Assessing undergraduates through project-work in Classical Civilisation and Ancient History

Status: in progress

Description

The Department of Classics at the University of Nottingham has run, for almost two decades, an innovative module in which the students are assessed by means of a ‘project’. Students select both the subject-matter and the format of the final submission (database, website, video, model, portfolio, creative writing, artwork). The project must be approved by the module convener and an individual supervisor, but the students work indpendently. The students’ work is supported by a self-assessment statement and a portfolio showing the working process, which encourages student reflection; these contribute to the final summative assessment, criteria for which have been developed over the years.

Over the years the module has been enthusiastically received by external examiners. This HEA-funded project aims to make that expertise and experience from Nottingham accessible elsewhere.
A project funded by the Centre for Integrative Learning at Nottingham this year (2007-08) has resulted in a more thorough and theoretically grounded approach to the module, focussing primarily on assessment methods (http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/integrativelearning/?module=contentman&c_id=235). A study of recent pedagogical literature and of comparable assessment practices in the creative arts has resulted in a clearer assessment strategy, improved support for the students, and a making explicit of the integrative aspects of the module: the development of transferable skills, skills useful in future careers (employability), cross-module fertilisation, and the value of the module as preparation for dissertation work in the following year.

Dr Lynn Fotheringham
University of Nottingham
lynn.fotheringham@nottingham.ac.uk

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