Working Collaboratively to Support Assignment Writing

Sharon PieroniEdge Hill University

Prompts for the project

Raised awareness of importance of Learning Literacies

Faculty of Education focus on assessment Trainee and tutor evaluation Integrating Learning Literacies at point of

programme design

Parallel Lives!

Learning Services Support•FAST (First Assignment Toolkit) sessions•Individual support

Education • Personal and

Professional Development

• Module Support

Action plan Develop specific guidance for 1 module Evaluate and disseminate Year 2 Research with a cohort ’10-11

What we did

• Obtained previous examples of student work and permission to use

• Developed bespoke guidance for academic writing but centered on specific assignment 

• Ppt and examples of good practice • Provided presentation in individual tutorial

groups session (approx 60 mins per 25 students).

Evaluation of session    

'Yes, the session really helped me focus on structure (my biggest falldown area!)' 'Really informative...' 'The term critical evaluation was explained fully and my understanding was much better after the session.‘

‘’Very relevant guidance pitched at right level’

• Timing – needed earlier in module• More interactive• Involve students in planning the input

Evaluation of outcome

The higher attaining trainees appeared to have followed up suggestions

Overall, introductions and conclusions were stronger and more varied

Lower attaining trainees used some of the language structures from the examples given

Reflections

Joint ownership important

Time inputs carefully

Be aware of inputs from other parts of the programme

Recommendations

Be clear about what can be offered in terms of supportWork collaboratively to apply guidance to specific module Match guidance to level 4, 5, or 6Provide examples Build up re-usable resources