On Thursday 1 May, the MIC Learning Enhancement and Academic Development (LEAD) Centre hosted the “Renew, Rethink, Reassess our Assessment Designs” staff development day. This hybrid event, held on the MIC Limerick Campus and on MS Teams, was introduced by Dr Katherine Whitehurst, Director of Teaching and Learning, and included a keynote presentation, presentations on technical tools for assessment and feedback, the launch of the latest series of MIC’s case studies, and an assessment “spring clean” workshop.
The day began with a fantastic, informative keynote presentation by Dr Anna Logan, Dr Ann Marie Farrell and Christina Hannify from the DCU Institute of Education. Their presentation, “Universally Designed Assessment for Large Classes: warts and all”, provided a practical and realistic demonstration of how we can assess large groups, grounded in the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Dr Farrell and Dr Logan, co-founders of the Pedagogy for Higher Education Large Classes (PHELC), discussed their experiences of redesigning assessments for large cohorts of BEd 1 and BEd 4 students, and discussed the positives and negatives for staff and students when implementing such assessments. Click here to access their presentation and here to find out more about their work on PHELC.
After the keynote, Tom Kinsella, Digital Learning Manager, and Amy Mitchell, Learning Designer, introduced some key technological tools for assessment and feedback. Here they discussed the benefits and disadvantages of using tools such as Turnitin, Moodle Quiz, and Moodle Assignment, and provided advice on what tool may work best in a range of scenarios. If you are interested in implementing any of these digital tools for assessment and feedback, please contact LEAD@mic.ul.ie for further guidance.
MISU President, Aisling Knox, then launched the latest series of MIC case studies of innovative academic practices. These case studies, gathered from MIC educators, showcase a range of digital and/or technical tools utilised in the college to support learning, including Generative AI. In her introduction, Aisling outlined the impact these case studies will have on MIC students, before introducing the five case studies. During the case study launch, Dr Conchúr Ó Brolcháin presented his case study “Video Analysis to Promote Innovative Pedagogical Approaches in the Context of Múineadh na Gaeilge”, Dr Chris Fitzgerald presented his case study “How Generative AI can Enable Students to Explore the Impact of Linguistic Choices on Literary Works”, and Dr Fionnuala Tynan presented her case study “Digital Mind Maps as a Tool to Support Student Learning”. Dr Jean Reale, Assistant Professor in Academic Practice, then shared the remaining two case studies with attendees; Dr Laura McEntee’s “ Using Generative Artificial Intelligence to Support Creativity in Arts Education” and Dr Brighid Golden’s “Creating Podcasts to Deepen Engagement with Global Citizenship Education”. These case studies, and the launch event, was funded by the National Forum through the Strategic Alignment of Teaching and Learning Enhancement (SATLE) fund. Click here to read the complete case studies.
At the close of the day, LEAD’s two Assistant Professors in Academic Practice, Dr Laura Costelloe and Dr Jean Reale, conducted an assessment “spring clean” workshop for staff. This workshop offered staff the chance to reflect on their assessment and feedback approaches and to identify any tweaks that might be made to enhance the student learning experience. A more detailed assessment design workshop is planned for Monday 9 June, more details are to follow.
Schedule of Events
9.30am Coffee and Registration
10.00am Opening and welcome
10.10am Keynote Presentation
“Universally Designed Assessment for Large Classes: warts and all”
Dr Anna Logan, Dr Ann Marie Farrell and Christina Hannify
(DCU Institute of Education)
11.00am Coffee break
11.20am LEAD presentation: (1) Turnitin, (2) Moodle Quiz, (3) Moodle assignment
12.10pm Launch of SATLE case studies
12.40pm Lunch
1.15pm Assessment “spring clean” workshop
2.15pm Closing reflections
