A very warm welcome to Teaching Insights! In this edition, our second since this publication’s inception, we focus on Meaningful Assessment and are delighted to have contributions from such a variety of academic staff and students from multiple higher education institutions across the sector. The collection examines the key theories and concepts related to assessment and translates these into real-world practice to enhance the student experience.
Our Recipes for Success offer ‘what works’ in the form of concise case studies and activities which enable meaningful assessment. Seventeen contributions were chosen, resulting in recipes written by 24 staff and student authors providing a wide range of perspectives (with the latter employed in a variety of academic and professional services roles). Our authors are based in different universities (Russell group, red brick and post-1992 institutions) across the UK, from the south coast to the north-east of Scotland, as well as in Ireland and Dubai. The intention of these pieces is to enable transferability and foster an international community of practice.
We are delighted to welcome Chris Rust, Emeritus Professor of Higher Education at Oxford Brookes, and Dr Alex Buckley, Assistant Professor, Learning and Teaching Enhancement at Heriot-Watt University whose articles provide The Bigger Picture. These set the scene for meaningful assessment by reviewing the essential literature and considering the major current debates on our theme. In our Alumni Reunion, we bring together Brookes’ Professor Berry O’Donovan and her former students in dialogue about what’s made the difference. The alumni joined us from the UK and various other parts of the globe. This edition’s In Conversation features Dr Lisa Wakefield from the University of Leicester talking about meaningful assessment from both a staff and student perspective. In Your Questions Answered, a guest panel of staff and students responds to reader-submitted questions related to inclusion, the extent to which exams can be considered meaningful, what enjoyable assessment methods might look like and how to use feedback in effective, meaningful ways.
Assessment is a hot topic here at Brookes and the Oxford Centre for Academic Enhancement and Development (OCAED) is currently offering workshops on this theme as part of ‘Brookes Briefings’ and sessions within its EXPLORE programme.
The theme of our next edition, to be published in January 2023, is Closing awarding gaps: celebrating success. We would love to have a contribution from you and please go the Contribute page if you are interested in doing so.
We are continually aiming to enhance Teaching Insights so please let us know what has been useful to you, what you feel could be improved and any ideas you have for future editions by emailing ocaed@brookes.ac.uk
I would like to give my sincere thanks to those who have made the production of this publication possible – Adrian Wallbank (Reviewer and Copy-Editor), Mike Warren (Web Development), Liz Drewett (Marketing) and Kat Kwok (Editor, Edition 1).
Ben W. Walker
Editor – Teaching Insights
July 2022
