Making use of the credit
descriptors
- the other credit crunch!
mark.atlay@beds.ac.uk
Credit level descriptors
‘Credit level descriptors define the level of
complexity, relative demand and autonomy
expected of a learner on completion of a unit or
programme of learning’
When to use level descriptors
From ‘How to use level descriptors’ – Jenny Moon
(2001) available on the SEEC web site.
• when designing new programmes of study
• when writing learning outcomes
• when writing assessment criteria
– the rhetoric may have become more consistent but
what about the reality?
– have they just become an implicit part of our
language amalgamated into the AI?
– have we learned to pass the validation test?
– Is their use just by ‘credit junkies’ not understood by
staff and students?
When to use level descriptors
• when assessing prior learning
– Useful but has there been a widespread expansion in
APL (except in certain, narrowly defined,
programmes/universities) ?
• when incorporating non-traditional learning (e.g. workbased learning) into award bearing courses
– Yes but do the learners and employers use and
understand the language?
• when modules, or short courses, from outside the HE
system need to be related to HE for accreditation purposes
– Yes but by specialists?
• when learning at different levels needs to be compared
– For us or for our learners?
The future … credit levels
• Do we need to revise our guidance?
Progression arrangements
• How do developments in the FHEQ relate to the
NQF/QCF and to credit descriptors?
• Can pre-university students get HE credit for:
– Core activities? (unlikely)
– Optional activities?
– How useful is that credit?
• Progression accords and compacts – an
opportunity for greater use?
• Progression between professional awards, higher
NVQs and higher education?
The future … Progression and credit
transfer?
• NIACE project on supporting and promoting
learner progression, LSC funded on behalf of the
Joint Forum for Higher Levels (JFHL)
• are you
– Supporting learner progression?
– reviewing/revising your own CAT arrangements in the
light of the new funding proposals for WP and
retention?
– considering incorporating the JFHL principles into a
new set of specifications for CAT at the
department/subject/course level?
• Up to £2000 for being involved.
Use with students?
• New emphasis on the student experience:
– Students as ‘customers/consumers’
– NSS
– HE Academy
– QAA involvement of students and focus on the student
learning experience
– League tables
• How can we use level descriptors to help frame and
support the student experience?
– demand
– complexity
– depth of study
– student autonomy
• To develop graduate identity
Relationship to e-portfolios?
• How do you make judgements?
– Compile evidence (against the descriptors?)
• Flexible credit?
– Ease of use
– and re-use?
• Volume
– How do you define/control/assess
• Will credit level descriptors help provide a
structure?
The Higher Education Achievement
Report (HEAR)
• Is there a role for the level descriptors particularly
the Key/transferable skills (generic – SEEC)
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Group working
Learning resources
Self evaluation
Information management
Autonomy
Communications
Problem solving
• to provide a richer overall picture of what students
have achieved?
• Are these the right ‘skills’ for the future?
Group working
• 4 (1): can work effectively with others as a member of a
group and meet obligations to others (for example, tutors,
peers, and colleagues).
• 5 (2): can interact effectively within a team / learning group,
giving and receiving information and ideas and modifying
responses where appropriate
• 6 (3): can interact effectively within a team / learning /
professional group, recognise, support or be proactive in
leadership, negotiate in a professional context and manage
conflict.
• 7 (M): can work effectively with a group as leader or
member. Can clarify tasks and make appropriate use of the
capacities of group members. Is able to negotiate and
handle conflict with confidence.
The Higher Education Achievement
Record (HEAR)
• To provide a framework for crediting activities
outside of the curriculum? e.g.
– Volunteering (credit may be the only means of
funding)
– Student engagement in clubs and societies
– Work experience
• Some issues:
–
–
–
–
What volume?
Achieved or engaged with?
How verify?
Success and failure?
• Do the level descriptors match the requirements?
Other issues
• Employer engagement
• Student flexibility of study
– Bite-size credit
– Europe (do we just divide by 2?)
– US
– Elsewhere
• Trans-national education
– Relationship to local frameworks and descriptors
• Language
– How credit?
• As an answer to the credit crunch?
– Possible Government plans to reduce unemployment?
– Will tax cuts lead to credit cuts?
Gallows humour
• Q: With the current market turmoil, what’s the
easiest way to make a small fortune?
• A: Start off with a large one.
• Q: Why are all MBAs going back to school?
• A: To ask for their money back.
The future … QCF vs EQF
consultation?
• You are invited to comment on the proposed
cross-referencing and what it means for you or
your organisation
– What is the EQF?
– What are the benefits of the EQF?
– How is the EQF being implemented in England and
Northern Ireland?
– Are the levels in the NQF the same as those in the
QCF?
• The full report on the proposed cross-referencing;
linking the QCF to the EQF documents are
available to download at www.qca.org.uk/qcf
The future … ?
• What’s the future for modular credit schemes?
• How are SEEC members currently using the
descriptors?
– What are the issues/problems/challenges?
• What’s the ‘likely future use’ of credit descriptors?
• What’s the relationship to the SEEC descriptors
to those of other bodies and the NCF etc?
• Do the SEEC descriptors need to be refreshed
and re-focussed?