A model of the pre-assessment learning effects of summative assessment in medical education

It has become axiomatic that assessment impacts powerfully on student learning. However, surprisingly little research has been published emanating from authentic higher education settings about the nature and mechanism of the pre-assessment learning effects of summative assessment. Less still emanates from health sciences education settings. This study explored the pre-assessment learning effects of summative assessment in theoretical modules by exploring the variables at play in a multifaceted assessment system and the relationships between them. Using a grounded theory strategy, in-depth interviews were conducted with individual medical students and analyzed qualitatively. Respondents’ learning was influenced by task demands and system design. Assessment impacted on respondents’ cognitive processing activities and metacognitive regulation activities. Individually, our findings confirm findings from other studies in disparate non-medical settings and identify some new factors at play in this setting. Taken together, findings from this study provide, for the first time, some insight into how a whole assessment system influences student learning over time in a medical education setting. The findings from this authentic and complex setting paint a nuanced picture of how intricate and multifaceted interactions between various factors in an assessment system interact to influence student learning. A model linking the sources, mechanism and consequences of the pre-assessment learning effects of summative assessment is proposed that could help enhance the use of summative assessment as a tool to augment learning

An investigation into the influences of institutional context on the professional learning of academics in their roles as teachers

publisher versionPreface by Prof Narend Baijnath: “Teaching and learning are never neutral. Every aspect is ideological in nature: from the admission of students, to the selection of curriculum content, to the adoption of learning materials, to the pedagogical approach, to the mode of assessment and the quality of the feedback. The form of disciplinary knowledge may vary from the more subjective and contentious to the more objective and broadly accepted, but teaching and learning remain highly political acts across all institutions, faculties and disciplines. So it is unsurprising that when a country undergoes major social change, ideological demands are placed on teaching and learning.” (HE Reviewed, CHE 2016 p.143). There are many and diverse influences on teaching and learning as a political act, from broad social movements that challenge what is taught, to the ways in which resources have historically been allocated, to the values and goals of different disciplines, and the more immediate institutional and faculty contexts in which they take place. Learning to teach in higher education in South Africa is a timely and well-researched contribution to understanding the influences of that more immediate layer, that is, of institutional contexts, on the professional learning of academics in their roles as teachers. It explores questions of whether it matters to the professional learning process whether one is teaching in a context in which resources are scarce, or whether the departmental leadership style is authoritarian, or whether an institution has a strong drive to increase research output. And if it matters, what are the implications for facilitating opportunities for academics to ‘learn to teach’ in higher education? Undertaken by a team of academic staff developers across eight institutional contexts, this research report offers a comprehensive, nuanced and theorised set of insights into the role that context plays in the ways in which academics learn to teach. Such insights can inform the development of professional learning initiatives at both the institutional and national policy levels. The report is one of the outcomes of a large-scale study carried out between 2011 and 2016, made possible by funding from the National Research Foundation. It has spawned many research articles, books and PhD studies (see Appendix One) and has thus in itself provided a vehicle for the development of further research and researchers on the subject. The team chose to work collaboratively, with all the possibilities and difficulties that that entails, as reflected on in Chapter 7. Thereby, it also offers an illuminating reflection and insights into such research methodology. While the report does not specifically set out to offer anything new or surprising about the cultural and contextual differences between institutions, it does offer a coherent interpretation of such complex and intersecting conditions examined through a single theoretical lens. Indeed, the concepts of ‘structure, culture and agency’ as developed in the work of the social realist, Margaret Archer, formed the theoretical canvas for the study. The theory allows for the analytical separation of different domains for the purposes of understanding the interplay of relations, but it also offers a hope of bringing about social transformation through exercising particular modes of reflexivity. As the report argues, quoting Archer, transforming our positions in society is possible, but “their transformation depends partly on the subjective reflexivity of primary agents in seeking to play an active part in reshaping society’s resource distribution”. The researchers may not always have found it easy to apply a single theoretical lens, but the theory based study provides a coherent representation of the differences and similarities between the institutional contexts of the eight universities, throwing into relief their different influences on professional learning, and points to pathways towards the improvement of teaching and learning in South African higher education. A major contribution of this report that is likely to influence the discourse on teaching and learning significantly, is the conceptual shift from ‘professional development’ to ‘professional learning’. As an external reviewer noted, “in the context of the decolonization debate, [this shift] has the potential to offer a more flexible continuum in which to position different learning opportunities”. It also recognises the importance of group and individual agency and the importance of informal contexts in learning to teach. 12 | Monitor 14 | Learning to Teach in Higher Education in South Africa The publication of this research report takes forward the CHE’s ongoing endeavours to improve and enhance the quality of teaching and learning in higher education. It serves to complement the more practical implementation of quality assurance in higher education, which for the CHE has largely entailed a focus on teaching and learning, whether in accreditation, audits or the Quality Enhancement Project (QEP) that began in 2014 in which one of the four focus areas that universities were asked to engage with was “enhancing academics as teachers”. Participation in the QEP over the past three years has contributed to a heightened awareness across the sector of the importance of academics developing competence in university teaching, particularly given the increased emphasis being placed on student success by both the government and higher education institutions themselves. As a result, universities are becoming more intentional in their efforts to help academics develop this competence. The release of the study is therefore timely, as not only will it add to our collective understanding of the complexities and nuances in the interrelationships between structure, culture and agency that inform and influence academics in their roles as teachers, but it will serve as a useful resource for institutions in their efforts to enhance university teachers and teaching. The Higher Education Monitor series, as was elaborated in the first issue in 2003, “aims to stimulate research and the production of knowledge and interpretive frameworks that could contribute to better theorisation of higher education, more rigorous analysis of higher education complexities and more effective strategies for change and progress”. It is our hope that this report will do exactly that.We thank the National Research Foundation for funding the project that made the study and the ensuing report possible, Professor Brenda Leibowitz for leading the team of researchers, our external reviewers, and the individual authors who took the time to present drafts of their chapters to Dr Webbstock of the CHE at a workshop in May 2016

Collaborative research in contexts of inequality: the role of social reflexivity

This article reports on the role and value of social reflexivity in collaborative research in contexts of extreme inequality. Social reflexivity mediates the enablements and constraints generated by the internal and external contextual conditions impinging on the research collaboration. It fosters the ability of participants in a collaborative project to align their interests and collectively extend their agency towards a common purpose. It influences the productivity and quality of learning outcomes of the research collaboration. The article is written by fourteen members of a larger research team, which comprised 18 individuals working within the academic development environment in eight South African universities. The overarching research project investigated the participation of academics in professional development activities, and how contextual, i.e. structural and cultural, and agential conditions, influence this participation. For this sub-study on the experience of the collaboration by fourteen of the researchers, we wrote reflective pieces on our own experience of participating in the project towards the end of the third year of its duration. We discuss the structural and cultural conditions external to and internal to the project, and how the social reflexivity of the participants mediated these conditions. We conclude with the observation that policy injunctions and support from funding agencies for collaborative research, as well as support from participants' home institutions are necessary for the flourishing of collaborative research, but that the commitment by individual participants to participate, learn and share, is also necessary.DHE

Defining inclusion criteria and endpoints for clinical trials: a prospective cross-sectional study in CRB1-associated retinal dystrophies

Purpose: To investigate the retinal structure and function in patients with CRB1-associated retinal dystrophies (RD) and to explore potential clinical endpoints. Methods: In this prospective cross-sectional study, 22 patients with genetically confirmed CRB1-RD (aged 6–74 years), and who had a decimal best-corrected visual acuit

The mechanism of impact of summative assessment on medical students’ learning

It has become axiomatic that assessment impacts powerfully on student learning, but there is a surprising dearth of research on how. This study explored the mechanism of impact of summative assessment on the process of learning of theory in higher education. Individual, in-depth interviews were conducted with medical students and analyzed qualitatively. The impact of assessment on learning was mediated through various determinants of action. Respondents’ learning behaviour was influenced by: appraising the impact of assessment; appraising their learning response; their perceptions of agency; and contextual factors. This study adds to scant extant evidence and proposes a mechanism to explain this impact. It should help enhance the use of assessment as a tool to augment learning

The applicability of international benchmarks to an internet-based distance education programme at the University of Stellenbosch

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2001.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The publication of the Report of the National Commission on Higher Education (NCHE) in 1996, the White Paper on Higher Education (1997) and the Size and Shape Report (2000) has profoundly changed the landscape of Higher Education in South Africa. Institutions of Higher Education have to re-think, among others, their teaching and learning strategies including the integration and use of technology. Although the use of technology in higher education is still in the early stages, the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is growing rapidly. The University of Stellenbosch started to integrate the Internet in their teaching in 1998. Research was undertaken to find a suitable on-line course management system and Web Course Tools (WebCT) was chosen for this purpose. Since it was implemented, the use of WebCT has grown exponentially, although in most cases only as an add-on to classroom lectures. The World Health Organisation (WHO) Mental Health Disorders in Primary Care programme was the first programme developed as a full distance education course, delivered completely by means of WebCT and making use of the team approach to programme development. This programme was therefore chosen as the case study for this research. The purpose of this study is to apply 24 internationally developed benchmarks for quality on-line distance education to the WebCT component of the WHO programme in order to determine the applicability of these benchmarks for World Wide Web (WWW) programmes at the University of Stellenbosch. The research strategy for this study is a qualitative case study. Qualitative data was obtained by conducting semi-structured interviews with the individuals involved in the design, development and implementation of the WHO course. The study concludes that the 24 benchmarks cannot be applied to the current University of Stellenbosch context. The systems at the US will either have to be adapted, or established to meet the requirements of the international benchmarks. Another option for the US could be to develop their own benchmarks, taking international guidelines into account.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die publikasie van die Nasionale Kommissie vir Hoër Onderwys se verslag in 1996, die Witskrif vir Hoër Onderwys 1997 en die onlangse "Size and Shape" Verslag, het die scenario vir Hoër Onderwys in Suid-Afrika onherroeplik verander. Hoër Onderwys instellings is besig om, onder andere, die strategieë wat leer en onderrig bevorder, in heroorweging te neem en dit sluit die integrasie of gebruik van tegnologie as een van die belangrikste punte in. Alhoewel die gebruik van tegnologie in Suid-Afrika nog in 'n beginstadium is, groei die gebruik hiervan ongekend. Die Universiteit van Stellenbosch het sedert 1998 begin om die Internet in leer en onderrig te benut. Navorsing is gedoen oor 'n geskikte elektroniese kursusbestuurstelsel en die keuse het op "Web Course Tools (WebCT)" geval. Sedert die implementering hiervan het die gebruik eksponensiële groei beleef. In die meeste gevalle word WebCT bykomend tot klaskameronderrig gebruik. Die "World Health Organisation (WHO) Mental Health Disorders in Primary Care" programme was een van die eerste, volledige afstandsonderwysprogramme wat van die spanbenadering tot programontwikkeling gebruik gemaak het. Die program is daarom ook as gevallestudie vir hierdie navorsing gekies. Die doel van hierdie navorsing is om 24 internasionale kriteria vir kwaliteit Internet afstandsonderrig, toe te pas op die WebCT komponent van die bogenoemde WHO kursus, ten einde te bepaal of die kriteria toepaslik is vir Internetkursusse binne die Universiteit van Stellenbosch konteks. Die navorsingstrategie wat aangewend is om die doel van hierdie navorsing te bereik, is 'n kwalitatiewe gevallestudie. Kwalitatiewe data is verkry deur semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude met die persone te voer wat betrokke was by die ontwerp, ontwikkeling en implementering van die WHO program. Die afleidings wat deur hierdie studie gemaak word, is dat die 24 kriteria nie toepaslik is vir die huidige Universiteit van Stellenbosch konteks nie. Die US sal dus die huidige sisteme moet verander of sisteme vestig ten einde aan internasionale standaarde te voldoen. 'n Ander opsie sou wees om 'n eie stel kriteria, gebaseer op die internasionale kriteria, te ontwikkel

The role of context in decision making about professional learning by lecturers at a research-intensive university

Thesis (DEd)--Stellenbosch University, 2015.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The professional learning of academics for the teaching function inherently is a change imperative and it has become an important enterprise in the delivering of high quality student learning within the changing higher education landscape. The influence of context on the decision making of academics about becoming involved in the process of professional learning for teaching was explored in this study in order to inform the practice of professional learning practitioners. The landscape of higher education has changed extensively across the world over the past few decades. In South Africa, these changes have been the result of international changes as well as national imperatives and associated institutional policies. The changes include larger student numbers; a higher level of state intervention; a discourse of performativity and managerialism; and the marketization of knowledge. Within this new landscape, academics have been confronted with a number of old, and some new issues concerning how they view their roles, set their allegiances, and identify with their work. Being a university lecturer, however, is but one of the roles of the academic – a role which is not necessarily highly valued and for which most are not adequately prepared. Professional learning, as the continuous learning of professionals, is usually the ambit of institutional centres for teaching and learning and the practitioners of professional learning employed in these centres. At Stellenbosch University (SU), the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) was established in 2003. As professional learning practitioners at SU, we have constantly been reflecting on our work, and this PhD, funded by the NRF, forms part of this reflection. In this study, the concept of ‘professional learning’ is defined as the continuous learning of academics and is an interlinked and sequential three-stage process similar to the three phases of decision making. The concept of ‘context’ is defined as a ‘contextual spiral’ culminating in the daily reality of the academic as big-C-Context. The daily reality of the academic emerges at the intersection of the professional and personal spheres of the life-world through the interplay of various personal and professional considerations. The concept of ‘decision making’ is defined as a trade-off between alternatives with an opportunity cost attached to such a choice. The case study design implemented in this research made use of qualitative and quantitative data gathered from permanently employed members of the academic staff at the institution in an attempt to determine the influence of context on the decision making of lecturers for participating in professional learning for teaching. The findings of the research indicate that intrinsic motivation is important for decision making and the emerging individual context is mostly experienced as a constraint to the decision to participate in the process of professional learning for teaching. Creating an enabling environment where care for the wellbeing of academics is evident would raise the level of intrinsic motivation and could indeed be a wise step in the pursuit of reaching institutional goals and aims in relation to the teaching function and high quality student learning. Although the findings of this study is specific to Stellenbosch University as a research intensive higher education institution, it could also contribute to the growing body of knowledge in the field of the professional learning of academics, as well as inform other professional learning practitioners within higher education.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Professionele leer van akademici vir hulle onderrigfunksie is inherent ‘n veranderingsinisiatief en dit het 'n belangrike aspek in die lewering van hoë gehalte studenteleer binne ‘n veranderende hoër onderwys-landskap geword. In hierdie studie word die invloed van konteks op akademici se besluitneming om betrokke te raak by die proses van professionele leer vir onderrig ondersoek, ten einde die werksaamhede van professionele leer-praktisyns toe te lig. Die hoër onderwys-landskap het oor die afgelope paar dekades wêreldwyd aansienlik verander. In Suid-Afrika het hierdie veranderinge, as gevolg van internasionale verandering en nasionale imperatiewe en verwante institusionele beleide, plaasgevind. Hierdie veranderinge behels groter studentegetalle, 'n hoër vlak van staatsingryping, ‘n diskoers van prestasie en die bestuur en die bemarking van kennis. Binne hierdie nuwe landskap word akademici gekonfronteer met bestaande en nuwe kwessies rakende hulle siening van hulle rol, die bou van vertrouensverwantskappe en hoe hulle met hul eie werk identifiseer. Om 'n universiteitsdosent te wees is egter maar een van die rolle van die akademikus – 'n rol wat nie noodwendig hoog geag word nie en waarvoor die meeste nie voldoende voorbereid is nie. Professionele leer, as die voortgesette leer van professionele persone, is gewoonlik die verantwoordelikheid van institusionele sentrums vir onderrig en leer en die professionele leer-praktisyns in diens van hierdie sentrums. Die Sentrum vir Onderrig en Leer (SOL) aan die Universiteit Stellenbosch (US) is in 2003 gestig. As professionele leer-praktisyns aan die US, dink ons voortdurend na oor ons werk en hierdie NRF-befondste doktorale studie vorm deel van hierdie nadenke. Die konsep ‘professionele leer’ word in hierdie studie as die voordurende leer van akademici gedefinieer en is 'n onderling-verbinde en sekwensiële drie-fase proses soortgelyk aan die drie fases van besluitneming. ‘Konteks’as konsep word gedefinieer as 'n 'kontekstuele spiraal' wat in die alledaagse leefwêreld van die akademikus kulmineer as die groot-C-konteks. Die daaglikse realiteit van die akademikus kom na vore by die kruising van die professionele en persoonlike sfere van die leefwêreld deur die wisselwerking van verskeie persoonlike en professionele oorwegings van albei hierdie sfere. Die konsep van 'besluitneming' word gedefinieer as die opweeg van alternatiewe met ‘n geleentheidskoste verbonde aan so 'n keuse. 'n Gevallestudie-ontwerp is vir hierdie navorsing benut. Beide narratiewe en numeriese data wat van permanent aangestelde akademiese personeellede by die instelling versamel is, is gebruik in ’n poging om die invloed van konteks op die besluitneming van dosente vir deelname aan professionele leer vir onderrig te bepaal. Die bevindinge van die navorsing dui daarop dat intrinsieke motivering belangrik is vir besluitneming en dat die konteks wat by die instelling na vore kom meestal ervaar word as beperkend tot die besluit om aan die proses van professionele leer vir onderrig deel te neem. Die skep van ‘n omgewing wat die welsyn van akademici op die hart dra behoort die vlak van intrinsieke motivering te verhoog en sou inderdaad 'n wyse besluit wees ter ondersteuning van gestelde institusionele doelwitte met betrekking tot die onderrigfunksie en hoë gehalte studenteleer. Alhoewel die bevindings van die studie spesifiek op Universiteit Stellenbosch as 'n navorsingsintensiewe hoëronderwysinstelling betrekking het, kan dit ook bydra tot kennis op die gebied van professionele leer van akademici en belangrike inligting verskaf aan ander professionele leerpraktisyns in hoër onderwys

Graduate attributes for the public good : a case of a research-led university

CITATION: Van Schalkwyk, S., Herman, N. & Müller, A. 2012. Graduate attributes for the public good: a case of a research-led university, in B. Leibowitz (ed.). Higher Education for the Public Good: Views from the South. Stellenbosch: AFRICAN SUN MeDIA. 87-99. doi:10.18820/9781928357056/07.The original publication is available from AFRICAN SUNMeDIA - www.sun-e-shop.co.zaENGLISH SUMMARY : Hall (chapter two) and Walker (chapter six) stress the distinction between higher education as a private asset and as a public good. Previously, Walker (2002:43) argued strongly that universities have a role to play in the promotion of democracy and in inculcating the sort of ‘cultural capital, values and knowledge’ in its graduates that will contribute to a more just and equitable society. This debate is tightly linked to a growing focus on the nature of the attributes students leave university with, including how these attributes will equip graduates for future employment (Barrie, 2007:439). In South Africa the need for graduates who will be able to participate in growing the national economy was emphasised in the National Plan in Higher Education some ten years ago now (DoE, 2001). More recent mandates emanating from the Department of Higher Education and Training – for example the guidelines provided for aligning programmes with the Higher Education Qualifications Framework (HEQF) – have also included issues of citizenship and social justice (Government Gazette no 30353 2007).Publishers' versio