Notes: Learning to Reflect

Introduction

Overview

Video: Overview

These notes contain content intended for instructors, as well as students, to be used in conjunction with online exercises, and face-to-face workshops. Students will be prompted by the ANU Wattle Learning Management System, as to which parts to read, and when to read them.

The WPP module is designed to help students to develop capabilities expected of working professionals to identify their development needs, how they will acquire these and to reflect on what they have learned. You should discuss and plan your portfolio approach with your tutor, and with your peers. Where appropriate, we also encourage you to discuss your portfolio with your client. 

Learning Outcomes

The module focuses on the third evaluation theme of TechLauncher:

And the last two learning outcomes:

Indicative Assessment

Two assignments, the first with peer feedback from students, and the second by tutors, make up 20% of your final grade for TechLauncher: 5% for Assignment 1, and 15% for Assignment 2. Two online quizzes and forums are also provided, but for formative purposes only, to help students improve their learning, and do not form part of your final grade.

For each quiz students will answer three to five questions, with multiple choice and short answers. The quizzes will be automatically marked by the system. Questions will be randomly selected from a question bank, with ordering of multiple choice answers randomized.

For each forum students will be asked to answer one of a set of questions with a few sentences (the questions are listed in the notes at the end of each part). Students are then asked to reply to the post by another student. Students will then give ratings for the answer (0, 1, or 2).

For each assignment students will be given a question and a marking rubric. After submitting their own answer for the first assignment, students will rate four others using the supplied rubric, and provide feedback.

The feedback for the first assignment is double-blind: students will not know who they are providing feedback to, nor who they received feedback from. 80% of the grade will be for the student's work and 20% for the quality of their feedback. The second assignment is marked by the tutors. The TurnItIn text matching tool can be used to help check the work submitted is original. Students can run their work through the Turnitin Practice Site, which also provides more detail of the service.

Course specific policies 

Late submission of assessment is not accepted.

Workload

Four hours of student learning time, consisting of participation in online forums and assessment activities. Two one hour workshop are provided to assist with each assignment. Workshops are provided via the Internet in a video conference, where a face to face classroom is not available.

Prescribed Texts

An eBook is supplied with the course, in addition to materials from ANU Careers.

Course schedule

The WPP activities break down into two parts, one topic per part, with one quiz, forum, and assignment, for each:

1. Learn. The student identifies skills they have, what they require, and how to acquire them. Assignment task is to address a typical set of selection criteria for a position.

2. Report and reflect. The student deepen skills in written communication. Assignment task is to prepare an application for a real position, revising the responses to selection criteria from the previous assignment.

Communication platform

ANU Wattle is used. Students and instructors will use the Moodle Learning Management system tools in Wattle:

1. Dialogue for one-to-one communication.

2. Forum for group communication and discussion.

3. Quiz tool for quizzes.

4. Workshop for the first assignment.

5. TurnitIn to help check work is original.

1. Learn

Introduction

Video: Part 1 Learn

Learning Goals

In a group project you are undertaking one or more roles as a team member. This requires technical and professional skills. What skills will you need, which you do not already have? Where will you obtain these skills? How will you practice them, and how to your measure and communicate your degree of success in applying them?

Co-curricular Programs

STAR-L Approach to Learning

ANU Careers suggests using the STAR approach for responding to selection criteria in their ANU Careers Guide (ANU, 2020). Cockburn, Carver, Shirley, and Davies (p. 71, 2007), discuss an expanded STAR-L approach used at Queensland University of Technology (QUT): Situation, Task, Action, Result, and lessons Learnt.

1. "... The situation is the context in which the experience occurred. ...
2. The task is what was actually required of you in the situation. ...
3. Action refers to the steps that you personally took in response to the task. ...
4. Result refers to the outcome of your actions. How did your actions contribute to the completion of the task? How did your actions affect the final outcome of the situation? ...
5. Learnt refers to the things you have learned from the experience. Highlight any skills or abilities that you have developed or improved as a result of the experience. ..."

Responding to Selection Criteria

In the first assignment you are required to prepare a statement addressing the selection criteria for a typical position (you will then refine this and apply it to a real job in the final assignment).

ANU Careers define selection criteria as "... the qualifications, skills, personal attributes and performance standards needed to perform the duties listed on the duty statement/position description" (ANU, p. 30, 2020). For computing positions the selection criteria are usually explicitly listed. The may be divided into categories, such as essential and desirable. Your response to selection criteria may duplicate information provided in the CV.

The Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) examples of selection criteria:

An example of using STAR to the first of these criteria (communication):

"Situation – role as Research Support Officer at Department of XYZ

Task – needed to ensure that managers were kept informed of policies and procedures

Action or approach – initiated monthly newsletter, which was emailed to each manager. Took responsibility for writing the main articles. This involved obtaining ideas and input from other stakeholders to ensure that the articles reflected managers’ needs (in terms of content and language)

Result – led to improved lines of communication between managers and the Research Support Unit. Feedback was consistently excellent. Received divisional achievement award for newsletter quality."

From "Applying for an APS job: cracking the code", Australian Public Service Commission, 2018.

The APSC did not use the expanded STAR-L. Adding Learning to this might give, for example:

"Learning - While experienced in the preparation of newsletter content, needed to learn the use of the department's Wizard social media tool. This required not only learning technical aspects, but group online working."

As included in the WPP:
Communication skills, teamwork and interpersonal skills are the top three criteria assessed by Australian employers (as reported in the AAGE Employer Survey, p. 48, 2019).

Suggested Readings

Questions

1. Describe an example from you own experience in terms of STAR-L:  Situation, Task, Action, Result, and lessons Learnt.

2. Report progress on achieving learning goals you set previously. What have you started? What is going well? What has proved to not be appropriate and why? What categories of learning (self-directed/required, and informal/formal learning) did you attempt?
   

Assignment

References

2. Report and reflect

 Introduction

Part 2 Report

In this second and last part, you will reflect on what you have learned. The assignment task is to select a real position to prepare an application cover letter for, and revise the responses to selection criteria prepared in assignment 1, and other parts.

Components of a Job Application

The cover letter introduces the applicant (you), explains why you want the position,  and your most relevant qualifications, skills and experience. The cover letter should be prepared last, but placed first. The cover letter provides a summary of claims to the position.

The cover letter should be followed by your statement addressing the selection criteria. This is followed by  the curriculum vitae (CV), also called a resume. The CV is an overview of a person's experience and qualifications . See "Resumes", from A​N​U Careers Guide (ANU, Page 26, 2020), for more details.

Supplementary material can be placed at the end of the application as evidence of work described in the application. This could be diagrams, samples of code, schematics of a prototype, user testing procedures, or other work. It is important that the work presented was created by you, not just a team you worked in.

Reflective writing

Unlike the group work carried out for your project, the application cover letter, responses to selection criteria and a CV are individual. This work needs to be reflective: it is about how you can fit the role being applied for, and how you have faced challenges and learned from them.

Baruah, Ward and Jackson (2017), found that a final assessment in the form of an individual reflective essay was also useful for students having undertaken a teamwork project. However, students engaged in this WPP activity previously found reflective writing too abstract, so the task was changed to an application for a position, incorporating reflection.

Three reflective questions for any position are:

1. "Can you do the job?
2. Do you want to do the job?
3. Do you fit into the culture?"

Suggested Reading

1. Reflective writing, ANU Careers, 2018

2. Cover letters, ANU Careers Guide, Page 29, 2020

3. Resumes, ANU Careers Guide, Page 26, 2020
   

Quiz

Please complete online Quiz 2 now.

Questions

Assignment

References

ANU Careers, ANU Careers Guide, Australian National University (2020). URL https://www.anu.edu.au/files/resource/ANU Careers Guide -Final for print -PDF for website_0.pdf

Baruah, B., Ward, T., & Jackson, N. (2017, July). Is reflective writing an effective peer assessment tool for students in Higher Education?. In Information Technology Based Higher Education and Training (ITHET), 2017 16th International Conference on (pp. 1-6). IEEE. URL https://doi.org/10.1109/ITHET.2017.8067802

Appendixes

 

Assessment

Two assignments, the first with peer feedback from students, and the second by tutors, make up 20% of your final grade for TechLauncher: 5% for Assignment 1, and 15% for Assignment 2. Two online quizzes and forums are also provided, but for formative purposes only, to help students improve their learning, and do not form part of your final grade.

Quizzes

Students answer three to five questions, with multiple choice and short answers. The quizzes are automatically marked by the system. Questions are randomly selected from a question bank, with ordering of multiple choice answers randomized.

Forums

Students are be asked to answer one question from a set of two or three, with a few sentences and then reply to another student (the questions are listed in the notes at the end of each part). Students then give ratings for the answer (0, 1, or 2).

Grading

Numerical Mark	Standard
2	Greater than expectation: Work of good quality, displaying an understanding of the subject matter and a grasp of relevant skills that is above average: all questions answered and at least one reply to another student's posting on each topic.
1	At expectation: Work of satisfactory quality, which displays an adequate understanding of most of the subject matter and a sufficient grasp of relevant skills: most questions were answered, and at least one reply to another student's posting on each topic.
0	Limited contribution: Work which is incomplete or displays an inadequate understanding of the subject matter or an inadequate grasp of relevant skills. Few or no postings to the forums, or postings with content which not acceptable. In particular material which is not correctly referenced, or cited.

Assignments

The student prepares a Work Portfolio Package (WPP) in two stages. The WPP is an application for a position, built primarily around the student's recent learning experience. For the first assignments details of a position to apply for are provided. For the second assignment the student must find a position to apply for, and revise their work from the previous assignment to suit this. Before each assignment there is a set of notes, readings, a quiz, a forum, and a workshop to prepare the student. The Instructor will help with the assignment submission process. The team at ANU Careers, can assist with general advice on preparing a WPP. Ask your tutor for advice and assistance with preparing the content of your assignment.

Assignment 1: Address Selection Criteria

Prepare a statement addressing the supplied selection criteria (typically 200-250 words per criterion). The submit one PDF file. Replace your name, contact details, and any other identifying information in the submission with asterisks. After submitting this you will be allocated the assignments of four other students to review. 80% of your mark will be for the assignment submitted, and 20% for the quality of the reviews. Assignment 1 makes up 5% of your final grade for TechLauncher.

Selection Criteria

1. Experience with project tools, such as github, bitbucket, cloudstor, Slack, Discord, Mattermost, coveralls, Chef, trello, zenhub, pivotal and jira.
2. Good interpersonal and liaison skills, including the initiative, drive and flexibility to achieve results and describe a time when you were faced with a task or problem.
3. How did you go about understanding and defining the task or problem?
4. Ability to work effectively both independently and in a small team, without direct supervision.

Adapted from "Employer examples", ANU Careers, 2018. With project tools added from "TechLauncher Course Outline" ANU, 2018).

Double-blind Peer Review

After submitting the first assignment, each student will be allocated four assignments from other students to provide feedback on. This is to help better understand how to write a WPP. The student is to read each submission, rate the work using the rubric provided, and write brief comments (no more than 50 words in total).

The reviews are double-blind peer reviewed: that is the student does not know who wrote the submissions they review, or who reviewed theirs. So students should not include their name, student number, or any other identifiers, in their assignment, or in their reviews of assignments. Where a name would normally occur, asterisks can be used.

Try to make positive comments, rather than just negative. Offer suggestions for improvement. Where there are numerous errors (such as in grammar), just point out the first, don't correct them all. This feedback will be taken into account by the examiner, along with the instructor's input, in determining a mark. Twenty percent of your mark will be for the quality of your feedback.

Assignment 2: Prepare a Complete WPP

The student reflects on what they have learned. Assignment task is to prepare an application cover letter, and revise the other parts prepared previously. Unlike the first assignment, this will be marked by your tutor. Assignment 2 makes up 15% of your final grade for TechLauncher.

Task: Select a real position to apply for. Prepare a cover letter (1-page), you can reuse content from your forum postings. Revise your CV, and the statement addressing the selection criteria prepared in the first assignment, for the position, 2-pages of Supplementary material (work product), and a copy of the advertisement you are responding to.

Marking Rubric

Both assignments use a marking rubric with a seven point scale. There are four criteria corresponding to parts of the WPP (CV, Selection Criteria, Covering Letter, and Supporting Evidence), plus six professional approach criteria (Evidence of decision-making, Maturity of reflection, Professional tone, Evidence of life-long learning, Acting on feedback, and Professional attitude).

Marking Rubric

Overall Impression	Low	mid-point					High
Covering Letter: One page - look for contact details and qualifications; is it addressed and signed appropriately; have they said who they are and what they are applying for (job title, and where and when it was advertised); do they indicate they can do the job and will be a good fit for the company; are they showing passion for the job; are they proactive about getting to interview.	Weak	☹	-1	0	+1	☺	Strong
CV: Two pages - look for their name and contact details; qualifications; professional memberships (eg. ACS, EA); skills and attributes; awards and certifications; relevant work experience; other work experience (including volunteering); referees	Weak	☹️	-1	0	+1	☺️	Strong
Selection Criteria: Look for the use of a model for addressing selection criteria. eg. Situation/Action/Outcome (SAO) or Situation/Task/Actions/Results (STAR). That is, what have they written to demonstrate their ability to meet the criterion. Look for effective use of transferrable skills to address criterion.	Ignored	☹️	-1	0	+1	☺️	Strong Coverage
Supporting Evidence: This is material that will not normally be included in a job application. However, it will help students prepare for questions that may come up during interview. We're not looking for code etc. here. Instead, we are looking for evidence of outcomes and results.	None	☹️	-1	0	+1	☺️	Appropriate
Professional Approach
PA1 Evidence of decision-making: Selection criteria will usually include something around analytical skills and problem solving (which require effective decision making). Has the student addressed such criteria with evidence. Have they demonstrated an ability to learn from failure. Select N/A if there are no applicable selection criteria.	No evidence	☹️	-1	0	+1	☺	clear evidence
PA2 Maturity of reflection: Demonstrated learning from mistakes or failure. Not blaming others. Describing what they learned not what they did. Transferring lessons from one situation to another	Not reflective	☹️	-1	0	+1	☺️	Transformational
PA3 Professional tone: Professional language, no emails like "smartass@gmail.com", appropriate addressing (no, "Hi there ...") and signature blocks (no 'Thanks, ...) on covering letter, respectful but clear.	Not acceptable	☹️	-1	0	+1	☺️	Professional
PA4 Evidence of life-long learning: It is unlikely that students will have the direct experience necessary to cover all selection criteria. So, look for demonstrated ability and interest in learning new things (perhaps based on transferable skills) - thus indicating a positive approach to life-long learning	No evidence	☹️	-1	0	+1	☺️	Clear evidence
PA5 Acting on feedback: Look for selection criteria related to how people respond to others. Look for examples of how students have responded to feedback.	Not clear	☹️	-1	0	+1	☺️	Clear
PA6 Professional attitude: This may be covered in selection criteria but is more likely to be addressed in the covering letter.	Negative	☹️	-1	0	+1	☺️	Positive

Rubric based on "Work Portfolio Package: Marking criteria, ANU Techlauncher, 2020.

Submission method

One PDF file is to be submitted for each assignment. The submission for the first assignment is to be anonymous, with the student's name, and any other identifiers replaced with asterisks.

Workshop Format

A workshop will be held for each of the two topics. The workshop may be in a classroom face to face or online via video conference.

Please note this is not a lecture, it is an activity which students are expected to actively participate in. Read the notes, and readings for topic, complete the quiz, post your answers to the forum, and start work on the assignment, before attending.

Have your answers to the forum questions, and your draft for the next assignment, to hand. You may be asked to work in a group of four to six students. First discuss a topic as a group then select a representative to relate findings (or ask questions) of everyone.

Be prepared to express your view of the quality of the work of your fellow students. This is a less formal assessment than the numerical scale used for the forums, or the marking rubric for the assignments. There are no marks awarded for the workshops.

Part 1, Announcements (10 minutes)

General announcements while students set up the room.

Part 2, General Questions (10 minutes)

Students can ask for clarification on administrative, content and assessment questions. Groups first discuss the question and if they are not  sure of the answer it can be put to the whole room.

Part 3, Forum Questions  (10 minutes)

Discuss your answers to this week's forum questions.

Part 4, Assignment Master Class (10 minutes)

Bring along your draft assignment, ask for feedback from your group. Be prepared to put it up on the big screen for group feedback.

Part 5, Wrap-up (10 Minutes)

Any concluding remarks by students and instructors.

Reference

Sadler, D. R. (2013) 'Opening up feedback: Teaching learners to see'. In Merry, S., Price, M., Carless, D., & Taras, M. (Eds.) Reconceptualising Feedback in Higher Education: developing dialogue with students. (Ch. 5, 54-63). London: Routledge. URL http://www.innovativeconservatoire.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Sadler-%E2%80%93-Opening-up-feedback-Teaching-learners-to-see-%E2%80%93-Publication-2013.pdf

Example Addressing Selection Criteria

Example addressing the selection criterion: " written communication skills":

From "Applying for an APS job: cracking the code", Australian Public Service Commission, 2018. Australian Public Service Commission, 2018. URL https://www.apsc.gov.au/fact-sheet-5-addressing-selection-criteria

Instructor's Guide

This module is designed for blended or learning. It is made up of asynchronous online components supported by an instructor. This is supplemented by real-time workshops in a face to face classroom, or by synchronous video conference. The approach is based on distance education techniques supplemented with flipped classroom techniques as described in Worthington ( 2012 and 2020).

Background

The Australian National University TechLauncher program has been well received by students, professional bodies, and organizations the students work with. However, some students have had difficulty completing the last assessment item for the course: the Work Portfolio Package (WPP). This module has been developed in response, to build the student's skills and confidence. It was first offered for students in the COMP8715 Computing Project course, first semester 2019. It was then revised for delivery to all TechLauncher students in Second semester, 2019, and has been further revised for 2020.

The module is divided into two parts, the first for the middle of the semester, and the second toward the end. The final task is unchanged from previous years: to create a WPP, but the student develops their skills in stages. This is a scaffolded approach to education.

The Australian National University's Wattle Learning Management System is used to deliver most of the structured learning. This is supplemented by a series of face-to-face workshops.

The learning is broken into two parts, each with flipped classroom learning. The student will study material online individually, then complete an online quiz, and post to a discussion forum. The students then take part in a real time workshop. After each workshop, the student completes an assignment.

When designed in 2018 the workshops were intended to be delivered in a face to face classroom on campus. However, it was envisaged the classroom components could be replaced by a video conference if students were unable to get to campus due to an international crisis. This option was activated in February 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic emergency. Where some students are on campus, and some not, a hybrid approach could be applied, using the video conference to linking the students in the room to those remote.

Teaching Roles

This learning module is intended to be provided as part of a course. Students have a Tutor for the course, who they should approach first for assistance. Instructors oversees the delivery of this module, posting information to the class. Students can contact them if they have difficulty accessing materials. One or more facilitators run the workshops.

Some of the tutors may also carry out instructor functions, assist with facilitation of workshops. In any case, the Tutors only recommend grades to the examiner of the course, who makes the final decision, for each student.

Dark Cockpit Approach to Online Instruction

The Instructor issues all students with regular bulletins via the Learning Management System (Wattle), and seeds the online discussion forums with questions. The students are then left to undertake the work. The instructor may issue “nudges” occasionally to all, or individual, students, where there appears to be a problem. Apart from this, the Instructor and tutors do not take part in the online discussion. This dark cockpit philosophy (Jambon, Girard, & At-Ameur, p.43, 2001), reduces the distraction of constant messages from staff, only intervening where needed, and placing the onus on students to come to grips with the topic, individually and collectively.

Formative Feedback and Summative Assessment

To help keep students on task, there is formative feedback, from quizzes and forums. In the 2020 version of the module, the quizzes and forums do not form part of the assessment for the course.

To aid reflective learning, students provide peer feedback on forums and the first assignment. The tutor marks the second assignment. The instructor assists students with the administrative aspects of the module, such as how to submit an assignment. Students having difficulty with the material will be referred to their tutor.

Steps to Prepare and Run the Module