Stylianos Hatzipanagos

Feedback as dialogue: exploring the links between formative assessment and social software in distance learning

The paper explores the relationship between formative assessment and social software. Formative assessment practices though beneficial for student learning become marginalised and constrained in open and distance learning environments in higher education. Feedback is a key factor in formative assessment and learners can benefit from the deployment of emerging technologies and the opportunities for participation and dialogue afforded by social software. This paper explores and proposes a conceptual framework for this relationship. The claim is that the social dimensions of emerging technologies – specifically, blogs and wikis – allow for formative assessment practices to be re‐invented or at the very least facilitated by essentially participative and student‐focussed interventions. A comparison of these technologies against formative assessment mechanisms identifies the types of processes that these new tools might best support to encourage effective feedback approaches that both empower the learner and enhance their learning experience.

Handbook of Research on Social Software and Developing Community Ontologies

The rise of social software and the proliferation of social networking tools represents a relatively recent cultural phenomenon. The attitudes and behaviors of virtual communities and social groups goes beyond the distributed technological platforms being deployed and requires new conceptualizations and understandings of communities and their corresponding ontologies. The Handbook of Research on Social Software and Developing Community Ontologies examines the impact of new technologies and explores how social software and developing community ontologies are challenging the way we operate in a connected, distributed, and increasingly performative space. Through authoritative contributions by a vast group of international experts in this subject area, this book provides important new insights into where new social technologies and emergent behaviors are leading us.

Teaching observations: promoting development through critical reflection

The teaching observation process in a higher education context can be underpinned by an intention to enhance learning and teaching or used as a managerial tool to ensure standards are met or maintained. In this article we examine the perceptions of observees using a model that engages educational developers as observers. We seek to examine whether the ‘educational developers as observers’ model actually provides evidence that teaching observations can be developmental and stimulate reflective practice amongst those relatively new to teaching in higher education. The conclusions provide a view of whether teaching observations foster formative notions, such as deepening of understanding, critical reflection and enhancement of teaching practice, via the developmental nature of the scheme, or summative elements focused on measuring quality, which may sometimes result in simply ‘ticking boxes’.

Epistemological separation of research and teaching among graduate teaching assistants

Development of a more scholarly approach to teaching at university may expose the novice university teacher to an apparent conflict in belief systems about teaching and learning (i.e. epistemological beliefs). Educational research is explicit in its recognition of a constructivist framework, whilst other academic research is often embedded more implicitly within an objectivist framework. A reconceptualisation of objectivism and constructivism as complementary philosophies is suggested here as it may help support the evolution of a sophisticated epistemology among teacher/researchers. This supports a learner‐centred teaching approach within higher education without conflicting with deeply held beliefs about academic research. These issues are reported here with reference to informal discussions with graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) registered on a course of teacher development within two UK universities.

Digital Identity and Social Media

Electronic information about the individual is derived from what we say about ourselves, shaped by commentary from others and extended through electronic exchanges with both human and computer based intelligent agents.Digital Identity and Social Media will examine the impact of social media and distributed social spaces on our contemporary understandings of digital identity. This book will benefit researchers, practitioners, the wider educational community across all sectors, educational technologists, and individuals who are interested in how social media and emerging technologies will impact formal education and the social implications that surround the reformulation and fluidity of virtual communities. In addition, professionals and researchers working in the field of information and communication technologies and knowledge management in various disciplines will find this title to be an invaluable resource.

Designing and evaluating social media for learning: shaping social networking into social learning?

Although the adoption of social media (or Web 2.0 technologies) within our everyday lives is relatively recent, many have attempted to embrace these technologies and related digital literacies for learning in educational institutions and the workplace. The state of the art in this respect before 2010 was reflected in two key publications edited by the editors of this Special Issue. These were a special issue in this journal on social software, Web 2.0, and learning (Ravenscroft 2009), and a Handbook of Research on Social Software & Developing Community Ontologies (Hatzipanagos & Warburton 2009). These covered a wide range of perspectives and projects that collectively conveyed the energy and enthusiasm for embracing more open and participative approaches to learning, mainly through applying and adapting existing social media technologies, such as weblogs (blogs), wikis, and popular social networking tools (e.g. Facebook). This collection of work also uncovered some deep misalignments and paradoxes in the context of traditional education:

Editorial: Introduction to the special issue: approaches to assessment that enhance learning

Taylor and Francis CAEH_A_493700.sgm 10.1080/02602938.2010.493700 Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education 0260-2938 (pri t)/1469-297X (online) Original Article 2 1 & Francis 35 5 0 002 10 StylianosHatzipanagos s.hatzipanagos@kcl. c.uk This special issue addresses the need to diversify mainstream forms of assessment currently used in higher education (HE) in order to re-establish the focus on the learning process. Making assessment central to student learning is about returning to what current research emphasises: the primary beneficiary of assessment should be the student. To achieve this in the assessment context, students and tutors must engage in a process of dialogue and feedback. It seems to be widely accepted, at least in educational research, that assessment succeeds when the learner monitors, identifies and then is able to ‘bridge’ the gap between current learning achievements and agreed goals. It is, however, more questionable whether adequate opportunities are given to the students to be active participants in closing what has been termed ‘the loop’. Articles in this issue have responded in different ways to the challenge of enhancing learning through assessment. Some of these explore current practice chiefly characterised by formative input and examine the impact of transforming the traditional power relationships between learners and tutors. Others consider models of assessment that are innovative or attempt to redefine the concept of e-assessment by investigating the use of learning technologies to promote dialogue in relation to feedback. One article takes a broader view and considers complexity theory in relation to the issue of assessment. All of these contributions offer reasons for the lack of focus on learning within assessment processes, as well as suggesting possible solutions. Using feedback as a formative tool depends on both the quality of the feedback and the students’ interaction with it, and several articles explore this topic. Nicol provides a balanced consideration of student feedback: while exploring this problem in depth, he offers solutions that are designed to be implemented at a practical level by academic staff. Nicol’s article includes an observation that encapsulates the theme central to this issue:

Enabling Professional Development with e-Portfolios: Creating a Space for the Private and Public Self

Portfolios have been used for assessment in higher education as an alternative to exams and assignments. E-portfolios offer staff a digital technology that can be both a personalised learning space, owned and controlled by the learner, and a presentation tool which can be used for formal assessment purposes. However, this can result in a tension between process and product, where e-portfolios become electronic repositories of resources that simply tick boxes for career progression. The paper reports on a project that investigated the use of e-portfolios by teaching practitioners developing a critical portfolio of evidence for an award-bearing academic development programme. An e-portfolio had been adopted to address criticisms that conventional assessment fails to take account of the context in which teaching practitioners operate. The project aimed to enable teaching practitioners to access and gain familiarity with pedagogically sound e-portfolio opportunities. In addition, it aimed to foster a reflective approach, promote critical thinking focused on learning and teaching and enhance continuing professional development.

A rapid review of serious games: from healthcare education to dental education

INTRODUCTION Games involving technology have the potential to enhance hand-eye coordination and decision-making skills. As a result, game characteristics have been applied to education and training, where they are known as serious games. There is an increase in the volume of literature on serious games in healthcare education; however, evidence on their impact is still ambiguous. AIMS The aims of this study were (i) to identify high-quality evidence (systematic reviews or meta-analyses) regarding impacts of serious games on healthcare education; and (ii) to explore evidence regarding impacts of serious games in dental education. METHODS A rapid review of the literature was undertaken to synthesise available evidence and examine serious games in healthcare education (Stage 1) and dental education (Stage 2). RESULTS Nine systematic reviews were included in Stage 1, four of which were of high, three of moderate and two of low quality. For Stage 2, two randomised control trials with moderate quality were included. The findings demonstrated that serious games are potentially effective learning tools in terms of knowledge and skills improvement, although outcomes of serious games over traditional learning approaches were not consistent. In addition, serious games appeared to be more engaging and satisfying for students, which could be considered as the most important positive impact. CONCLUSION Serious games provide an option for healthcare and dental education but remain underutilised and researched. At best, they offer a similar experience to other methods in relation to educational outcome; however, they can provide a supplementary strategy to engage students and improve learner satisfaction.

Do Institutional Social Networks Work? Fostering a Sense of Community and Enhancing Learning.

In this paper we report on the evaluation of an institutional social network (KINSHIP) whose aims were to foster an improved sense of community, enhance communication and serve as a space to model digital professionalism for students at King’s College London, UK. Our evaluation focused on a pilot where students’ needs with regard to the provision of a cross-institution platform and perceptions were examined. Empirical findings in this study project an advantage of KINSHIP compared to commercial social networks, as it is exclusively accessible by students and staff from the institution and mainly being used for academic purposes. Ongoing development and evolution of functionality in step with commercial platforms, improved accessibility via redeveloping the platform as a mobile application and addressing privacy concerns raised by the students about potential monitoring by staff or the institution would also be essential if such an institutional platform were to be a success.