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Featured researches published by Nicola Reimann.


Journal of Further and Higher Education | 2004

Calculating non-completion rates for modules on institution-wide language programmes : some observations on the nature of seemingly objective figures

Nicola Reimann

This article discusses the issues and problems which typically arise in the process of compiling non‐completion statistics, using the example of an empirical investigation of student non‐continuation on an institution‐wide language programme. The research highlights the fact that the validity of seemingly neutral dropout figures depends on the interests and overt or covert aims of the various stakeholders concerned, the definition of (non‐)continuation, the definition and identification of original module participants and of non‐continuing students, the number and types of records used and the timing of the calculation. One of the main purposes of the article is to make readers more critical towards claims and data on student retention and dropout, particularly in the absence of information on the way in which they were arrived at, as well as their use as performance indicators.


Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education | 2011

To risk or not to risk it: student (non‐)engagement with seen examination questions

Nicola Reimann

This case study explores students’ perceptions of seen examination questions about topics not covered by the formal curriculum of a final‐year economics module and of the associated group support sessions. Eight semi‐structured interviews with a total of 13 students were analysed. Contrary to expectations, learners taking a strategic approach to the module were not attracted by the seen questions. The uncertainty of an unfamiliar assessment format and the prospect of undertaking independent research and group work were perceived as involving more risks than the familiar unseen examination. Take‐up for the seen examination questions was low, and the students who did not answer a seen question tended to make workload considerations as well as concerns about group work for assessment purposes responsible for their decision. Despite not participating in the group support sessions, a few students researched the seen question in conjunction with trusted fellow students or on their own. The students who answered a seen question enjoyed the autonomy which the seen exam questions provided, while other students were critical of the way in which their autonomy might be externally controlled. The study provides insight into the impact of assessment on risk taking and students’ perception of risk associated with this type of assessment.


Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education | 2017

Personal understanding of assessment and the link to assessment practice: the perspectives of higher education staff

Nicola Reimann; Ian Sadler

Abstract The study investigates how higher education staff understand assessment, and the relationship between these understandings and their assessment practices. Nine individuals attended a workshop that guided them through the creation of a concept map about assessment, which was subsequently discussed in one-to-one semi-structured interviews. We found considerable variation in understanding of assessment, both between and within participants, and this appeared to be a consequence of the varied contexts within which assessment operates. Some assessment practices were highly complex, and at times closely entwined with teaching. In addition, individuals’ practices helped to illuminate variation in how underlying concepts (e.g. assessment for learning) were understood. The approach supported the construction of the participants’ understanding of assessment, and enabled the exploration of the interplay between thinking and reported practice, which were closely aligned. It also drew attention to the need to further develop methodologies which capture both the complexity of thinking about assessment and real-world assessment practices.


International Journal for Academic Development | 2012

Academic development in ‘assessment for learning’: the value of a concept and communities of assessment practice

Nicola Reimann; Angelina Wilson

This interview-based study investigates staff perceptions of their involvement in a university centre which focuses on the development of assessment for learning (AfL) approaches. Learning about assessment is examined both as conceptual change and within communities of practice. Involvement in the centre ranged from perceived exclusion to culture change. Interviewees held diverse, yet student-focused understandings of AfL and perceived the centre as a community of like-minded practitioners and a symbol of the university endorsing AfL practices. The centre contributed to the establishment of local ‘communities of assessment practice’, with some members acting as ‘brokers’ between communities. The study highlights the benefits of conceptually underpinned academic development and the role of AfL as a concept for the integration of implicit and explicit knowledge.


Higher Education Research & Development | 2018

Variation in the Development of Teachers' Understandings of Assessment and Their Assessment Practices in Higher Education.

Ian Sadler; Nicola Reimann

ABSTRACT This paper reports a study into the development of staff understanding of assessment and assessment practice. Eight teachers from two universities constructed an initial concept map about assessment that was discussed in a one-to-one semi-structured interview. A year later, a new map was created and the interview focused on change in thinking and practice. Multiple models of assessment were evident in the participants’ understandings at the same time and change was characterised by subtle evolution in thinking. Development in practice was more significant and often associated with the foregrounding of assessment for learning. Vignettes are used to illustrate the variation in nature and scale of development. Interplay between this development of practice and understanding was multidirectional and external context played an important role. The approach offers detailed insight into the relationship between assessment thinking and practice and demonstrates that both research and academic development need to go beyond conventional approaches to conceptualising the development of academics and take account of the finer grained complexities of assessment thinking and practices.


International Journal for Academic Development | 2017

Engaging the wider academic community in a postgraduate certificate in academic practice: the issue of standards

Nicola Reimann; Linda Allin

Abstract This paper critically reflects on the challenges associated with academic standards in a postgraduate certificate in academic practice, which involved the wider academic community of the institution. It is underpinned by a socio-cultural constructivist view that suggests standards do not exist independently of assessors, but are co-constructed by participation in communities of practice through the process of making assessment judgements. Following an outline of the programme design, the discussion focuses on the uncertainties around standards arising from the fragility and fragmentation of a nascent community of practice comprised of a multiplicity of personal standards frameworks and disciplinary perspectives.


International Journal for Academic Development | 2017

Learning about assessment: the impact of two courses for higher education staff

Nicola Reimann

Abstract This interview-based study investigated the impact of two academic development courses about assessment. Participants learnt concepts and terminology that enabled them to better understand and communicate about assessment. The courses also stimulated critical thinking about assessment practices and conceptual change, with ‘assessment for learning’ emerging as significant with the qualities of a threshold concept. Certain learning activities stood out as transformational as they supported the examination of assessment from different perspectives and the integration of implicit with explicit knowledge, but only if participants had sufficient workplace experience that they could link to the formal knowledge taught in the courses.


Journal of Further and Higher Education | 2013

Using Seen Examination Questions in Economics: An Evaluation.

Nicola Reimann; Martin T. Robson

This paper presents a detailed quantitative analysis of the use of seen questions within examinations in Economics option modules at one UK university. 4622 marks for seen and unseen questions awarded over a period of three years were analysed; the impact of personal characteristics was analysed using a sub-sample. It was found that the number of attempted answers to the seen question was somewhat lower than might be expected if students had engaged in random selection of examination questions and the proportion of students who attempted to answer the seen question varied both across modules and years. The majority of students who answered the seen question did so in only one module, and answering the seen question in more than one module did not have a positive impact on obtaining a good mark for the seen question. Most notably students who answered seen questions were more likely to obtain a good mark for seen than for unseen questions. The personal factors found to correlate with the likelihood of answering a seen question were gender, performance in Economics core modules, and type of school attended. Reasons for the findings are discussed and set within the context of innovation in Economics assessment.


International Review of Economics Education | 2004

First-year Teaching-Learning Environments in Economics

Nicola Reimann


Archive | 2004

Threshold concepts in economics: a case study

Nicola Reimann; Ian Jackson

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Ian Sadler

York St John University

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Linda Allin

Northumbria University

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Judith Turner

University of Sunderland

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