Staff members from Institute of Technology, Sligo are taking part in a collaborative project which is examining the impact of technology on assessment in practical settings in Science and Health disciplines.
The TEAM project is a collaboration between four Institutes of Technology: Dundalk IT (Lead partner), IT Sligo, IT Carlow and Athlone IT and is funded by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.
This project is unique among those funded by the National Forum by the fact that all partners are from the Institute of Technology (IoT) sector – all other funded projects have at least one university partner.
The IT Sligo staff members who are involved with the TEAM project: (L-R) L-R Eimear Donlon, Maire McCallion, Padraig McGourty, Declan Shelly, David Doyle, Tom Patton, Dr Mary Heneghan, Akinlolu Akande.
This project, in combination with an extensive literature review, engaged with multiple stakeholders, namely undergraduate students, lecturers and employers to evaluate perceptions of practical sessions in these disciplines and to evaluate the potential of digital approaches being introduced for assessment.
There were 59 pilot studies (seven of them in IT Sligo) involving 45 different programmes, 50 academic staff and 1481 unique students from the four Institutes. The bulk of these studies took place during the second quarter of 2017.
The opinions and views of industry partners, staff and students were also gathered before the projects began.
The student’s thoughts were particularly important and their opinion to assessment in laboratories was gathered through extensive surveys prior to the pilot projects beginning.
Their views and experiences after using one or more digital technologies in their assessment are currently being gathered through focus groups and tailored surveys.
A project website www.teamshp.ie, where the outputs from the project are disseminated, has been launched. The TEAM project to date, through widespread engagement with student partners and lecturers in the four Institutes, has created an effective peer network of academics in the Science and Health disciplines which has real potential to significantly impact focussed practical changes in assessment practice.
Other outcomes of the project include:
A suite of digital tools to enable other lecturers across the country (or globally!) to use and develop digital assessment resources suitable to their needs in higher education.
An extensive literature review of digital technologies used in the assessment process and a summary of international best practice.
Conference papers have been delivered (or accepted) for several conferences both nationally and internationally.
For more information on the TEAM project, visit www.teamshp.ie.