Testing the Waters: Innovative Student-Centred Assessment Design
"This is the one element of college life I'm really not looking forward to - Going back to exams that are purely memory based when I have a neurological condition that clearly impacts my memory, focus and energy levels. It just upsets me knowing that I'm ultimately going to end up with a worse degree than I'm capable of.”
Student Quote – AHEAD Learning from Home 2021 Research Participant
When it comes to delivering assessment, often practicality and tradition trumps good inclusive design within our further and higher education programmes. The fixed time written examination remains the dominant form of assessment and over assessment is prevalent (National Forum, 2016), despite the increasing variability in our learner cohort (AHEAD,2021) and a clear student preference for more continuous and open book assessment (IUA, 2021). Many learners experience significant anxiety caused by over assessment, the bunching of assessment deadlines and a lack of choice in how they demonstrate their learning. This day of the conference will explore innovative, student-centred approaches to assessment that don't sacrifice academic rigour.
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Workshop Session (Live Only) 12:00-13:00
Workshop Session (Live Only) 12:00-13:00
Offering Equitable Choice in Assessment (Live Only)
- Geraldine O'Neill, University College DublinDr Lisa Padden, University College Dublin
Geraldine O'Neill University College Dublin
Geraldine is an Associate Professor, Educational Developer and is Programme Director of the accredited programmes in University Teaching and Learning in UCD. She worked for two years in the National Forum leading the Assessment Enhancement theme. Her key role is to support staff in the design, implementation and evaluation of their programmes and modules. She has particular practical and research expertise in the area of inclusive assessment and feedback.
Dr Lisa Padden University College Dublin
Dr Lisa Padden has worked in University College Dublin (UCD) since 2012 and her current role is as Programme Manager for UCD’s University for All initiative, based in UCD Access & Lifelong Learning. University for All is UCD’s whole-institution approach to student inclusion encompassing strategy and policy, teaching, learning and assessment, student supports and services, the built environment and technological infrastructure. Lisa worked with AHEAD to develop the Digital Badge for Universal Design in Teaching & Learning as part of the National Forum's Professional Development Framework. Lisa has been lead editor on three collections of UDL Case Studies and co-wrote the Toolkit for Inclusive Higher Education Institutions. Lisa’s research interests include Universal Design for Learning, widening participation, equitable access to education, and student inclusion
Lightning Session 14:00-15:00 (Live and Recorded)
Lightning Session 14:00-15:00 (Live and Recorded)
Accessibility in team work in post-secondary education: Using UDL to navigate a complex tension in pedagogical objectives
- Dr Frederic Fovet, Assistant Professor, School of Education, Thompson Rivers University
Dr Frederic Fovet Assistant Professor, School of Education, Thompson Rivers University
Frederic is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Thompson Rivers University. His research and practice both focus on Inclusion and UDL. He acts as UDL consultant to the K-12 and post-secondary sectors, domestically and internationally. Frederic has been offering Masters level courses in Education for eight years now. He focuses on both building learners’ UDL expertise within his courses and modelling UDL in his own design and classroom practices.
Design and Implementation of a Professional Development Offering for Inclusive Assessment in Higher Education
- Siobhan O'Neill, Centre for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning at UCCDr Laura Lee, Research Manager for CIRTL, UCC
Siobhan O'Neill Centre for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning at UCC
Siobhán O’Neill is a Research Support Officer in the Centre for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning at UCC. Siobhán is currently working on inclusive assessment initiative which aims to develop a professional development offering for teaching staff. Siobhán’s research interests include exploring innovative and creative approaches to teaching, learning, and assessment.
Dr Laura Lee Research Manager for CIRTL, UCC
Dr Laura Lee is the Research Manager in the Centre for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL).
Universal Design for Learning encourages assessment by design, but what exactly does this mean for educators? (Cast, 2015)?
- Dr Brian Butler, Advisor for Inclusive Education and Centre for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning Fellow, University College CorkDr Laura Lee, Research Manager for CIRTL, UCC
Dr Brian Butler Advisor for Inclusive Education and Centre for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning Fellow, University College Cork
Dr Brian Butler works with the Disability Support Service and is the Advisor for Inclusive Learning and Teaching at UCC. He is also a Teaching Fellow working with the Centre for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL) where he teaches on two online programmes for staff of the university. Brian and Laura have co-facilitated the Digital Badge in Universal Design for Learning for three years.
Academic Integrity - upholding our end of the bargain through offering choice in assessment
- Dara Ryder, CEO, AHEAD
Dara Ryder CEO, AHEAD
Dara Ryder is Chief Executive Officer of AHEAD, having previously managed AHEAD’s digital presence and developed a suite of online CPD programmes relating to inclusive practice in his role as Digital Media and eLearning Manager there.
After graduating from Queens University in 2005, Dara joined Dun Laoghaire College of Further Education as a lecturer, where he became interested in inclusive education when working first-hand with students with disabilities in his classroom. When the opportunity arose in 2008, he joined AHEAD where he has been working ever since on creating inclusive environments in education and employment for people with disabilities.
Keynote Session (Live and Recorded) 15:30-16:30
Keynote Session (Live and Recorded) 15:30-16:30
Exploring ungrading for inclusion - what is it and how does it work?
- Jesse Stommel, University of Denver
Jesse Stommel University of Denver
Jesse Stommel, Ph.D. is a faculty member in the Writing Program at University of Denver. He is co-founder of Digital Pedagogy Lab and Hybrid Pedagogy: the journal of critical digital pedagogy, and he earned his Ph.D. from University of Colorado Boulder. Stommel is co-author of An Urgency of Teachers: The Work of Critical Digital Pedagogy, co-editor of Disrupting the Digital Humanities, and co-editor of Critical Digital Pedagogy: a Collection. He is best known for his work as a champion of teachers and students in higher education, and he is an affiliate of the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice founded by Sara Goldrick-Rab, Ph.D. to support #RealCollege students.
An award-winning teacher, Stommel has taught for over 20 years in humanities disciplines in eight departments at six institutions, and he has designed over 30 courses in a range of subjects, including literature, writing, documentary film, and digital studies. Stommel’s work has drawn national and international attention: he has been invited to give keynotes and plenary talks by the Higher Education Academy, Coventry University, Duke University, Stanford University, BCcampus, Open University, and presented workshops at the Digital Humanities Summer Institute (DHSI), Lewis and Clark College, Guilford College, LaSalle College of the Arts in Singapore, University of Warwick, and more. Stommel has also published over 15 articles in peer-reviewed books and journals.
Stommel is a documentary filmmaker and teaches courses about pedagogy, film, and new media. He experiments relentlessly with learning interfaces, both digital and analog, and his research focuses on higher education pedagogy, critical digital pedagogy, and assessment.
In 2011, Stommel founded the Hybrid Pedagogy 501(c)(3) nonprofit. In addition to acting as executive director, his work for Hybrid Pedagogy has included creating educational outreach and professional development opportunities for new and experienced teachers. In 2015, he co-founded Digital Pedagogy Lab (DPL), a series of on-ground intensives focused on critical digital pedagogy. Through DPL, he has offered 2-, 3-, and 5-day pedagogical development events at the American University in Cairo, University of Prince Edward Island, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Delaware, University of Mary Washington, University of Colorado, University of Warwick, Open University, and more.
An Urgency of Teachers: The Work of Critical Digital Pedagogy (with Sean Michael Morris), considers how technology (both digital and analogue) changes the work of education. Ultimately, the book argues that education should look to community over content delivery, dialogue over algorithms, human teachers over teaching machines. Along the way, it explores the history of educational technology, innovative teaching practices in higher education and beyond, education as a social good, and the need for inclusive pedagogies. Stommel co-edited with Dorothy Kim Disrupting the Digital Humanities. It includes academic and non-academic writing about the intersections and frictions between the digital humanities, inclusive pedagogies, accessibility, feminist theory, queer theory, and critical race theory.
Stommel has taught undergraduate and graduate students at large research institutions, liberal arts colleges, and a community college, as well as non-traditional adult students and teachers at all levels of education. He has taught face-to-face, hybrid, online, and several MOOCs, including a Coursera MOOC with over 25,000 students from 161 countries.
Stommel has done faculty development work since 2003. Most recently, he has taught courses for teachers, technologists, and administrators in higher education pedagogy, critical digital pedagogy, writing about teaching, and assessment. He has an extensive background in education administration beginning in 2003. He has designed and worked to implement several new undergraduate and graduate programs.
Stommel was most previously a faculty member at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Stommel has a rascal pup, Emily, a clever cat, Loki, and a badass daughter, Hazel.
SUPPORTED BY the HEA
The core funding received by AHEAD for its higher education activities is provided by the Higher Education Authority.
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