (presented in a Blackboard learning module) is designed to build foundational research skills, provide meaningful engagement with library resources, and prepare students for a major assessment item.

SCIE1000 covers mathematics, computer programming, communication, science and modelling. The main goal is to help students see that similar tools and approaches can be applied in a wide range of discipline areas and contexts. So my goal was mostly to develop students’ abilities and confidence in transferring knowledge from one context to another context that may initially appear to be quite distinct, but in reality the same general approaches apply. This is important in this course because we teach students from all areas of science.