The Festival of Learning 2016 has ended, it took place June 6–9, 2016. This post-secondary education event hosted more than 400 delegates, offering a variety of session formats, learning experiences, unique spaces, as well as social and networking events. Don’t miss the next Festival of Learning 2018 happening May 28-30, 2018.
Research shows that active, social, engaging and student-owned learning experiences promote higher level critical thinking skills and leads to meaningful learning. This is challenging in large classes of fifty or more students. They are used to a system where they have little input in experientially building their critical scholarship skills. They expect to be assessed through lengthy hourly exams consisting of multiple choice questions, fill-in the blanks and short paragraph essays.
In a move to integrate assessment practices with students’ engagement in critical thinking and course content, the instructor, together with an educational consultant from SFU’s Teaching Learning Centre planned an assignment that was team-based with interactive verbal analytical skills and ‘thinking on the spot’.
The research questions are:
• What are the ways students can be individually assessed in a team-based activity, taking into account the expectations of an especially diverse student population?
• How do we ensure that these assessments are multidimensional, capturing inventive thinking while minimizing students’ self conscious efforts?
Our presentation approach is exploratory. Participants are invited to partake in a sample exercise.
Presenters
Nur Intan Murtadza, Sessional Instructor and Research Assistant for the Teaching and Learning Centre, Simon Fraser University
Sarah Louise Turner, Educational Consultant, Learning and Teaching Centre, Simon Fraser University
