Case Story: Academic writing
Case Story: Academic writing
| Summary | Academic writing | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group / workshop | Formative e-Assessment | Status | seed | |
| Project details... | ||||
Situation
What was the setting in which this case study occurred?
PGCE ICT trainee teachers were embarking on a postgraduate course with M-level elements requiring academic reading and writing in this social science context. These ICT trainee teachers are a group of 23 students who come from varying backgrounds. Most have limited experience of reading research papers in social science as their degrees are quite technically based. Some already have masters qualifications although these are usually MSc rather than MA. Many are from minority ethnic groups and English is not their first language. Most have limited experience of academic writing. Therefore writing 8000 word assignments is a significant and potentially daunting challenge. This is however only one of the challenges in an intensive programme where much of their time is spent in school placements where they are learning practical elements of teaching.Task
What was the problem to be solved, or the intended effect?
The aim was to enable trainee teachers to develop strategies for reading academic papers. This forms part of a structured programme to develop their ability to write assignments on a range of educational issues.Actions
What was done to fulfil the task?
Students were set the task in pairs of brainstorming for about 10 minutes around the question "How do you go about reading an academic paper" and writing a list on paper. During that time the I walked around and listened to the talk to ensure that they were engaging with the task and to assess their general level of understanding. Next a set of ideas was built up on a wiki by one of the students using a Tablet-pc linked to a data projector so that the developing list could be seen on the screen by the whole group. Each pair contributed an item in turn. As each item was added other members of the group commented on its appropriateness, value and position in the developing list. Elements of the list were moved around in the wiki page to create an order as agreed by the group. Agreement was checked by raising hands at intervals. For some contentious ideas alternatives were included and the need for flexibility owing to individual preferences was discussed. For example some students reported finding skim reading especially difficult and while some preferred to keep electronic notes others preferred paper. Then students worked in pairs to read a paper and highlight and annotate it electronically with salient comments in relation to a writing task. Then in a whole group discussion a group showed their annotations and others commented. The next task to be done individually after the session was a short writing task based on an analysis of a paper. This would be diagnostically assessed by a writing support tutor who would design one or more support and feedback sessions for those identified as needing additional support. Further whole group activities will refer to the strategy and build on recommendations from the writing support tutor.Results
What happened? Was is a success? What contributed to the outcomes?
A master strategy with variations was developed as a list that could be referred back to. Students started practising how to apply this. Adjustments were made throughout. First (and unexpectedly) one student alerted me that her partner had not understood the task as he had thought we were talking about reading exam papers. Therefore a brief whole group Q& A was held about the range and nature of academic papers. The paired discussion then proceeded without adjustment. The whole class discussion was a process of continuous adjustment where students suggested different approaches and various ideas were pursued. The developing list was continually changed to reflect the consensus of the group.Lessons Learned
What did you learn from the experience?
The electronic facilities provided: A visual display of the consensus from the discussion as it developed A means for a pair of students to jointly read and annotate a document An aid for students in displaying and explaining their findings to the group. A record that individuals can refer to. Thus the E in e –assessment in this formative context aids communication and presentation. The formative nature of the activities derives from the responses of the lecturer and other students that enable a series of feedback loops. These result in continual relatively small adjustments in the ongoing process and feed into future planning. The hope is that individual students are also making adjustments in their thinking.Licensing
This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence.
