Vohmann, B (2019) Authentic assessment to enhance undergraduates' learning and development as effective practitioners in built environment disciplines. EngD thesis, Anglia Ruskin University, UK.
Abstract
Purpose: Assessment feedback is an important contributor to student learning, yet research shows that built environment students are the least satisfied in respect of feedback and reasons for this are not fully understood. Further, recent research shows that built environment students are not always as well prepared for industry as employers' desire. This work explores means by which use of authentic assessment, allied with assessment feedback, contributes to resolving both of these problems. Research design: The research takes an anti-positivist and interpretive epistemology. The methodology used comparative case studies to generate ideas for modifications to practice in action research, in which assessment was modified to be more authentic to professional practice. Data were gathered from documents, focus groups with students, and interviews with tutors and employers throughout the cycles of action research. Findings: Findings suggest that authentic assessment, allied with feedback, may provide an enhanced learning experience for built environment undergraduates. Professional practice activities incorporated within assessment exposed students to practice-based real-world activities and challenges, thereby supporting their development and better equipping them for industry. Further, assessment design influenced feedback design, which correlated with students' perception and understanding of their feedback. Conclusions: Authentic assessment, allied with assessment feedback, supported student learning effectively and helped prepare students for industry through exposure to real-world activities and challenges. Making assessment more authentic to professional practice, and allied with assessment feedback, provided an enhanced learning experience for built environment undergraduates. Developed from this research, the thesis provides a toolkit for tutors to support their design of authentic assessment and allied feedback. The contribution to knowledge of this thesis is, first, the contribution to theory concerning assessment authenticity in relation to professional practice for built environment undergraduates, and, second, the contribution to practice through production of a tutors' toolkit.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | built environment; feedback; learning; employer; graduate; professional; action research; case studies; focus group; interview |
| Index terms: | professional practice, exposure, toolkit, documents, practitioner, methodology, action research, focus group, interview, epistemology, learning experience, built environment, undergraduate, research design, case study |
| Subjects: | research methods, curriculum development, practitioner, infrastructure and transport systems, professional development, software systems, public and environmental health, knowledge theory, learning methods, data collection methods, research design and methodology |
| Topics: | Education, Health and Safety, Engineering Principles, Urban Studies, Research Practice, Information Management, Roles and Professions |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here