Sequence
Adaptations to keep student engagement alive in Zoom
One of my elective law courses, Asian Legal Systems, presented a challenge. As well as enabling students understand how law and legal institutions in Asia operate in different and distinctive ways, the design of this comparative law course was to facilitate discussion and the sharing of perspectives thus maximising student input. Keeping these dynamics alive in Zoom classes led to several modifications in assessment.
Assessment method
Creative Genre Writing with Reflection
Designed to develop student's critical awareness of their own writing practice and to learn modes of creative and reflective written genres, this assessment sees student write a short creative genre piece (in the case of WRIT1005 students write a children's short story) and produce an accompanying 500-word critical reflection.
Assessment method
Critical Reflection (News Media)
In this formative assessment, students select a recent news media item (print, electronic, multimedia, social media etc.) and conduct a short (500-700 word) critical reflection that draws on the foundational theoretical and disciplinary concepts from the course.
Identity verified
Flip: The academic Tik-Tok
Flip is an online video-based social learning platform, that allows students to see each other online, learn from one another through vlogging, and connect to each other on a socio-emotional level, in their own time (asynchronously). Students can provide video responses to other students or teacher and can provide private or open feedback to all students.
Assessment method
Formative Writing Tasks and Online Portfolio
Designed with an explicit focus on developing students writing capabilities (especially in relation to professional and/or vocational genres), this assessment sees students produce weekly written pieces of varying genres for which they receive qualitative feedback. Students must then choose 4 of these written pieces for revision and inclusion in a summative online portfolioportfolio.
Assessment method
Online Disputation
Appropriated from traditional philosophical teaching methods, this assessment sees students complete three 'disputations' throughout the semester in which they articulate and debate opposing positions in relation to a set question or topic based on course content. The aim is to deepen students understanding of, and ability to articulate, core course concepts.
Group
Problem Based Learning Workshop Activities
Underpinned by a problem-based learning pedagogy (PBL), this assessment sees students attend weekly workshops where they are presented with a scenario based on weekly course content (and related to a contemporary, real-world issue). Students work in small groups to formulate a response or solution to the problem/s, discussed in class.
Identity verified, Sequence
Reflective Workbook
This workbook technique uses progressive learning pedagogies to inform weekly activities that dynamically build on course content. Through formative and summative tasks, students complete one activity per week for the course duration. Feedback is regularly provided for formative tasks to enhance engagement and promote learning outcomes for higher-level summative tasks.
Peer-assessed
Short Creative Writing Piece
This assessment is primarily designed to test students' compositional dexterity by focusing on emulating the selected genre. A portion of the overall mark is allocated for originality and creativity. While students must adhere to stylistic requirements they are free to write on a topic of their choosing, thus offering a personalised approach to learning.