Gwyneth Hughes

Towards a personal best: a case for introducing ipsative assessment in higher education

The central role that assessment plays is recognised in higher education, in particular how formative feedback guides learning. A model for effective feedback practice is used to argue that, in current schemes, formative feedback is often not usable because it is strongly linked to external criteria and standards, rather than to the processes of learning. By contrast, ipsative feedback, which is based on a comparison with the learner’s previous performance and linked to long‐term progress, is likely to be usable and may have additional motivational effects. After recommending a move towards ipsative formative assessment, a further step would be ipsative grading. However, such a radical shift towards a fully ipsative regime might pose new problems and these are discussed. The article explores a compromise of a combined assessment regime. The rewards for learners are potentially high, and the article concludes that ipsative assessment is well worth further investigation.

Diversity, identity and belonging in e-learning communities: some theories and paradoxes

It is often assumed that online collaborative learning is inclusive of diversity. In this exploratory paper, I challenge this notion by developing a theory which proposes that inclusion occurs through congruence between learners’ social identities and the identities implicitly supported through the interactions in a particular community. To build identity congruence, e-learning communities need spaces for both commonality and diversity, and I present three paradoxes which underlie the aims of online learners and teachers to embrace diversity online. I illustrate these with some examples from online learning and teaching. The ability to ‘listen’ to each other online offers a way forward, and the paper ends with some future possibilities about how we can ensure that e-learning communities benefit from diversity.

Social Software: New Opportunities for Challenging Social Inequalities in Learning?.

Enthusiasts for new social software do not always acknowledge that belonging to e‐learning communities depends upon complex and often unresolved identity issues for learners. Drawing on the author’s previous research on belonging in social learning, the paper presents a theory of identity congruence in social learning and brings to the foreground the importance of identities which arise from expressions of gender, class, ethnicity, age, etc. in the social, operational and, in particular, the knowledge‐building aspects of learning. These three dimensions of identity congruence are used to evaluate the potential of new social software. While social software might encourage some learners to engage in social and operational identity work, there are disadvantages for others, and learner‐generated knowledge and e‐assessment practices can be divisive. Inclusive e‐learning depends upon pedagogies and assessments which enable learners to shift and transform identities, and not solely on widening the range of technologies available. Such caution should underpin future research.

Turning teachers into academics? The role of educational development in fostering synergy between teaching and research

The history of educational development is rooted in the improvement of teaching techniques. As a result, centres or units have normally been located in central registrars or human resources departments, library, learning and technical support services, or established as semi‐autonomous entities. The alignment of educational development with research at a teaching‐led UK university marks a radical departure from these established patterns. The paper will explore some principles for the development of synergy between teaching and research through presenting the conceptual and strategic case for locating educational development in a university‐wide Graduate School. This includes institutional commitment to renewing research capacity and the acceptance of a holistic model of academic practice and re‐shaping of academic identity through strengthening the links between research and teaching via professional development. Three different approaches to bridging the cultural gap between teaching and research are compared and illustrated with examples from this case study.

Not seeing the wood for the trees: developing a feedback analysis tool to explore feed forward in modularised programmes

This paper considers feedback in the context of modularised programmes in higher education in the UK. It is argued that the self-contained nature of modular assessment may limit feedback dialogue between staff and students to assignment-specific issues, and may impede student progress towards holistic programme-level aims and outcomes. A feedback profiling tool was developed to categorise feedback on draft and final work. The analysis of feedback on 63 samples of draft work and 154 samples of final work showed different patterns. There were more feedback comments on draft work, and the feedback comments were dominated by advice and critique, while the feedback comments on the final work were overwhelmingly dominated by praise. This pattern of feedback is problematised in terms of feed forward from one module to the next, as students work towards the development of programme-level outcomes. Ipsative feedback (on progress) and feed forward in terms of disciplinary-specific skills and programme-level outcomes are recommended to enable students to act on feedback on end-of-module work, and develop students’ capacity to recontextualise disciplinary-specific skills throughout a programme. Some developmental applications for the feedback profiling tool are also suggested.

Talking to oneself : using autobiographical internal dialogue to critique everyday and professional practice

This article explores how autobiographical narrative about everyday activities can stimulate critical reflection. A re‐interpretation of Schön’s stages of reflective practice is used to explore some examples from autobiographical writing about the everyday practice of carrying a bag to illustrate literary devices which enable self‐interrogation and internal dialogue. Such writing can mimic the dialogue with a peer or coach to generate new perspectives and sometimes change in habitual practice. Implications of using both reflection on everyday life and creative autobiography for the development of professionals are finally discussed.

Use of self-referential (ipsative) feedback to motivate and guide distance learners

Distance learners often rely on written feedback for learning and for motivation. But feedback that is ‘given’ to learners and that relies on praise to motivate does not engage learners in the process of self-development. We propose that an ipsative approach to assessment and feedback based on a comparison with a learner’s previous performance motivates distance learners by developing a self-awareness of progress that encourages learners to interact with feedback and apply this to future work. A study of a distance learning Masters programme in Educational Leadership indicated that formal self-referential (ipsative) feedback was largely absent. An ipsative feedback scheme was therefore developed in consultation with the tutors in which students completed a reflection on their progress in implementing past feedback. Tutors provided both an ipsative and a developmental response. Student and tutor evaluations of the scheme indicated that feedback on progress has the potential to motivate distance learners and to encourage them to act on developmental feedback, but can also raise grade expectations. Sustainable methods of applying ipsative feedback to a wide range of distance learning programmes are worth further exploration.

Being online: a critical view of identity and subjectivity in new virtual learning spaces

Taylor and Francis CLRE_A_457937.sgm 10.1080/14748460903574410 London Review of Education 474460 (pri t)/1474-8479 (online) Edit ri l 2 10 & Francis 80 0 002010 GwynethHughes g yneth.hughes@ioe.a .uk Introduction Being a learner, becoming a learner and belonging to learning communities are important themes for both educators and educational researchers. This special issue explores these issues, theorising and exploring how identities are developed online, and asks what the educational impact is. Here, we set the scene for this work, locating it in terms of wider educational concerns of identity, inclusivity and change.

Purist or pragmatist? UK doctoral scientists’ moral positions on the knowledge economy

Doctoral scientists increasingly forge non-academic careers after completing the doctorate. Governments and industry in advanced economies welcome this trend, since it complements the ‘knowledge economy’ vision that has come to dominate higher education globally. Knowledge economy stakeholders consider doctoral scientists to constitute particularly high-value human capital; primed to contribute to economic growth via the creation and application of scientific knowledge. Little is known, however, about doctoral scientists’ awareness of, and attitudes towards, the knowledge economy. This paper reports a study of UK doctoral scientists, which reveals that they are aware of, but ideologically divided towards, the knowledge economy. The knowledge economy relates to their scientific motivations, values and aspirations in complex ways. Four moral positions emerge, ranging from ‘anti’ to ‘pro’ knowledge economy. We discuss the characteristics of each moral position, concluding with the need for doctoral scientists to adopt better informed and more flexible professional outlooks.