“There is a hell and heaven difference among faculties who are from quota and those who are non-quota”: under the veneer of the “New Middle Class” production of Indian public universities [Scholarly Article - Higher Education, September 2022]

Title:

“There is a hell and heaven difference among faculties who are from quota and those who are non-quota”: under the veneer of the “New Middle Class” production of Indian public universities

 

Authors:

Nandita Banerjee Dhawan, Dina Zoe Belluigi & Grace Ese-Osa Idahosa 

 

Published:

Higher Education, 28 September 2022

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10734-022-00932-7

 

Abstract:

The university is a highly politicized and fractious realm for students and academics. Amidst trade-offs between the processes of massification, democratization, commodification, and globalization, the question of transformation for sustainability has become crucial to the social good(s) of higher education. This paper considers academic citizenry within Indian public higher education — a context where the increase in the enrollment of first-generation students and female students, due to affirmative action policies, has not substantially translated into altering the composition of academic staff. Informed by a mixed-method study conducted in 2019 with the participation of academics and those in leadership positions at four higher education institutions, we found that the enactment of such policies was operationalized for the production of the “New Middle Class” by universities. Of concern is that neither the representation nor the participation of academics who are women, “lower” castes, or minorities meets the mark of just, inclusive institutions. Despite the rhetoric of inclusiveness and development, the implementation of related policies clothe subalterns with the veneer of the intellectual class, permitting access on condition that sociocultural identities are concealed, and the hegemonic status quo maintained. Terms such as “quality” and “equality” function as tools for social control rather than serving social justice, where assertions of caste identity and resistance are simultaneously repudiated and misrecognized.

 

COVID-19 and the quality of mathematics education teaching and learning in a first-year course [Scholarly Article - South African Journal of Higher Education, 2022]

Title:

COVID-19 and the quality of mathematics education teaching and learning in a first-year course

 

Authors:

H. Mbhiza, University of South Africa, Pretoria 

&

D. Muthelo, University of Limpopo, Polokwane

 

Published:

South African Journal of Higher Education, Volume 36, Number 2, 21 May 2022

https://www.journals.ac.za/index.php/sajhe/article/view/4676

 

Abstract:

This article is vested on the need for higher education educators to be reflective on their practices in order to configure effective ways to interact with the students and knowledge for specific courses. It is uncontested that education systems globally are under constant pressure to respond to the changing needs of societies. The outbreak of COVID-19 has reminded us that the complexity of education needs responsive practices to facilitate effective teaching and learning across all levels of schooling globally. All over the world, the normative ways of teaching and learning evolved drastically in the first quarter of the 2020 academic year when teachers and students found online offerings to be the dominant option available as a sequel to the pandemic conditions. In South Africa specifically, students and teachers were thrust into virtual teaching and learning situations with the majority of them having no preparation for this shift. This article presents an auto-ethnographical account of the knowledge gaps in the teaching and learning of mathematics education in a first-year education course in an online space. We used auto-ethnography to discuss our experiences of teaching limits and continuity. We argue that teaching the topic on an online platform constrain student teachers’ procedural thinking, conceptual development, and demonstration of their thought processes during mathematics learning and assessment. We also discuss our experiences of developing assessment tasks for the topic and how students identified cheating mechanisms to answer questions in assessments. 

 

University of Nevada, Las Vegas - Reflections Drive Online Course Quality (by Nicole Hudson)

Title:

Reflections Drive Online Course Quality

 

Author:

Nicole Hudson

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

 

Published:

University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 14 January 2021

https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/btp_expo/139/

From the description:

The teaching practice that the department found helpful was self-guided reflection and assessment of professional development needs to improve course design and delivery. Professional development opportunities included cohort experiences, webinars, and self-paced trainings on online best practice including: course organization, student engagement, content delivery and assessment.

The student voice as contributor to quality education through institutional design by F Strydom & S Loots [SAJHE, 2020]

Title:

The student voice as contributor to quality education through institutional design

 

Authors:

F. Strydom & S. Loots

 

Published:

South African Journal of Higher Education, Volume 34, Number 5 (2020)

https://www.journals.ac.za/index.php/sajhe/article/view/4263

Abstract:

The inclusion of students’ voices in different aspects of quality has evolved over the years. Consequently, students take on different roles – ranging from providing feedback on their educational experiences, to actively participating or even leading change initiatives. In making claims for different ways of conceptualising or including students’ voices, the literature often criticises some forms of engagement with student voices in favour of another. This article is based on the premise that the complexity of quality outcomes in higher education needs to be complemented by a variety of inputs from students. By drawing from examples of two high-impact practices from the University of the Free State, the article further argues for using different forms of student voices to inform how we design institutional support structures to ultimately enhance the quality of students’ educational experiences. At its core, this cyclical interaction between students’ voices and institutional design revolves around evidence – thereby contributing to the quality of educational outcomes, and ultimately students’ success.

Rubrics in Higher Education - Some Resources

What is a rubric?
The Centre for Teaching Excellence of the University of Waterloo (n.d.) defines a rubric as "an assessment tool that clearly indicates achievement criteria across all the components of any kind of student work, from written to oral to visual. It can be used for marking assignments, class participation, or overall grades."

Format of a rubric:
The Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning of the Yale University (2019) states that rubrics usually exist in tabular format. According to this Center rubrics are composed of:

• "A description of the task that is being evaluated,
• The criteria that is being evaluated (row headings),
• A rating scale that demonstrates different levels of performance (column headings), and
• A description of each level of performance for each criterion (within each box of the table)."

Types of rubrics:
Mertler (2001) identifies two types of rubrics, namely holistic and analytic rubrics. Holistic rubrics is the most commonly used rubrics. This type of rubric lists three to five levels of performance for broadly described characteristics for each level. Analytic rubrics have characteristics for different parts of the assignment.

Fluckiger (2001) identifies a third type of rubric called single point rubric. This rubric resembles an analytic rubric, but only focuses on proficiency criteria. Fluckiger (2001) describes it as follows: "The single point rubric is an ethical tool to assist students with their responsibilities of goal setting and self-assessment of their own education."

Some resources in alphabetical order:

Alsina, A., Ayllon, S., Colomer, J., Pena, R., Fullana, J., Pallisera, M., Burriel, M. & Serra, L. (2017). Improving and evaluating reflective narratives: a rubric for higher education students. Teaching and Teacher Education, 63, pp.148-158.
doi: 10.1016/j.tate.2016.12.015 

Andrade, H. (2000). Using rubrics to promote thinking and learning. Educational Leadership, 57(5), pp.13-18.

Andrade, H. (2005). Teaching with rubrics: the good, the bad and the ugly. College Teachings, 53(1), pp.27-30.

Anstey, L. & Watson, G. (2018). A rubric for evaluating e-learning tools in higher education. Retrieved from https://er.educause.edu/articles/2018/9/a-rubric-for-evaluating-e-learning-tools-in-higher-education

Ansyari, M.F. (2018). Developing a rubric for assessing pre-service English teacher struggles with instructional planning. Cogent Education, 5(1). doi: 10.1080/2331186X.2018.1507175

Arter, J. & Chappuis, J. (2007). Creating and recognizing quality rubrics. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Merrill Prentice-Hall.

Barney, S., Khurum, M., Petersen, K., Unterkalmsteiner, M. & Jabangwe, R. (2012). Improving students with rubric-based self-assessment and oral feedback. IEEE Transactions on Education, 55(3), pp.319-325.

Besterfield-Sacre, M., Gerchak, J., Lyons, M.R., Shuman, L.J. & Wolfe, H. (2004). Scoring concept maps: an integrated rubric for assessing engineering education. The Research Journal for Engineering Education, 93(2), pp. 105-115. 

Bharuthram, S. (2015). Lecturers' perceptions: the value of assessment rubrics for informing teaching practice and curriculum review and development. Africa Education Review, 12(13), pp.415-428.

Bharuthram, S. (2018, Aug). Evaluation of assessment skills using essay rubrics in student self-grading at first year level in higher education. Journal for language Teaching, 52(1), pp.2-22.

Bharuthram, S. & Patel, M. (2017). Co-constructing a rubric checklist with first year university students: a self-assessment tool. Journal of Applied Language Studies, 11(4), pp. 35-55.

Broad, B. (2003). What we really value: beyond rubrics in teaching and writing assessment. Logan, UT: Utah State University Press.

Carnegie Mellon University, Eberly Center. (2019). Grading and performance rubrics. Retrieved from
https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/teach/rubrics.html

Fluckiger, J. (2010, Summer). Single point rubric: a tool for responsible student self-assessment. The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, 76(4), pp.18-25.

Howell, R.J. (2011). Exploring the impact of grading rubrics on academic performance: findings from a quasi-experimental, pre-post evaluation. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 22(2), pp.31-49.

Jones, L., Allen, B., Dunn, P. & Brooker, L. (2017). Demystefying the rubric: a five-step pedagogy to improve student understanding and utilization of marking criteria. Higher Education Research & Development, 36(1), pp.129-142.

Jonsson, A. & Svingby, G. (2007). The use of scoring rubrics: reliability, validity, and educational consequences. Educational Research Review, 2, pp.130-144. doi: 10.1016/j.edurwv.2007.05.002 

Kishbaugh, T.L.S., Cessna, S., Horst, S.J., Leaman, L., Flanagan, T., Neufeld, D.G. & Siderhurst, M. (2012). Measuring beyond content: a rubric bank for assessing skills in authentic research asignments in the sciences. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 13, pp.268-276. doi:10.1039/C2RP00023G 

Leist, C.W., Woolwine, M.A. & Bays, C.L. (2012). The effects of using a critical thinking scoring rubric to assess undergraduate students' readings skills. Journal of College Reading and Learning, 43(1), pp.31-58. Retrieved 
from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1001041.pdf

Mertler, C.A. (2001). Designing scoring rubrics for your classroom. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 7(25). Retrieved from http://PAREonline.net/getvn.asp?v=7&n=25

Montgomery, K. (2002). Authentic tasks and rubrics: going beyond traditional assessments in college teaching. College Teaching, 50(1), pp.34-39. Retrieved from
https://web.uri.edu/assessment/files/Montgomery_2002_AuthenticTasks_Rubrics.pdf

Moskal, B.M. (2000). Scoring rubrics: what, when and how? Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 7(3). Retrieved from https://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=7&n=3

Moskal, B.M. & Leydens, J.A. (2000). Scoring rubric development: validity and reliability. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 7(10). Retrieved from http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=7&n=10 

Northern Illinois University, Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center. (n.d.). Rubrics for assessment. Retrieved from https://www.niu.edu/facdev/_pdf/guide/assessment/rubrics_for_assessment.pdf

Reddy, Y.M. & Andrade, H. (2010). A review of rubric use in higher education. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 35(4), pp.435-448.

Rust, C., Price, M. & O'Donovan, B. (2003). Improving students' learning by developing their understanding of assessment criteria and processes. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 28(2), pp.147-164.

Sample, M. (2010). A rubric for evaluating student blogs. Retrieved from
https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/a-rubric-for-evaluating-student-blogs/27196

Simon, M. & Forgette-Giroux, R. (2001). A rubric for scoring postsecondary academic skills. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 7(18). Retrieved from http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=7&n=18

Stevens, D.D. & Levi, A.J. (2005). Introduction to rubrics: an assessment tool to save grading time, convey effective feedback and promote student learning. Sterling, VA: Stylus Press.

Stiggins, R.J. (2001). Student-evolved classroom assessment. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

The University of Texas at Austin, Faculty Innovation Center. 2017. What is a rubric? Retrieved from
https://facultyinnovate.utexas.edu/sites/default/files/build-rubric.pdf

University of California, Berkeley, Center for Teaching & Learning. (2019). Rubrics. Retrieved from 
https://teaching.berkeley.edu/resources/improve/evaluate-course-level-learning/rubrics

University of Plymouth, Teaching and Learning Support. (2018). 10 Steps for creating marking rubrics. Retrieved from https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/uploads/production/document/path/11/11370/Guidance_for_Creating_Marking_Rubrics.pdf

University of Waterloo, Centre for Teaching Excellence. (n.d.). Rubrics: useful assessment tools. Retrieved from https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-resources/teaching-tips/assessing-student-work/grading-and-feedback/rubrics-useful-assessment-tools

Wilson, M. (2006). Rethinking rubrics in writing assessment. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Wylie, C. & Lyon, C. (2016). Using the formative assessment rubrics, reflection and observation tools to support professional reflection on practice (Revised). Retrieved from https://cms.azed.gov/home/GetDocumentFile?id=59495f623217e10fbc43eb0d

Yale University, Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning. (2019). Creating and using rubrics. Retrieved from https://poorvucenter.yale.edu/Rubrics