Integrating digital literacy and
feeding forward in a Psychology
assignment
Mani Das Gupta
Psychology, Sport and Exercise
School of Health Sciences
Common Information Literacy
Complaints
They have
used BLOGS
as
references!
B!!!!
Internet! So
much junk
and most of
it is in this
essay!
Why don’t
they use
textbooks
and journals?
Another
reference to
Wikipedia!
What is SO hard
about academic
referencing?
What is SO
hard about
academic
referencing?
PURPOSE of
referencing often
not explicitly
explained to
students
60/65 students on a Level 5
module knew they MUST
reference properly but did not
really understand WHY.
Common responses:
“Because that’s what you do for
essays”
“It’s academic”
“Because they told us we had to
use it for essays in first year”
Some explanations from students
on my module
Why don’t
students use
textbooks and
journals?
Common sources used in
Psychology essays:
psychology.about.com
www.psychologytoday.com/
www.simplypsychology.org
Often work at home at night,
especially mature students OR
at the last minute!
School does not prepare
students in terms of using
books as references
There may not be enough
copies of some books in the
library
B!!!! Internet!
So much junk
and most of it is
in this essay!
NOT an option today
They will use it anyway!
Valuable resource
PROBLEM:
No questioning of sources of
information OR Validity
/Reliability of information
Informed usage is
a LIFE-LONG
learning skill
SCONUL: 7 pillars of Information
Literacy
Article available on: www.sconul.ac.uk/sites/default/files/.../researchlens.pdf
Embedded in
assessment for
L5 module:
Children in
Context
Most Common assessment pattern
Assessment
Information
WEEK 1
Formative
Task
Summative
Task
WEEK
5/6
WEEK 12
From JISC Design Studio (University of Hertfordshire Project:
Effecting Sustainable Change in Assessment Practice
and Experience (ESCAPE). Link:
http://jiscdesignstudio.pbworks.com/w/page/30631817/ESCAPE%20%20Assessment%20timelines
Feed Forward Assessment (FFA)
Method
IMPLEMENTATION of FFA
WEEK 1: Assessment Information given
Workbook – with 2 exercises – both require use of web-based
resources
WEEK 4-6: Workshops and Independent work on Evaluating
internet resources (including demo)
WEEK 7: Hand-In Formative Exercise 1
WEEK 9: Feedback on Formative Exercise 1 linking to
Exercise 2
WEEK 9 & 11: Workshops on Exercise 2
JANUARY Hand In: Summative Assessment
The 2 Summative Exercises
EX1: Evaluation of websites relevant to
module content
e.g. parenting.com vs childrenandnature.org
EX2: Essays/presentation related to
employability/real world issues
Both
require
use and
evaluation
of web
resources
e.g.
• Putting in a tender for an intervention on
bullying
• Explianing how skills acquired by doing a
Psychology degree will help with one of a
selection of real job adverts etc.
Advantages
• Students grasped web-evaluation and why it was essential
much better (ONLY 2 student complaints about doing it this
year!)
• Student engagement in assessment early on (not endloaded)
• Giving feedback BEFORE summative assessment enables
students to use feedback for the Summative assessment
• By linking to employability in Exercise 2 – hopefully enables
students to see links between what they are studying and
possible future employment
• Life-Long Learning: how to use internet resources
effectively when they no longer have easy access to
University journal, books and e-books
Other Useful Resources
• JISC Design Studio http://jiscdesignstudio.pbworks.com
– – lots of material on assessment, feedback and how to integrate this
into curriculum design etc. etc.
• The SCONUL Seven Pillars of Information Literacy Core Model for Higher
Education
• http://www.sconul.ac.uk/sites/default/files/documents/coremodel.pdf
• Brown, S. (2007) Feedback and Feed Forward.
http://www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/ftp/newsletters/bulletin22.pdf
• Duncan, N., Prowse, s. Wakeman, C., Harrison, R. (2003/4) ‘Feed-Forward’:
Improving students use of tutor comments. Learning & Teaching Projects,
University of Wolverhampton.
http://wlv.openrepository.com/wlv/bitstream/2436/3778/1/Feedforward%20pgs%20127-132.pdf
Positive ideas and innovations flow from an engagement with the
scholarship of the subject, which often takes place in curriculum processes
such as review and validation - if there is time and support for such
conversations. Oxford Brookes and Leicester have pioneered the idea
of course design intensives which explicitly ask curriculum teams to
consider digital issues. The Viewpoints project has developed a curriculum
design process that incorporates the seven pillars of information literacy.
The involvement of specialist professionals in this process (e.g. library
staff, TEL staff, academic advisors) allows new ideas to spread across
subject boundaries.
We have an emerging resource set 'Developing Digital Literacies in the
Curriculum'