Project Poster: Demystifying criticality - scoping the potential of an Interactive writing tool

The focus of this project is collaboration on ways to develop the scope and scale of an interactive writing tool designed for the new module EE841. The tool aims to demystify academic writing and criticality through individual student interaction with assessment ideas and examples of assessment writing. It thus seeks to promote equity of the student experience of assessment preparation and writing; to reduce difficulties that might be experienced by students related to critical thinking and writing; and to counter any hindrances imposed by previous academic experiences and/or socio-cultural norms. 

Previous scholarship related to assessment experiences of students indicates that such hindrances can occur with overseas students who have been exposed to different learning pedagogies and with those for whom English is an additional language. Furthermore, existing guidance around critical writing for assessment can be seen by some students as obscure and thus unusable. 

Collaboration will take place within this project through a change laboratory methodology. The change laboratory active cycle of learning seeks to engage participants in a shared understanding of an activity or process, or artefact and to identify the obstacles. constraints and opportunities that might be present.  

This project seeks to address to evaluate and further develop an interactive writing tool that may have an impact across the wider student community. In addition, we are seeking to identify system enablers or restraints for the development of critical thinking and writing across a range of modules and programmes.