Award Leaders Panel – how do we assure the quality and
standards of our Extra-and Co-Curricular Awards?
Chair Professor Norman Jackson, University of Surrey
Francine Lindley, University of Sheffield
Terry Dray, Liverpool John Moores University
Vicky Mahn, University of Nottingham
Breakout session (audio only)
PODCAST of Sessions & Leeds for Life Presentation
Leeds For Life
Background
Life-wide learning poses significant challenges for the assurance of educational quality and standards. Learning occurs in diverse environments which cannot be controlled by institutions. Learning is very personal and highly situated. It only has meaning to the individuals concerned. Unlike formal education where learning is the primary goal, in the life-wide learning context most of the learning is a by-product of doing things like working, traveling, volunteering, mentoring or something else. Personal development in these contexts is difficult to articulate it often involves the development of qualities and dispositions as well as new knowledge and skills. Furthermore, learning often emerges in a seemingly haphazard way through the process of doing things. We often only recognise what we have learnt when we look back on the experience. So how do we assure quality and standards? What is it we are assuring and what do standards mean in these contexts?
These are fundamental questions that have to be addressed but are the possible solutions the same as those we apply to academic programmes where learning is controlled and we base our assessments on outcomes that we predict.
In the context of these awards
What can and should we try to assure?
What do standards of learning and achievement mean in these contexts?
What are the challenges & issues?
Where are the opportunities for adopting new/novel ways of supporting ‘standard making’?
What approaches to assuring quality and standards does your institution use?
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