This is a list of staff development sessions, organised by theme, which have already been run and can be delivered on request to schools/institutes or subject areas. To request one of these sessions is run for your group, or if you have another staff development need you would like a workshop designed for, please email setl@shu.ac.uk with the name of the session and other details about what you would like.

Assessment Design

Designing Assessments to Reduce Opportunities for Academic Misconduct

In this 1 to 3 hour session we look in detail at what academic misconduct is, what SHU expectations are around it, how to proceed where it is suspected and how to design assessments which make academic misconduct either unlikely or unattractive, and easier to spot and evidence clearly. We also discuss appropriate use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and suggest assessment tasks and pre-assessment teaching and learning activities which help students to make appropriate, academically sound, use of AI. 

The session can be tailored to specific subject areas, or to particular assessment tasks and it can be delivered from a neutral starting point where colleagues are not currently anticipating changing their assessment(s) or from a strategic starting point where colleagues are already intending to redesign or change their assessment(s) and want this session to assist them in shaping the new assessment task(s). We will adjust the emphases and to some extent the content to suit the time available for the session but a minimum of 1 hour (and a clear guide as to your focus) is required. 

Designing engaging online assessments

This 1 hour session was initially planned during the 2020 lockdowns to support colleagues who were using entirely online assessments for the first time and either wanted to move away from a purely written assessment or needed to assess activities they would previously expect students to do in e.g. a laboratory. The session has proved popular with colleagues who felt that their students were not inspired by their assessment tasks and we continue to offer it for this purpose. The session includes work on the difference between equality of opportunity and making reasonable adjustments and also emphasises accessibility matters. There is signposting to development on related matters such as feedback and academic misconduct. 

Blackboard-specific assessment sessions 

The Assessment Lifecycle in Ultra

This is a one-hour session which can be tailored to focus on or emphasize specific aspects of the assessment lifecycle in Blackboard Ultra, or we can simply deliver it ‘as is’. The full contents are: 

• Key differences between Classic and Ultra assessment (for 2024-25 year only) 

• Making sure Assessment points get set up automatically and correctly 

• Types of Assessment available in Blackboard 

• Manual Assessment point creation (and when / why it is needed) 

• Turnitin – integration with submission points and when / why additional Tii facilities might be wanted 

• Feedback Rubrics 

• Marking Schemas 

• The Student Assessment Experience [in Ultra] 

• Gradebook – viewing, sorting, filtering and marking in Gradebook. Posting marks. 

• Re-assessment, capping reports, reporting grades to DABS and reporting suspected misconduct. 

Each item is covered from the angle of Blackboard Ultra in relation to the item. We signpost to sources of more in-depth / pedagogical or procedural training and support where applicable. 

Blackboard Tests (MCQs) for exams 

This session demonstrates how Blackboard can be used to deliver exams using multiple choice and other objective questions. It covers authoring questions, setting and deploying the exam, and supporting students.

Designing and delivering Blackboard Tests 

This session promotes the practical benefits of automated testing and feedback in Blackboard, along with best practice guidance for using different types of test questions available in Blackboard and tips on writing effective objective questions and feedback to test a range of cognitive skills. This session does not focus on ‘how to build a test’ but the design element including writing effective questions and how questions can be written beyond simple knowledge recall.

Formative tests in Blackboard Ultra 

This session looks at Test functions in the new Blackboard Ultra, and how these can be used to create engaging formative tests, with many question types and automated feedback. We also look at how question analysis can help you look deeper at test results, and briefly cover other test options, such as in Panopto. 

Feedback 

Giving Feedback which maximises students’ future development

This 60 to 90 minute session considers the findings of recent research and publications (Darwent & Musgrove, 2023) which resulted from the development and trial of the StanfordPlus (or Stanford+) model for feedback. The research found that a great deal of feedback, particularly including some popular and well-established but seemingly under-researched models, at best is ignored by students and at worst results in them regressing rather than progressing when it comes to their subsequent assessment tasks. Our research found that a simple 4-point model of feedback resulted in a very significant and rather unexpected degree of improvement and engagement. In this session the model is explained and the evidence from the trials is shared and discussed in order to help colleagues to provide feedback which takes them less time than many other models and has been demonstrated to be more effective than several of the most common methods. The session can also include discussion and demonstration of a second way to give feedback, unrelated to the research, which has been found to save a significant amount of assessors’ time and be much more accessible to students, especially those who are neuro-divergent.  

Approaches to online feedback 

This session will explore a range of tools and approaches to providing feedback to students online via Blackboard. (It’s more in depth than can be covered in a general Blackboard assessment session and really can help staff think ahead of time how they will give feedback to students as well as include the benefits of the different approaches from the student perspective. Again some of the tools staff are familiar with using in classic look or work a little differently in Ultra). 

Interpreting Originality Reports 

An overview of Turnitin, the university’s tool for detecting potential plagiarism in written work. We will look at what similarity reports are, how to interpret them, and their limitations. 

Assessment and Employability 

Electronic Portfolios – Formative and Summative assessment

This session acts as an introduction to Electronic Portfolios, and how they can be used to provide both formative and summative assessment and feedback. We will look at software available to you, as well as some tips on effective portfolio use in general.

Coursework beyond essays

Examples of different assessment types that can be used as course work, focusing particularly on methods including video essays and electronic portfolios. Follow up sessions to implement these ideas will be made available for popular topics. 

Digital Approaches for Authentic Assessment

Assessment should reflect the work and society that students are going to enter, which is increasingly reliant on digital interactions and practices. The key is relevant and smart assessment design that uses digital where appropriate and where it enhances the assessment experience. In this session we will explore how these elements combine to create an authentic assessment experience.