Impacting student attainment and satisfaction through resource lists
by Dr Luke Devine
University Tutor, Institute of Humanities
This case study identifies the impact of innovative practice vis-a-vis resource lists on learners and staff using the example of SOCG3110: ‘Race,’ Ethnicity and Education (2016-17). The case study was driven by a desire to use the module’s resource list to foster students’ independent research and critical engagement with recommended texts and in the process to positively impact summative assessment outcomes.
Accordingly I structured the list around the module programme, with the inclusion of introductory guidance on how to navigate the resource and additional sections including ‘introductory reading’, ‘key concepts’, ‘weblinks’, and ‘journals’. In designing the list it was vital to ensure alignment between grade descriptors, module learning objectives, formative and summative assignments, and to show the connection between the critical employment of scholarly texts and successful assessment outcomes (Devine, 2017a). I hoped this would ensure students had ‘purposeful reasons’ (Salmon, 2013, p. 216) to visit the list, if they were not already inspired by its size (then c. 1,160 items). Certainly, the latter helped to ensure students were ‘captivated’ and more likely to engage with this e-resource (Bach, Haynes, and Smith, 2007, p. 94).
The impact quickly became evident in tutorials and seminars when students demonstrated familiarity and confidence with recommended texts and in the growing number of ‘page views’ and ‘total clicks’ on the resource list, as well as in students’ own recommendations for items to be included. Likewise, of 41 students, overall 71% finished with an A or B grade. Similarly, in terms of using authors recommended by the tutor (identified as ‘Dr Devine’s favourites’ on the list), in the first assessment 38 students used the module’s key author, while 37 students utilised recommended DfE data. Additional evidence of impact was found in the sheer size of some of the assignment 1 reference lists. Indeed, of 41 assignments 16 students used 20 or more sources for what was only a 1,250-word essay. Taken alongside end of module evaluation, clearly the resource list inspired students to critically engage with recommended texts. Of 39 responses, 100% of students claimed to be ‘satisfied with the quality of this module’, 94.9% concurred that ‘learning resources … supported my learning well’, while 97.4% agreed they had been able to ‘access the learning resources’. Overall, 97.4% of students ‘felt engaged with this module’.
On reflection, if it is to become ‘doxa’ (Bourdieu, 2007, p. 168) that students will learn everything ‘from a screen’ (McClelland and Hawkins, 2006, p. 80), resource lists should meet this necessity. This case study demonstrates how innovations to the resource list impacted in a way that fostered students’ autonomous learning through critical engagement with recommended texts, provided students with seamless access to a diverse range of
e-resources to enable independent learning and heightened digital literacy, enhanced student-lecturer engagement and interaction, and most significantly, improved summative assessment outcomes and led to widespread student satisfaction (Devine, 2017a).
References
Bach, S., Haynes, P. and Smith, J.L. (2007) Online learning and teaching in higher education. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Bourdieu, P. (2007) Outline of a theory of practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Devine, L. (2017a) ‘Reading lists – justifying the benefits for both students and lecturers [webinar].’ Available at: https://support.talis.com/hc/en-us/articles/115004062029-Reading-lists-justifying-the-benefits-for-both-students-and-lecturers-webinar- (Accessed: 22 August 2017).
McClelland, R. and Hawkins, N. (2006) ‘Perspectives on the use and development of a broad range of e-books in higher education and their use in supporting virtual learning environments,’ The Electronic Library, 24(1), pp. 68-82.
Salmon, G. (2013) E-tivities: the key to active online learning. New York: Routledge.