Innovative Assessments using Guided Strategies

Video: See one of my innovative teaching strategies for Authentic Assessments using Research Proposal Presentations in the form of a Mini-Conference session with Postgraduate students in PSYC 6013. This is an excerpt of the introduction to showcase 'Statistics from Theory to applications'. The presentations were held face-to-face in Semester I, 2022-2023.

See a sample of a student presentation from Mr. Andrew Lochan, who obtained full marks for this presentation. according to the Rubric here.

ALochanRecording.mp4

Video: Research Presentation by postgraduate student in PSYC 6013 Course.

*Permission obtained from student - see written Research Proposal in Samples of Students Submissions.

Guided Research - Statistical Theory meets Application

Inquiry Learning is a form of Active Learning which I use in my classroom to allow students to conduct different aspects of scientific inquiry to explore and analyse data for insights.

My approach:

Before students can perform inquiry I employ, the Guided approach: "I do, We do, You do."
This involves four steps to the gradual release of responsibility model: Modeling (I Do), Co-Construction (We Do), Facilitation (You Do) and Independent Practice (You Do)
In my experience, this teaching strategy has promoted student competence and confidence in completing tasks. See my Screencast for an idea of how this works in my course.
How do I measure the success of this approach? I use two forms of authentic assessment: Guided Projects and Mini-Conference Presentations.
How do my students understand the requirements of these tasks? Analytic Rubrics to the rescue!

Let's have a closer look at some of my innovative and effective methods in the video, with sample student submissions.

Note: For more on my instructional strategy and how it relates to Research in Action, see here.

PSYC 6013 - Advanced Statistics and Research Methods

Guided Project Proposal Rubric - 2022-23 Course Offering

For more information on this course description, see Course Materials.

Assignment 4 Mark Scheme.docx

Click the photo above to view more about the Assignment Four (4) Solution Guide that was given to students post assessment.

The Guided Project Proposal is similar to a Capstone project which allows students to anticipate how to use a real data set with structured guidelines to apply to create a story of insights.
This guided approach gives students the confidence to approach the data set, having some idea of the expected analyses.
Since these students are not exposed to Statistics as my previous cohorts in the Department of Math and Stats, I use this method to guide their thinking actively.
They were allowed to work in pairs which I chose carefully, based on prior assignment performance (i.e. 'strong' and 'weak' students were paired).
Note: Since this course was completed before I improved my pedagogy further in CUTL, the rubric did not contain the performance levels of most analytic rubrics.
I value the importance of this type of rubric in providing students with performance levels as targets.
Fun Fact: In another iteration of a similar course, I employed an analytic rubric for a guided project. See the BIOL 6206 Guided Project Report Rubric to see improvements made for a similar assessment.

PSYC 6013 - Assignment 4 - Sem 1 2022-2023.docx

Click on the photo above to view details about Assignment Four (4) as well as its marking rubric.

Samples of Student Submissions - Highest and Lowest Marks

See exemplar work of written guided projects here.

Highest Mark Obtained for Assignment Four (4)

Highest Mark Obtained for Research Proposal - Redacted.docx

Select the picture above to see an example of the answers for Assignment Four (4) that earned the highest marks.

Comment: Student answered all questions correctly in accordance to the solutions rubric.

Lowest Mark Obtained for Assignment Four (4)

Lowest Mark Obtained for Assignment 4 - Redacted.docx

Select the picture above to see an example of the answers for Assignment Four (4) that earned the lowest marks.

Comment: Student lost marks for vagueness in hypotheses, omission of pertinent results as well as format.

PSYC 6013 - Advanced Statistics and Research Methods

Research Proposal Rubric and Resources

Research Proposal Rubric.docx

Click on the photo above to gain an insight into the rubric for the Research Proposal.

Research Proposal rubric provided to students along with helpful resources on my eLearning.
This Rubric gave an overview of the marks allotted for each part of the proposal.
Students were able to submit the written proposal and condense these ideas for a short presentation to capture the main insights.
These presentations were kept to 10 minutes to ensure students critically analysed the important concepts to highlight from the larger report.
Note on the Proposal Reports: Generally students were able to understand the idea of what statistical test they were required to apply.
Some students displayed hesitance in the verbal presentation which showed they needed more practice with the material. I took note of this for my next cohort.

Samples of Student Submissions - Highest and Lowest Marks

*See exemplar work of written student proposal as well as a Research Presentation by postgraduate student in the video.

Highest Mark Obtained for Research Proposal

Select the link to see an example of the Research Proposal that earned the highest mark.

Comment: Student mostly understood the format and contents of a research proposal despite shortcomings in the measures and proposed methodology/ analyses sections.

Lowest Mark Obtained for Research Proposal

Select the link to see an example of the Research Proposal that earned the lowest mark.

Comment: Student had a fair understanding of the format and contents of a research proposal. However, 2 sections were omitted and further details were needed to accompany the information.

General Comments: Most of the students were able to understand the content of the course as well as comprehend the statistical tests, their meanings and results implications. A few of them, however, were faced with some difficulty in grasping the meanings of the output for the more advanced statisitcal tests. This may be due to their previous lack of exposure to Statistics. Overall, their performances were noteworthy as each student acquired a passing grade.

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