Jake Port discusses how he designed an assessment to help students engage in real-world tasks like creating and presenting business models. He explains how practical skills, peer feedback, and reflective journaling were used to enhance students' professional readiness and motivation.
I wanted students to engage in tasks that closely mirror what they might encounter in their future careers, such as creating business models and presenting them to peers. By emphasising practical skills over theory alone, the goal is to help students solidify their understanding and readiness for professional contexts. Incorporating peer feedback and reflective journals encourages critical evaluation and learning from diverse perspectives, promoting continuous improvement throughout the semester. These approaches aim to keep students motivated and actively engaged in their own learning journey.
 | Analyse student needs and align with curriculum: Evaluate the specific needs and learning goals of students to ensure tasks are designed to prepare them for their future careers. Align closely with the course curriculum and learning outcomes to maintain relevance and coherence throughout the activity. |
 | Design engaging and practical tasks: Focus on creating an engaging and interactive experience that emphasises practical application over theoretical knowledge. Develop tasks such as creating and presenting business models to simulate real-world scenarios and enhance the learning experience. |
 | Provide constructive feedback and foster collaboration: Ensure prompt and constructive feedback on student work and facilitate personal meetings to discuss progress and areas for improvement. Incorporate feedforward surveys to gather student preferences for changes in the Unit. Encourage collaboration through peer feedback and integrate reflective journaling to promote self-awareness and critical assessment of their own work. |
 | Establish clear criteria and continuous evaluation: Create clear assessment criteria to guide students and ensure fairness in grading. Provide instructional resources and guidance for preparing presentations and completing reflective journals. Collect continuous feedback from students to gauge effectiveness and identify areas for improvement, aiming to create a robust learning experience that equips students with practical skills for professional challenges. |
The outcome of implementing this assessment and activity was highly positive. Students demonstrated a deeper understanding of the course material and were able to apply concepts to real-world scenarios effectively. The interactive nature of the tasks, such as creating and presenting business models, engaged students actively in their learning process.
Peer feedback played a crucial role in enhancing collaboration and providing diverse perspectives, which enriched the quality of students' work. Reflective journaling encouraged students to critically reflect on their learning journey, fostering a deeper level of self-awareness.
The clear assessment criteria ensured fairness and transparency in grading, which was well-received by students. Their presentations and reflective journals showcased not only their comprehension of the subject matter but also their ability to articulate and apply their knowledge in practical contexts.
The number of assessment-related questions also decreased significantly compared to previous years, a further indication that the changes made had clarified how to achieve strong results for the assessments. This has always been the greatest challenge for these kinds of assessments where there isn’t a clear ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer.
Overall, the assessment and activity successfully met its objectives of preparing students for their future careers by equipping them with relevant skills and knowledge, while also promoting collaboration, critical thinking, and self-reflection among the students.
"I just wanted to write this email to express my gratitude for how you handled my team's Proposal to Management score. I'm sure I'm speaking on behalf of my team when I say that not a lot of teachers would take the time to ensure all students were comfortable with the content"
“Working hard to get us feedback instantly and timely was incredibly useful and helpful, thank you for that I surprisingly enjoyed most of this class and I’m one of those people who hates business.”
“You are a great lecturer as well Jake, I appreciated having someone passionate about all this content guiding us through it. I was somewhat sceptical coming into how engaging this unit would be personally, because I wasn't originally too keen on working within the business industry, but you have definitely changed my mindset to things and given a lot of valuable insight, so thank you”
“I really valued the constant feedback we received, both formal and informal. Conversations at the table with each other, Ellie and Jake helped build my confidence in an environment in which I had little confidence. I found it effective that we were constantly applying what we were talking about, we weren't just talking, we were doing. I found Jake's instruction very clear and helpful and his obvious care for his students and commitment to the unit made me want to put in more effort. I also found it effective that there was very little out of class work other than assessment, it meant we could really put all our energy into it.”
“I liked that we got a chance to pitch twice, really helps us develop our idea and implement feedback immediately.”
“I really enjoyed the blend of practical and theoretical work this semester, I thought that you gave us a lot of avenue for applying the foundation content we go through, so thank you.”
This exemplar is easy to implement.
Recommended resources and training:
Improving students' assessment experience is crucial for fostering their growth and learning. One effective way I've found is by ensuring that feedback is not just timely but also constructive. I believe in giving students a chance to learn from their mistakes by providing clear guidance on what they can do to improve.
It's important to create an environment where students feel supported and encouraged to take ownership of their learning journey. By emphasising the learning process over the final grade, I aim to empower students to excel and develop their skills beyond the classroom.
Incorporate opportunities for peer feedback. This can be structured through peer review sessions or online platforms where students can provide constructive feedback to their peers. Guiding students on how to give and receive feedback effectively enhances the learning experience.
Include reflective components in the assessment. This could involve tasks such as journaling about their learning process or writing reflective essays on what they've learned and how it applies to real-world scenarios.
Utilise technology effectively based on whether the activity is conducted online or in-person. Technology can aid in presentations, peer feedback processes, and submission of reflective assignments, enhancing the overall engagement and efficiency of the assessment.
Technology allows for students with different learning styles to more easily engage, so having a broad set of digital tools can be highly effective in engaging the entire classroom.
Provide adequate support and guidance throughout the process. This may include workshops on presentation skills, consultations on theoretical concepts, or troubleshooting technological issues students may encounter.
Finally, evaluate the assessment's effectiveness after implementation. Use student feedback and assessment results to gauge whether the objectives were met and to identify areas for improvement in future iterations of the activity.
Clear and detailed instructions are essential from the beginning to avoid confusion and help students know exactly what's expected of them and how they'll be evaluated. This needs to be in your own words, so that what students see online and what they hear in class is consistent.
Integrating peer feedback into the assessment process not only lightens the grading load but also encourages students to critically evaluate each other's work, fostering a deeper understanding of assessable elements and the key elements of a high-level submission.
Reflection components are valuable for students to articulate their learning process and insights gained. This practice promotes metacognition, helping students connect theoretical concepts with real-world applications. Leveraging technology effectively can enhance assessments, whether through digital submissions, collaborative tools for peer review, or multimedia presentations.
Providing support throughout the assessment process, such as through workshops, office hours, or online resources, ensures that students feel prepared and confident in completing their tasks. Encouraging creativity and personalisation in assessment tasks allows students to showcase their unique perspectives and skills, fostering engagement and motivation. Remaining flexible and responsive to student needs and feedback ensures that assessments are meaningful and support diverse learning styles and abilities.
Incorporating these strategies creates assessments that not only measure learning outcomes effectively but also enhance student engagement, critical thinking, and overall academic success.
Get on a level with your students to foster a collaborative environment. As the lecturer you naturally adopt a leadership position, but by creating a ‘flat leadership structure’, you foster more open feedback sharing and encourage collaboration.
Feedback should also be considered as a core element of your teaching, not just an add-on. Create time and space in class for it through class discussions and interactive feedback boards just as Miro, Padlet etc. This way it elevates the feedback to an equal importance as the content itself for the students and encourages participation.
Here are some additional resources that you can browse to help you implement this assessment.
