Categories
Digital technologies to enhance learning and teaching and assessment. review Student engagement in learning Student experience

What the Kahoot!

Kahoot logo

Blog Authors: Tracey Howe

Our College is considering running a webinar on how to use Kahoot! a game-based student response system (GSRS) where the classroom is temporarily transformed into a game show where the teacher is the game show host, and the students are the contenders. We were pleased to find this paper published in 2020 ‘The effect of using Kahoot! for learning – A literature review’ the objective of which was to investigate studies on the effects of using Kahoot! for learning. Specifically,
how Kahoot! affects learning performance, classroom dynamics, student anxiety, and the perceptions of students and teachers.

Here’s what they did

The purpose was of this study was to investigate the effect of using Kahoot! in learning from the point of view of a researcher in the context of students and teachers in education. They used the Goal, Question, Metrics (GQM) approach. They searched 5 electronic databases using the search string was “Kahoot”. 

They included 93 studies. Appraisal of studies for inclusion was carried out independently by 2 authors and was on relevance (only articles classified as an experiment, survey case study or similar with focus on Kahoot!), rigor (appropriate research approach described including research context, number of subjects, scope, design, methods, and execution), and credibility (conclusions based on sound analysis and reasoning). Studies were classified according to their type and by nine attributes and a narrative review was reported.

Here’s what they found

  • Effect on learning positive compared to traditional learning and other learning tools and approaches and for various contexts and domains
  • Classroom dynamics – improved teacher-student interaction and student-student interaction, more favourable to actively participate in class, improved classroom atmosphere, and easier to answer questions in class.
  • Student anxiety was reduced related to asking questions, reduce stress and tension, encourages participation without being judged, add humour to class, and enables shy students to get involved.
  • Students have a very positive perception including a positive effect on motivation, engagement, concentration, perceived learning, attention, enjoyment, satisfaction, and confidence. Main challenges – technical challenges, hard to read questions and answers on a projected screen, time pressure, afraid of losing, and hard to catch up if an incorrect answer had been given.
  • Teachers were positive about using Kahoot! for teaching. Positive – higher motivation of teachers, ease of use, a motivating tool, support teachers’ instructive work in class, can assess students’ knowledge in real-time, increases student motivation, stimulate students to speak their point of view in class, can wake up students, increase class participation, and reduce teacher’s workload. Main challenges – technical issues and challenges, get the questions and answers right and scoring based on timing.

The author/s concluded

Kahoot! has a positive effect on learning, but there are challenges and room for improvement.

Our Journal Club’s views

Who are the authors of the paper and where do they work? Both authors were based in the Dept. of Computer Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. It appears that one of the authors was funded by Fulbright Scholarship to visit Institute for Software Research (ISR) at University of California, Irvine where the work took place.  

What do we know about the journal? Computers & Education is an international peer reviewed journal that aims to increase knowledge and understanding of ways in which digital technology can enhance education, through the publication of high-quality research, which extends theory and practice. Impact Factor: 5.627

What about the methodology used?

They authors only considered papers in English and those available through their institutional subscription. Appraisal of studies did not include quality assessment, the synthesis was narrative, and the analysis was thematic. The authors stated that they biased selection of articles in that only positive studies were accepted! 97% present mainly positive results related to Kahoot! and 8% include challenges and problems. The results from all the accepted studies were summarized according to the five research questions and the kind of results reported.

Our conclusions are – that this evidence has a high risk of bias.

Implications for our practice

Many of our staff use Kahoot! Workshops to introducing using it within VLE. Way to replace expensive clicker system. Introduced in interactive way in classroom but now we find ourselves in distance learning. Kahoot is just one of many tools that staff can use to bring interactivity into their teaching. There are a range of tools that staff can deploy.

These tools feature in teachmeets and should feature in future learning and teaching conference.

Next steps

  • Introductory workshops and how to guides [REF]
  • This paper will be used as background material
  • Experiment with STEM girls lightening zoom meets. Enable development of Kahoot by group

View from

What do you think?

Kahoot is excellent but like many innovations need to be adopted in a planned way. Students will experience Kahoot fatigue if it appears in every learning episode.

References

Keywords: Kahoot!, teaching, learning, classroom dynamics, student anxiety, review

Our Blog Posts are written by staff at City of Glasgow College to inform and inspire our practice. We meet together at the Journal Club to consider the latest evidence to provide insights on hot topics related to learning and teaching, quality assurance and subject needs. It forms part of our activity for General Teaching Council Scotland registration and Professional Standards for lecturers in Scotland’s Colleges demonstrating that we are a self-critical staff community.

Categories
Coronavirus Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) Research methodology

6-Step vs 3-Step Hand Hygiene Technique

Hands in UV light

Blog Authors: Tracey Howe, John McVeigh, Walter Patterson, Joe Wilson, Lynn Brown

Image: Tracey Howe

The UK and Scottish Governments and NHS services have been advocating hand washing as the primary public health prevention for the Covid-19 outbreak. So what should we be advocating for our staff and students.

Fortunately we were aware of a study that evaluated the microbiologic effectiveness of the World Health Organization’s 6-step and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 3-step hand hygiene techniques using alcohol-based handrub.

Here’s what they did

The Glasgow based group used a parallel group randomized controlled trial in an acute care inner-city teaching hospital. Doctors (n =42) and nurses (n =78) undertaking direct patient care. intervention. Random 1:1 allocation of the 6-step (n =60) or the 3-step (n= 60) technique.

Here’s what they found

  • The 6-step technique was microbiologically more effective at reducing the median log10 bacterial count.
  • The 6-step technique reduced the count from 3.28 CFU/mL (95% CI, 3.11–3.38 CFU/mL) to 2.58 CFU/mL (2.08–2.93 CFU/mL), whereas the 3-step reduced it from 3.08 CFU/mL (2.977–3.27 CFU/mL) to 2.88 CFU/mL (−2.58 to 3.15 CFU/mL) (P= .02).
  • However, the 6-step technique did not increase the total hand coverage area (98.8% vs 99.0%, P= .15) and required 15% (95% CI, 6%-24%) more time (42.50 seconds vs 35.0 seconds, P= .002).
  • Total hand coverage was not related to the reduction in bacterial count.
  • For the 6-step technique, the back of hands were more frequently missed, whereas the back of the index and the middle finger of the right hand were less frequently missed, compared with 3-step.
  • Doctors and nurses achieved a comparable level of hand coverage with similar areas of the hands not covered: a median of 1.2% for doctors and 1.1% for nurses.

The author/s concluded

The study provides the first evidence in a randomized controlled trial that the 6-step technique is superior, thus these international guidance documents should consider this evidence, as should healthcare

Our Journal Club’s views

Who are the authors of the paper and where do they work? The Glasgow based team work across NHS Scotland and Glasgow Caledonian University. Tracey Howe declared an interest as she has worked with this team on a number of projects and publications.

What do we know about the journal? Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology publishes scientifically authoritative, clinically applicable, peer-reviewed research on control and evaluation of the transmission of pathogens in healthcare institutions and on the use of epidemiological principles and methods to evaluate and improve the delivery of care. ICHE is the official publication of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA).

What about the methodology used? The pragmatic parallel group randomized controlled trial is an established clinical trial design in health. Pragmatic meaning it was based in ‘normal clinical practice setting’ not a laboratory or constrained environment. It had ethical approval and informed consent of participants. The authors used random allocation of wards and assessments- microbiology and statistics were undertaken blind to allocation. Participants were instructed in the hand hygiene techniques which were standardised. Specific amounts of hand rub were supplied and were detailed in the paper. A standardised technique of collection and analysis of samples was used. Participants were observed and timed. Statistical analyses were well described. Overall this was a very well reported study.

Our conclusions are – that this evidence has a low risk of bias.

Implications for our practice

As a College we have a number of areas that routinely teach hand hygiene these include, health and early years, culinary, sports, beauty and leisure. Many of these areas teach the 6 step method and this study provides evidence that our teaching is evidence based.

Next steps

Convene a cross College group to look at the following:

  • identify curriculum areas delivering hand hygiene
  • identify staff expertise and development needs
  • identify and share physical resources
  • identify and share teaching resources internally and externally
  • provide advice to the College leadership team especially at this time.

View from.. one of the authors

This research led by the SHIP Research Group at Glasgow Caledonian University has had an amazing impact. At the time of publication it was widely discussed in the media worldwide. The evidence it provided has been considered by the World Health Organization for inclusion in their guidelines and the publication won the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 2017 William Jarvis Award.

Professor Lesley Price, Co-Lead SHIP Research Group, Department of Nursing and Community Health, Glasgow Caledonian University.

What do you think?

We would love to hear your view on this blog. Please send us your comments.

References

Keywords: Hand hygiene, 6-steps, 3-steps, RCT, coronavirus

Our Blog Posts are written by staff at City of Glasgow College to inform and inspire our practice. We meet together at the Journal Club to consider the latest evidence to provide insights on hot topics related to learning and teaching, quality assurance and subject needs. It forms part of our activity for General Teaching Council Scotland registration and Professional Standards for lecturers in Scotland’s Colleges demonstrating that we are a self-critical staff community.

Categories
Assessment and feedback Delivery and assessment of the curriculum Digital technologies to enhance learning and teaching and assessment. review Student engagement in learning Technology and digital literacies

Student-generated video creation for assessment?

mobile phone video call

Blog Authors: Fiona Balloch, Jan Robertson, John McVeigh, Robertson, Lisa Shields, Joe Wilson, Tracey Howe

Image: Photo by Hermes Rivera on Unsplash

Student-generated video creation assessments are an innovative and emerging form of assessment in higher education. Academic staff may be reluctant to transform assessment practices without robust evidence of the benefits and rationale for doing so and some guidance regarding how to do so successfully. JISC have recently published Future of assessment: five principles, five targets for 2025 which states ‘In a move away from the traditional essay or exam, assessments are building in authenticity by asking students to develop websites, set up online profiles, shoot and edit videos, and use social media.’

We explored the idea, with reference to the article Student-generated video creation for assessment: can it transform assessment within Higher Education? published in the International Journal of Transformative Research, 2018.

Here’s what they did

They searched literature and conducted a thematic analysis related to the use of student-generated video for assessment.

Here’s what they found

For successful use of video creation for assessment:

  • Align video creation task set to both learning outcomes and skills development required for graduate capabilities for relevant industry
  • Ensure technological support, resources and infrastructure are all in place
  • Have an intentional change management process to support both staff and students in the transition to a new assessment format.
  • Involve students in the generation of clear guidance for the assessment and development of an assessment rubric.

The author/s concluded

Video assessment is beneficial for students’ digital communication skills and an effective and enjoyable method of assessment.

Our Journal Club’s views

Who are the authors of the paper and where do they work? At the time of publication the authors are Ruth Hawley and Cate Allen, who work at University of Derby.  Our view is that the authors may be biased in favour of video assessment, in order to provide evidence to support an initiative taking place within their own institution.

What do we know about the journal? The fully refereed Journal of International Journal of Transformative Research does not seem to be live yet and will be issued for the first time in Fall 2020. Our view is that the journal does not meet its stated aims, as it says that articles should explore transformative impact but this is not the case in this article.

What about the methodology used? Research could not be easily replicated based on the level of detail provided in the paper. In addition, the findings lack critical analysis. that this evidence is inconclusive and biased. It lacks a rationale for the use of video assessment or guidance on how it can be used effectively.

Our conclusions are – that this evidence has a high risk of bias.

Implications for our practice

  • How can Nautical courses extend their use of asynchronous video assessment with international students?
  • How could the COGC Health suite integrate video assessment into assessments?
  • How could issues such as trolling, and confidence with one’s own image on video be addressed through digital communication skills training?
  • How could YouTube and Flipgrid be used for assessment?
  • How issues such as trolling, and confidence with one’s own image on video could be addressed through digital communication skills training. It is easier for assessors to view videos asynchronously at the time of the assessor’s choosing, than assessing a large run of live events, one after the other.
  • Training and support is available through the College Learning and Teaching Academy

Next steps

Create a working group to pursue this topic in the College with a view to group-creation of a paper on this area.

View from

What do you think?

References

Keywords: assessment, video, student-generated, Higher Education, digital, technology

Our Blog Posts are written by staff at City of Glasgow College to inform and inspire our practice. We meet together at the Journal Club to consider the latest evidence to provide insights on hot topics related to learning and teaching, quality assurance and subject needs. It forms part of our activity for General Teaching Council Scotland registration and Professional Standards for lecturers in Scotland’s Colleges demonstrating that we are a self-critical staff community.

Categories
Enabling student development and achievement qualitative Student engagement in learning Student experience Student support

A place for mature students in Further Education?

Adult learners

Blog Authors: Jan Robertson, Joe Wilson, Lynn Brown, Maggie Darroch, John McVeigh, Tracey Howe, Paulo Monachello.

Image: COD Newsroom / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

An increasing proportion of the United Kingdom’s (UK) full-time undergraduate student population is mature. Student retention in higher education has been defined ‘as the process of helping students meet their needs so that they will persist in their education’ (Bolam 2003). renewed focus within Scottish FE to re-engage with the missing numbers of mature students as a whole, and for City of Glasgow College to attract and retain students through the offer of the best student experience the findings of Paula Dunne in “Here’s my story: Mature students narratives of Further Education” potentially offer us some insights into the particular experiences and challenges of this group, in order to be able to respond with appropriate support and adjustments to encourage mature adult learners and retain and develop this valuable resource.

Here’s what they did: The author delivered a small scale narrative enquiry into the lived experience of 5 returning students to Further Education in Ireland with the hope to capture their experiences through listening to their stories. Semi-structured individual interviews lasting 40 mins were then carried out towards the end of the academic year. The Interview transcripts were used to identify key themes using McAdam’s life story method protocol.

The key themes identified were:

  • Personal motivations for returning to education
  • Challenges faced & support needed to overcome
  • The influence of past life educational experiences
  • The impact on identity

Here’s what they found

FE could provide a worthwhile experience for these mature student returners. Students could gain qualifications; upskill and reskill. Students could potentially progress onto Higher Education

Further benefits for mature returning students included increased confidence, self-esteem, re-writing earlier educational experiences and building their sense of identity.

Returning to Further Education for mature students presented special challenges such as juggling family commitments, costs & availability of childcare, difficulty in securing part-time employment to fit around study demands & College attendance, feeling initially socially isolated & lacking confidence, (perception that everything is geared up to a “young” world), a fear of failure, lack of ability in IT, and overcoming earlier poor educational experiences

Support from family, peers and supportive teaching staff presented a way to overcome these challenges

The author/s concluded

Embracing education as a mature student for most could be a transformational and positive experience with the correct supports in place.

Our Journal Club’s views

Who are the authors of the paper and where do they work? This paper is single-authored by Paula Dunne from Dundalk Institute of Technology. Our view is that there may have been some gains in having a collaborative approach.

What do we know about the journal? The All Ireland Journal of Teaching & Learning in Higher Education (AISHE-J) is an open-access, peer-reviewed, journal of scholarly research into Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. AISHE-J was first published in 2009 with Sylvia Huntley-Moore as inaugural Editor and welcomes the submission of manuscripts presenting original scholarly work or commentary in any aspect of teaching and learning in higher education.

What about the methodology used? The method is clearly stated as narrative enquiry – a form of qualitative research. Interviews were digitally recorded and later transcribed verbatim were used to identify common themes and strands.

We agreed that an ethical approach had been used in that the participants had voluntarily responded to an email to take part were advised that they could withdraw from the process at any stage. We are told also that password protections were in place and anonymization of participants.

Nevertheless, there were quite a few noted limitations of the study. It was felt that the aim was not explicitly stated in light of the named methodological approach taken. You had to really delve into the “Discussion” section to find this.

A lack of framework for the questions and explanation of the scoring methodology and further detail of the analysis were possibly missing. Perhaps the transcripts could even have been supplied to enrich the article – as the sampling was quite small (although it is stated that it is a pilot.)

McAdam’s life story method protocol (McAdams 1993) was noted as a seminal piece of work. However, it was felt that there were a lack of recent references.

There was no data given in the results section. It was felt that there was a lack of information on the technique to identify the sample. The sample itself is very small, five volunteers; four female and one male. It is limited in time and space. It was felt amongst that there may have been value in a longitudinal approach to examine the experiences of the mature FE students across the academic year rather than only at the end of the year.

Whilst there were reference to two other studies undertaken in Ireland the many studies that the author mentions undertaken within an HE setting are not referred to at any time to offer contrast or add to our knowledge of shared experiences of mature students. It may have been interesting to look at age as a determining factor in experience of the students given that in FE mature students are considered to be those 21years+ and in HE mature students are considered to be those 23years +. The study does only consider the situation in Ireland.

Note this article was published in a Teaching Journal which has a strong focus on the implementation of national teaching policies such as DES, 2008 and DETE, 2002 as referred to in the article.

Overall we thought there was a lack of focus. It was suggested that there may have been greater value in examining the experience of mature students who leave Further Education to find out their experiences this may give a richer picture. In addition it was considered that may be of value to look at the stories of those who were refused a place. Although it was noted it may be difficult to get access to that information

Our conclusions are – that this evidence has a high risk of bias.

Implications for our practice

The article refers to articulation routes into Higher Education. There is space for these pathways to be really clear for mature students to access. Other questions we could consider in relation to our own practice at City of Glasgow College could be bespoke IT learning spaces for returning mature students, future childcare provision and identifying those life events when students consider returning to offer up our learning in a context that compliments that life stage

As an organisation we need to be more mindful of the needs of mature students and from a Worldkills point of view there will be a new focus beyond the 16-24 year olds. For mature learners there is greater need for negotiating things like deadlines for this who are balancing other life events. A place for mutual respect, we need to place relationship at the centre of learning. Things are changing and we need to keep a pace.

Next steps

  1. As an Organisation we ned to reconsider the place of “student confidence levels” and “prior life experiences” in the way that we approach future learning.
  2. Consider tailored support groups for mature students
  3. Consider ways to make the learning experience of mature students authentic and inclusive
  4. Support Mature Students Association development

View from

As a mature student at COGC, who has changed careers and is at least a decade older than most of the class I have enjoyed a mostly positive experience. As a mature student you are very focussed on your goals and serious about success. Through the support of the STEM Girls Group I have found support and encouragement and a Group I can be part of with mixed ages and backgrounds. This has helped.

Ketle Santos, Maritime Operations Level 5, City of Glasgow College

What do you think?

References

Keywords: mature students, FE, HE,

Our Blog Posts are written by staff at City of Glasgow College to inform and inspire our practice. We meet together at the Journal Club to consider the latest evidence to provide insights on hot topics related to learning and teaching, quality assurance and subject needs. It forms part of our activity for General Teaching Council Scotland registration and Professional Standards for lecturers in Scotland’s Colleges demonstrating that we are a self-critical staff community.

Categories
Assessment and feedback Delivery and assessment of the curriculum Digital technologies to enhance learning and teaching and assessment. qualitative quantitative Technology and digital literacies

Rubrics in Vocational Education

cartoon of rubric

Blog Authors: Tracey Howe, John McVeigh, David Cullen, Walter Patterson, Ian Hamilton

Image by Cleonard1973 / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

Our College delivers vocational training that frequently uses observation-based assessment. However we realise that for this to be reliable, fair, and practicable it also needs to demonstrate consistency across assessors (quality assurance), and involve decisions about the range and number of observations of performance that are required to make a reliable judgement about competence. The notion of using rubrics is being explored and we looked at this paper ‘Electronic Rubrics Design to Assess Student Competence in Vocational Education‘.

Here’s what they did. Using Design Based Research they aimed to develop an instrument that contained a rubric on food and beverage service practice in vocational education that is valid, practical, and effective. The three stages included: 1) identification and analysis of problems, 2) development of prototype program, 3) test and prototype implementation of the program.

They explored the needs of 4 lecturers from food and beverage service of different universities and 30 students of culinary education Indonesian Education University. This defined the concept of evaluation tools that were made and validity was explored using the view of 2 specialist subject matter experts and 1 assessment expert.

Data collection involved interviews and questionnaires and descriptive statistics.

Here’s what they found.

  • food and beverage service lecturers have never created nor applied an assessment rubric.
  • students on food and beverage service programme do not know the assessment tools used by lecturers
  • researchers designed a task performance guide that can be used by students in the practical implementation.
  • the performance criteria for the task and performance assessment (rubric) showed a good degree of validation

The author/s concluded

The results of the study consisted of instruments used in food and beverage service performance task of student assignments as a guide for students in carrying out lab work and performance assessment consisting of electronics rubric as practical competency guidelines. The results of the development were validated, based on expert discussions conducted using the Aiken index coefficient.

Our Journal Club’s views

Who are the authors of the paper and where do they work? All authors work at UNIVERSITAS PENDIDIKAN INDONESIA,UPI The Education University.

What do we know about the journal? This paper was published as part of proceedings from the 1st Vocational Education International Conference (VEIC 2019).

What about the methodology used? The main problem with the paper was that clearly English was not the authors’ first language. This resulted in lack of clarity and understanding throughout. The methodology was unclear and all subsequent analysis, results and conclusions were difficult to interpret.

Our conclusions are – that this evidence has a high risk of bias.

Implications for our practice

There are a number of individuals and programme teams across our College developing and using electronic rubrics. These include Beauty and Culinary Arts and are used on ‘Moodle’ our VLE platform. It was felt that rubrics give a more standardised feedback to student that allows their understanding of their performance.

A key area where we could look at this is that of ‘meta skills’ as these are cross disciplinary in nature and could provide core methodology and consistency of approach.

Next steps

  • College staff currently developing or using rubrics could showcase their work at forthcoming internal events and conferences.
  • We could propose a work package on rubrics as part of the current institutional review of assessment and feedback
  • Create a working group of interested individuals
  • Ask OD and COPTE for staff development in this area
  • Look at the Skills Development Scotland meta skills

View from

What do you think?

References

  • Muktiarni, M. et al. (2019) ‘Electronic Rubrics Design to Assess Student Competence in Vocational Education’, in 1st Vocational Education International Conference (VEIC 2019). Atlantis Press, pp. 257–261. doi: 10.2991/assehr.k.191217.042.

Keywords: rubrics, assessment, competence, vocational, college

Our Blog Posts are written by staff at City of Glasgow College to inform and inspire our practice. We meet together at the Journal Club to consider the latest evidence to provide insights on hot topics related to learning and teaching, quality assurance and subject needs. It forms part of our activity for General Teaching Council Scotland registration and Professional Standards for lecturers in Scotland’s Colleges demonstrating that we are a self-critical staff community.

Categories
Quality assurance review

What is quality assurance and why do we need it?

Blog Authors: Tony Adams, Fiona Balloch, Lynn Brown, Tom Duff, Tracey Howe, John McVeigh, Joe Mulholland, Penny Robertson, Lisa Shields, Derek Timpany, Joe Wilson.

There have been a number of recent conversations across our College about Quality Assurance (QA). What is it? Why do we need it? To help us consider these questions and aid our conversations going forward we took a look at the literature.  

In 2015 Tricia Ryan from the Laureate International Universities network published a review of the literature of quality assurance in higher education in Higher Learning Research Communications an open access journal. 

Here’s what they did. The author reviewed a series of papers relating to quality assurance in global higher education. It provides an overview of accreditation as a mechanism to ensure quality in higher education, examines models of Quality Assurance, and explores the concept of quality (including definitions of quality and quality assurance).  In addition, this paper provides a review of research on the effectiveness of quality assurance practices, with a particular focus on student involvement with quality assurance. 

Here’s what they found

  • there is no agreement as to a QA definition or a QA model. 
  • accreditation structures are decentralized and complex at both the regional and international level. 
  • concerns of faculty members and other stakeholders, such as students, about the QA process 

The author/s concluded

  • There is a need for a common framework for a quality assurance model; however, there is no agreement as to a QA definition or a QA model.  
  • Given that students are at the centre of higher education, and invest time and money in the system, involving them could improve QA processes 

Our Journal Club’s views

Who are the authors of the paper and where do they work? At the time of publication Tricia Ryan worked, Director, Quality and Performance Improvement, Academic Quality and Accreditation, The Laureate International Universities network. This network comprises over 25 higher education institutions and more than 875,000 students, primarily focused in Latin America. Our view is that this author has validity. 

What do we know about the journal? The Journal Higher Learning Research Communications is a peer reviewed journal founded in 2011 by four Laureate International Universities® network institutions: Istanbul Bilgi University (Turkey), Universidad Andrés Bello (Chile), Universidad Europea de Madrid (Spain), and Walden University (USA). It is an open access journal. Our view is that this is a reputable journal. 

What about the methodology used? This is a narrative literature review. The aim of the review is stated as “to examine the literature surrounding quality assurance in global higher education. However, the author does not state any specific question/s. There are no details on why or how the included papers were selected. Nor are there any details on whether any quality appraisal of each paper was undertaken. There is only one author and so only one opinion. Although the aim was to consider global higher education the majority of papers focus on the US. All included papers included appeared to be in English Language. The included papers are however relatively recent compared to the publication date. 

Our conclusions are – that this evidence has a potential high risk of bias.

Implications for our practice

Do we have a shared vision for quality and if so, what is it?  Quality is quite a nebulous concept, one that almost defies analysis and definition. One instinctively knows or feels if one has experienced a quality product or service but putting the finger on what exactly made that an experience of quality can be difficult to evaluate….do we need to? 

Within education there are different stakeholders who wish to see that quality is attained. From a macro level, one could view this from society itself, as within educational institutions the student is exposed to the values, mores and norms of that particular nation state, so this would by default be a component of the quality of the education.  The providers of that education wish to deliver a service of quality, both in terms of the process and of course the outcome, in terms of results. This is likely to be determined and influenced by an external body and financial sanctions, with the expectation and demand of ever-increasing numbers of students successfully achieving, and at higher levels. This expectation in turn could negatively impact of the overall quality of the service provided, the value of the qualification obtained and the reputation of the awarding institution. At the ‘coal face’, teachers or lecturers teach for many reasons, but one would suggest that they all wish to be ‘good’ teachers, inspirational and motivating, not only from their own perspective but most certainly in their students’ eyes, so will strive to provide ’quality’ teaching…. but how is this defined? 

Ultimately, it could be suggested that is in the student, the person being taught who can determine the quality of the teaching and the educational experience as a whole. We can all think of exceptional teachers in our lives and can recognise quality teaching…so it may be, that this group is the one who trumps the others in terms of determining quality…and perhaps this is where we should go in order to try to establish a working definition of the concept.  It may be that what is uncovered by such an approach will differ or reflect the concept of quality education from the other relevant stakeholders. Perhaps asking the students might help to establish a baseline to define what is high quality teaching and education…. if we feel the need to capture its essence. 

What internal mechanisms do we have in place for Quality Assurance? This includes but is not limited to;  

  • In course questionnaires such as student satisfaction, learning and teaching questionnaire 
  • Students representation – Board of Management, faculty boards, CIAMS, academic board and student academic experience committee, student services committee, learning and teaching committee 
  • Guidance sessions  
  • Myvoice.  

We think in terms of the paper City of Glasgow College are probably ahead of HE globally, however, the paper was potential for high bias and was published in 2015. 

What external mechanisms do we have in place for Quality Assurance?  We have SQA External Verification, Education Scotland, University partners, Professional bodies who; 

  • Talk to staff and students 
  • Verify assessments 
  • Award qualifications 

In terms of the material discussed in the paper we are perhaps ahead of international model.   

Our challenge is the feedback loop – do we take action on what learners say and what we are analysing the projects. We have different models in College dependent on the mode of student. 

Other topics We them moved into wider ranging conversation about what constitutes quality of learner experience and how we add value and attract learners in an increasingly competitive market place.  How should we react to Amazon Colleges etc and new competition?  What gives us a good reputation? is it quality, how do we define this?  How do we add value? 

  • Education is a social experience, how can we engage learners in fundraising, social responsibility, social learning, broader experiences  
  • Education is not just about getting a certificate  
  • Why did you choose us … we need to do more …where is blended learning and flexible offers.  

How do we quality assure online and blended learning? This was thought to be important and something we will consider at our next meeting. 

Next steps

We agreed that as a group we would draft a paper on College quality systems

View from

City of Glasgow College’s Quality Management Systems   

Information relating to quality can be found on Connected on the Quality Management Systems section. Other information includes; 

References

Keywords: Quality, assurance, verification, education 

What do you think?

Our Blog Posts are written by staff at City of Glasgow College to inform and inspire our practice. We meet together at the Journal Club to consider the latest evidence to provide insights on hot topics related to learning and teaching, quality assurance and subject needs. It forms part of our activity for General Teaching Council Scotland registration and Professional Standards for lecturers in Scotland’s Colleges demonstrating that we are a self-critical staff community.

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Ageing Dementia qualitative Research methodology

Dementia cafés, the way forward?

Blog Authors: John McVeigh, Fiona Balloch, David Cullen, Jan Robertson, Lisa Shields, Joe Wilson, Paolo Monachello, Tracey Howe

Photo by Shane Rounce on Unsplash

With the steep increase in numbers of people living with Dementia – 93,000 in Scotland (Scottish Government 2016), the need for not only more support but stronger support networks for individuals and their carers needs to grow alongside this. City of Glasgow College is exploring the notion of creating a dementia café. To give some insight into this we looked at A qualitative study of carers’ experiences of dementia cafés: a place to feel supported and be yourself published in BMC Geriatrics in 2017.

Here’s what they did. This is a qualitative study of carers’ experiences of Dementia Cafés using semi-structured interviews of 11 carers from 5 dementia cafés in and around London. Interviews lasted an average of 42 minutes and all but one interview was carried out in their home. The interviews were digitally recorded, then transcribed and anonymised before being coded. From these, four themes emerged and were evidenced and supported by direct quotes from the participants.

Here’s what they found

Four Themes

  • Cafés provide a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere where carers feel supported and accepted.
  • Café attendance often brought a sense of normality to these carers’ lives.
  • Carers and those they care for look forward to going and often enjoy both the activities provided and socialising with others.
  • Other benefits included peer support from other carers, information provision and support from the volunteer café coordinators. 

The author/s concluded

  • Dementia cafés appear to be a valuable, perhaps unique form of support for carers giving them brief respite from their caring role.
  • Future research incorporating mixed methods is needed to understand the perspectives of those living with dementia.

Our Journal Club’s views

Who are the authors of the paper and where do they work? At the time of publication, the main author Nan Greenwood worked at Kingston University and St George’s London as the associate professor within the Faculty of Health, Social Care and Education. Having worked in this field for over 20 years and having many papers published in this time, our view is that this author has validity. 

What do we know about the journal? The journal BMC Geriatrics is an Open Access Journal which publishes original peer reviewed research articles and has an Impact Factor of 2.818 this is then gives us our view it is a reputable journal.

What about the methodology used? As the purpose of this study was an in-depth exploration of carers experiences qualitative methodology is appropriate. Potential dementia cafes were identified by a combination of internet searches and ‘snowballing’. Convenience sampling was used and no incentives were given. Data was collected and analysed by three experienced researchers which gives more rigour to the study. Interviews took place in familiar settings, mainly own home. The use of the table to show the demographic was felt to be a good addition to the paper as this highlighted some limitations with the sample e.g. ethnic background mainly white, family members. Other limitations included sample size of cafes, only 5, no interviews with people who no longer attended.

Our conclusions are – that this evidence has a low risk of bias.

Implications for our practice

As a local College as well as being the biggest building in the street could (and should?) be a part of the local community. Having a Dementia café within the College would not only bolster the relationship with the local community but also give many learning opportunities to both our students and staff within the College. How can we move this forward to make the college Dementia friendly and a by-product of this make the College age and people friendly?  

For us a College to look at projects that can bring us into the local community and help support individuals living with dementia while making the College an accessible place with trained staff that people want to come along to and enjoy being here.

Open table discussion around the library provision within the College and the access to books, journals and research papers. The College is looking to expand its library content as well as making it more accessible for everyone. This is a project between the library and the IT Department to look at the Library guide and its expansion and accessibility.

Next steps

We agreed to

  • Organise Dementia Friends training available to all staff.
  • Determine where dementia as a topic is present in our current educational profile.

View from

It is wonderful to see the development of Dementia Friends across the staff and students in the College, I suspect that few students future careers will not in some way have the ability to help influence and shape the world that people with dementia live in. From directly supporting people, to designing our communities, developing policy and shaping our society, students hold the future in their hands and as educators you are helping build this. Learning now how we all can play a part in the lives of people with dementia and their families by taking part in Dementia Friends sessions I hope will light a spark of future ongoing commitment, innovation and contribution. Well done.

Henry Simmons, Chief Executive, Alzheimer Scotland

What do you think?

We would love to hear your views on any of these comments.

I think it is good that the college wants to be part of the community but the comment that the building is the largest in the area would give me concern about its use as a Dementia Café as perhaps the sheer size would be overwhelming if a carer attended with the person they assist. Also, a lot of young students buzzing around may not make it the most relaxing environment. Having said that, this comes from a person with no medical / technical knowledge of dementia

References

Keywords: Dementia, dementia café, qualitative, interviews, carers, experience

Our Blog Posts are written by staff at City of Glasgow College to inform and inspire our practice. We meet together at the Journal Club to consider the latest evidence to provide insights on hot topics related to learning and teaching, quality assurance and subject needs. It forms part of our activity for General Teaching Council Scotland registration and Professional Standards for lecturers in Scotland’s Colleges demonstrating that we are a self-critical staff community.

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Blog Authors: John McVeigh, Fiona Balloch, David Cullen, Jan Robertson, Lisa Shields, Joe Wilson, Paolo Monachello, Tracey Howe

Here’s what they did

Here’s what they found

The author/s concluded

Our Journal Club’s views

Who are the authors of the paper and where do they work?

What do we know about the journal?

What about the methodology used?

Our conclusions are – that this evidence has a low risk of bias.

Implications for our practice

Next steps

View from

What do you think?

References

Keywords: Dementia, dementia café, qualitative, interviews, carers, experience

Our Blog Posts are written by staff at City of Glasgow College to inform and inspire our practice. We meet together at the Journal Club to consider the latest evidence to provide insights on hot topics related to learning and teaching, quality assurance and subject needs. It forms part of our activity for General Teaching Council Scotland registration and Professional Standards for lecturers in Scotland’s Colleges demonstrating that we are a self-critical staff community.

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