Teaching Matters

Traffic Light Report blends educators’ views with their students’ view to discover disconnect

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Teaching Matters | Presentation Details |

Title

Traffic Light Report blends Educators’ View with their Students’ View to discover disconnect


Author(s)

Mrs Rosie Nash, Dr Leanne Chalmers, Prof Ieva Stupans, A/Prof Natalie Brown


Presentation Goals
  1. Understand factors that contribute to a mismatch of teacher and student expectations of curriculum.
  2. Contemplate an alternative approach to Assurance of Learning (AoL) which can facilitate dialogue between teachers and students on their expectations of assessments.
  3. Consider how the TLR, its findings and recommendations may impact your own teaching and learning practice and how it relates to your Teaching Performance Expectations.
  4. Understand the TLR’s potential to provide teaching teams with opportunities to focus their teaching and assessments on their discipline’s professional standards, create a team approach to teaching and learning, generate individualised student learning plans and supplement professional and Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) accreditation documentation.

Subtheme

Course Blends


Presentation Type

Spotlight on Practice


Keywords

student perceptions, teacher perceptions, tool, employability, professional standards, curriculum design, intended/taught/learnt curriculum


Room

Social Sciences 211


Time

14.05-15.05


Abstract

The presentation will compare and contrast students' and their educators' interpretations of the assessed curriculum, made visible through the use of the Traffic Light Report tool.

In Semesters 1 and 2, 2014, B. Pharm educators assigned relevant National Competency Standards for Pharmacists in Australia (NCS) and performance levels on Miller's pyramid of clinical competence to each summative assessment in their course. Consenting students self-assessed using an identical scale. Students received individualised TLR containing aggregated summative assessment results alongside their self-assessment.

Currently, NCS familiarity and CPD practices are suboptimal across the profession. Pharmacy courses must evidence NCS for accreditation with Australian Pharmacy Council. The TLR aimed to increase familiarity with NCS, develop self-assessment skills (essential to life-long learning) and promote student engagement with the "competence continuum" from first year.  

Examination of the findings revealed disconnect in students' and their educators' interpretations of the same assessed curriculum. Of the instances of student self-assessment in Sem1 only 27.4% (n=233/850) were consistent with the educators expectations of their curriculum. Increased consistency in Sem2 was statistically significant (p<0.001); 37.7% (n=388/1028).

Whilst there are many potential factors contributing to these findings, there are lessons for curriculum design and educational practices including; role of rubrics/communicating expectations to students, engaging teaching teams in course design and course assessment plans. A useful tool for introducing the elements of life-long learning to pharmacy students; the TLR also contributes an alternative approach to examining intended/taught/learnt curriculum.

This presentation encapsulates Course Blends; blending student view of curriculum with educator view whereby the TLR is their meeting point for Assurance of Learning. In addition it breaks down existent unit silos for a course-wide view of curriculum to neatly blend summative assessment from each unit to give students an aggregated course-level progress report based on their profession's NCS. This has portability to other professional disciplines.

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