University of Glasgow
Learning and Teaching Committee
Away Day, 24 October 2013
Good Practice presentation – innovative Assessment practices used in Politics
Dr Naomi Head, Politics, School of Social and Political Sciences
Non examination based assessment: Role plays and reflective logs
Honours module: Communication and Conflict in World Politics (recruits between
approximately 20 and 40 students per year).
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Role plays form a central part of the course
Reflective log is 20% of the assessment
Both the role plays and the reflective log serve to encourage students to think about the
importance of the relationship between theory and practice. This happens in several ways:
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The role plays give students the opportunity to experience the processes that they are
studying for themselves. Basing the reflective log on their experiences of the role plays
requires them to interpret their experiences through the conceptual and theoretical
lenses we’ve already explored during the course.
The course is on Communication and Conflict, therefore the challenge for students is to
reflect on how they engage with the dynamics of both of these as well as developing
their understanding of the academic literature.
I record the role plays and upload them onto Moodle. This serves three main purposes:
1) it helps students to engage with the reflective process for the purpose of the log –
often when you listen back to something you hear different things than you observed
while you were participating.; 2) it ensures that there is a record of the debate should
one ever be needed; 3) it ensures that students who miss the class are still able to
complete the reflective log by listening to the recording after the class.
There are two role plays during the module: these are placed in order to reflect the
learning process students go through as they encounter new literatures. The outcomes
of the role plays usually always reflect this learning curve with the second exercise
demonstrating awareness of the difficulties of the first, greater creativity and
innovation, and a stronger grasp of the conceptual issues at play.
Role plays and the use of critical theory in the course contributes towards creating a
dialogic environment in the classroom – I run my honours course as 2 hour seminars and
this helps to ensure their active participation.