Developed from a desire to offer authentic assessment with potential real world professional or employability outcomes, this technique sees students develop an editorial report for a partial manuscript drafted by a bona fide industry professional. In WRIT7070 this takes the form of an extract of unpublished fiction authored by a practised fiction writer, but could be easily appropriated across HASS courses with the discipline-specific text and the specific editorial tasks informing the necessary approach. For example, Social and Political Science students might provide reviewer comments on draft journal articles or grant proposals; while Music students could offer creative feedback on original scores etc. One of the key professional capabilities this technique fosters is that of constructive critique, wherein students must strategically construct concise, measured, yet critically-informed feedback in a professional context. As this task engages with industry professionals it is best suited to final year or postgraduate cohorts, but could be successfully delivered as a hypothetical exercise in undergraduate courses. Students who excel at this task can ideally include this assessment as part of a professional portfolio when applying for a range of applied or scholarly positions, especially if the author endorses their recommendations and acknowledge students in subsequently published works.
Details
- CLASS SIZE
- 40-60
- CLASS LEVEL
- Post-graduate
- ASSESSMENT SECURITY
- High security
- TIME REQUIREMENTS
- Medium time
- FEATURES
- Authentic, Online
- TAGS
- report, editing
Advantages
Enhances potential employability by inviting students into contemporary professional practices. Hones in-depth industry knowledge through an applied task, whilst encouraging strategic and constructive communication. Transfers easily to any discipline in which a peer review process is a part of professional practice (as is the case in all HaSS disciplines).
Challenges
Some students may struggle with critiquing the works of an established professional. This can be addressed by including learning activities throughout the course in which students constructively critique each other's work (with emphasis being placed on delivering critical appraisal).
Tips for implementation
Care should be taken to source a manuscript from an individual who will be receptive to critiques that may require refining or lack subtlety. If the course coordinator has drafts in progress they may wish to use their own material.
How it supports academic integrity
Students respond to an unpublished, original and contemporary manuscript, hence the likelihood of plagiarism is markedly reduced. To adequately complete the task students also need to actively participate in formative class exercises, in which staff can observe any discrepancies in students' in-class work as compared to a final report (as a means of identifying outsourced material).
Professor Kim Wilkins
k.wilkins@uq.edu.au
Kim Wilkins is a recognised expert on creative practice, popular literature, and the publishing industry. She is the author of more than 30 full-length works of fiction, and her work is translated into more than 20 languages globally. Her scholarly research centres on creative communities, such as writing groups and fan cultures. She is most recently the author of Genre Worlds: Popular Fiction and 21st-Century Book Culture (with Beth Driscoll and Lisa Fletcher), which outlines a new theory for understanding popular fiction through its related industrial, social, and textual pleasures and processes.
Kim is also passionate about interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaboration and methodologies, and is currently undertaking funded research on technology foresight with Dr Helen Marshall for the Commonwealth Department of Defence. She leads creativity workshops for academics in other disciplines, to help them imagine different perspectives on research problems and their stakeholders, and has worked on teams researching digital health, defence innovation, and zero net emissions in agriculture. Since 2019, she has served a leadership role as Deputy ADR in the Faculty of HASS, with a special interest in research training and HDR strategy. Find out more