Further developments
As mentioned, the course in its current stage is just a proposal and the author realises there is room for improvement. The main areas where further work is needed have been prioritised as follows:
- creation of assessment criteria together with a rubric for students to use for self-assessment, which requires training for students on how to gauge the standard of their work;
- a clearer system of feedback and feedforward has to be established at crucial stages of the project;
- formative peer assessments, possibly following the example of peer critiques in art education;
- more structured academic writing/reading support, perhaps even in form of a parallel course;
- technical help pages/tutorials – it is recognised that students might struggle with the web tools and the initial warm-up activities might not be sufficient; so modular blocks targeting particular web skills like modifying images could be useful
Other suggestions welcome!
Alternative applications
- blended delivery – the online component is delivered in conjunction with a face-to-face course in academic writing and reading plus remedial workshop in computer skills
- teacher training – teachers are asked to focus on the professional aspects in their ‘mystory’ to understand better the motives, perceptions, prejudices and expectations of the professions and so become more reflective practitioners