This week’s iLearn Open House features three units from Associate Professor Marcelle Freiman from the Department of English: ENGL121 Creative Writing 1: An Introduction, ENGL231 Writing: From Manuscript to the Digital Age, and ENGL389 Textual Practices. Marcelle uses the iLearn platform to strategically frame content, fostering student engagement. The organised layout and well placed design elements throughout all three units have resulted in positive student feedback.
The user experience of both tutor and student is forefront in Marcelle’s mind when developing content. Students are provided with topic introductions, access to readings and tutorial tasks, arranged in weeks. This allows students to plan ahead for upcoming weeks.
One of the ways Marcelle encourages deep learning is through the PeerMark tool. It is used by students to upload creative reflective pieces and Marcelle and her tutors provide digital feedback through this function. In units ENGL121 and ENGL389 the PeerMark tool has enhanced the student experience. As markers, students gain a better understanding of the content while reflecting on their own task, a key part of ENGL121’s teaching and learning methodology.
In ENGL389 PeerMark is used for students to get peer feedback on a draft research essay proposal. In the draft phase, peer marking is used to help students to refine and revise content for the final essay.
Marcelle uses a forum in ENGL231 for students to workshop their creative non-fiction writing abilities. The forum layout keeps everything organised and accessible.
“Last year we got students to bring in their drafts to the tutor, however there was a problem where tutors wouldn’t be able to remember what was in the drafts to see what changes were made for the students’ next task. What we did to mitigate this was to use forums as a repository for students to upload their drafts. When tutors are marking the final task, they can mark more easily by having access to the drafts and comparing the changes and improvements in the later task.”
The student work submitted in ENGL121 through Class Workshop Forums are easily traceable through group settings. This task also feeds into one of the unit’s learning outcomes – organisational and professional skills.
“I’m able to track if my student’s are getting their submissions in on time. The students really enjoy this and the workshopping activity they can also do online before or after the class.”
Through setting up class groups and utilising them in different iLearn modules, the convenor and tutors are able to track student performance. This makes student management much easier and more efficient for Marcelle and her tutors.
“You can enhance your learning and what students experience in the unit. As long as the convenor sets up the unit properly, takes into consideration the other tutors, the students and avoids confusion at any cost.”
To access Marcelle’s units or any opened unit, in the right side of your iLearn home page, you’ll see a search block – enter a unit code or keyword.
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