Alternative Assessment to Promote Information Literacy

Dr Katherine J. Haxton

k.j.haxton@keele.ac.uk @kjhaxton

Calamity & Creativity in Chemistry

https://www.flickr.com/photos/colinkinner/ CC-BY-2.0

Students as…

Digital Citizens

Science Communicators

Creators (of content)

Change Agents

[First sunk in at #VicePhec14, August 2014, Dr Barry Ryan

http://www.slideshare.net/BarryRyan1/vice-phec-2014-assessments-for-learning ]

Levels of Thinking

macroscopic

symbolicmicroscopic

Johnstone, A.H. , various publications, as summarised at:http://www.rsc.org/images/ahj%20overview%20final_tcm18-52107.pdf

Levels of Thinking

macroscopic

symbolicmicroscopic

human

“Moving Chemistry Education into 3D: A Tetrahedral Metaphor for Understanding Chemistry”, Mahaffy, J. Chem. Ed. 83, 2006, 49

Students identifying an area of a (broad) topic that they are interested in, carrying out research then producing an assessable output with a degree of flexibility…

…this could end badly!

Act 1: Information Retrieval

Specific to this assignment, the outcomes are:

1. Evaluate chemical information on the internet and identify potentially inaccurate information.

2. Use recommended textbooks to verify the accuracy of information obtained on the internet.

3. Create screenshots and paste them into a Word document.

4. Reference webpages and textbooks using the Vancouver reference style, noting the importance of ‘date accessed’ when referencing webpages.

5. Clearly identify and reference one instance of inaccurate chemical information and propose corrections to the information, or validate corrections already made.

Someone was wrong on the internet

“It is a strong acid but it’s the chemistry of HF that makes it dissolve glass (and body parts) and not its super “strength”.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23710654 http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/beauty/news-

features/TMG9598248/The-green-guide-to-chemical-free-beauty.html

Act 2: Screencast Presentation

Produce a 5 minute presentation suitable for upload to a blog.

- screencast or video or powerpoint w/audio

Topics include: inorganic chemistry, sustainability and environmental chemistry, space chemistry

Use self- and peer- assessment to evaluate the presentations.

Require reflection by the students on their work.

Demand more than ‘submit and forget’.

Act 3: Infographic

Produce an infographic on a topic related to

sustainable chemistry [1st/2nd year module].

Produce an infographic to revise a concept in

3rd year inorganic reaction mechanisms.

1 side of A4 for the infographic.

Submit a reference list (recommend asking for

an annotated bibliography).

Give examples of infographics, emphasise

difference to poster.

CC-BY-NC-2.0 http://www.flickr.com/photos/draconianrain/

Next Steps

Offering final year projects for 3rd year students to improve 1st year experiments.

Conclusions

Students researching and creating content

Enormous opportunities afforded by technology

- screencasts, podcasts, presentations

- posters, infographics

- blogs, wikis, websites

Opportunities for Peer Learning through Peer

Assessment

Rule of thumb

• It will take a lot of hours to get it working.

• With luck it will work for two years

• Then the rug will be pulled away.

• And you will have to do something else.

[Martin Pitt, RSC Teaching Fellows Meeting]

Sources of Inspiration & EnlightenmentProf. Simon Lancaster (UEA)

Dr Stephen Ashworth (UEA)

Dr Michael Seery (DIT)

Prof. Tina Overton (Hull)

Dr Peter Knight (Keele)

Dr Jane Essex (Brunel)

Dr Barry Ryan (DIT)

Dr Suzanne Fergus (Hertfordshire)Felix Janeway (Leeds)