Students in public / Assessment tasks

Assessment tasks

Assessment of student research for public engagement

Integration into summative assessment validates student research for public engagement as an integral part of academic study. In some scenarios, public engagement enables the integration of practice with theory that would be missing otherwise. Many common assessment tasks  readily lend themselves to public dissemination. In theses case, students are able to perceive the public engagement aspect as value added, not as a source of anxiety due to unfamiliarity.

A range of assessment tasks and models are available:

Information texts

The compostition of information texts is already familiar to students in several disciplines through essay writing and answering exam questions. This familiarity reduces any anxieties students might have about assessment tasks that are perceived as different due to their non-academic audience. Making essays face ‘outwards’ adds a significant employability dimension and introduces students to career options.

Essay-based

Exemplars

Research/consultancy report

The composition of reports is already familiar to students in several disciplines. This familiarity reduces any anxieties students might have about assessment tasks that are perceived as different due to their non-academic audience. Linking reports to live projects adds a significant employability dimension and increases student engagement. Continuing availability of new topics might be a significant challenge for long-term sustainability.

Exemplars

Public address

Composing and delivering a public address builds on widespread assessment of seminar presentations. Skills development training might be required for effective and confident public speaking. Making presentations face ‘outwards’ gives students experience of real-life situations in a wide range of professional and civil society contexts.

Exemplars

Exhibition-related

In addition to museology courses with their inherent link to exhibition-related assessment, many other courses produce knowledge that can be disseminated by writing interpretation of material objects and images. This adds a significant employability dimension and enables engagement with local communities. Careful planning is required to ensure that resources are available for the production of exhibition materials. Partnership working and securing internal and external funding are useful ways to support this. Online opportunities offer alternative ways of dissemination that are less resource-intensive.

Exemplars

Performance-related

Where the curriculum has an inherent link to public perfomance, if offers exciting opportunities for experiential learning and community engagement. Students welcome this assessment opportunity because it is different, creative and playful. Organizing the performances can be challenging and time consuming.

Exemplar

Workshops

Workshops are highly interactive opportunities for students to develop their confidence and their skills at planning and delivering activities in real-world situations under supervision. Effective support at all stages is essential for high attainment. Workshops have the highest impact when they address a real need that has been identified by stakeholders. Partnership working is therefore useful but can be resource-intensive to establish and maintain.

Exemplars

Reflective writing

Reflective writing is a useful assessment tool for accompanying public engagement tasks so that students can deepen their understanding, actively learn from their experience, identify skills gaps and celebrate successes. This is particularly beneficial in challenging environments or where the development of empathy with perceived Others is of importance. Many professions emphasize the importance of being a reflective practitioner such as nursing and education. Reflective tasks need to be clearly structured in line with their intended learning outcomes in order to overcome students’ fear of not knowing what is expected or students mistaking free flow of consciousness for reflection.

Exemplars

The University of Manchester