Why+we+are+RSD-o-philes

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When recounting how we came to be using the Research Skills Development (RSD) framework in our curriculum design and assessment... it's important to go back to the beginning - and so this is our story. In 2007 we were tired of the format in which we were assessing students’ groupwork in our first year Human Biology program. The process was ‘flawed’; students were frustrated by lack of cohesion and transparent group contributions; as facilitators, we were often called in to ‘referee’ dysfunctional groups without any real evidence to work with. Sitting through up to 15 hours of PPT slides in class time became boring and repetitive with attendance dwindling once students had given their own presentation. We suffered the common ‘burnout’ associated with assessing so many projects over a series of weeks, without knowing whether students were on track with their topic until we actually viewed their presentation. We were often let down by the lack of quality and depth in the students' research capabilities ..... Something had to change....=====

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We had both started post graduate studies in online education around this time, and we were discovering first hand how effective some of these social learning tools could be to encourage collaboration and transparent processes in a group learning situation. As learners engaging in this environment, we found the flexibility of it’s ‘anywhere, anytime’ nature, made life (and learning!) much easier for us. Furthermore, the accountability that tools like Discussion Boards, Wikis and Blogs created (ie if you didn’t contribute, everyone could see you hadn’t via the history of the site) became first of all a stick, but eventually the carrot, in motivating us to engage in the learning process. So as our own learning experiences evolved, we gained the confidence to implement a similar approach with our perennial ‘problem child’ – the aforementioned group research project in Human Biology. We decided that a Wiki would be the best platform to replace the hackneyed “go off in groups and do some research and report back” approach we had employed for a number of years. We thought a wiki would allow our students to work together without having to be physically in the same place, it would give them the flexibility of meeting in virtual time and space, and it would allow them to do all this when it suited their commitments and lifestyles. Besides changing the research process, we also wanted to streamline and improve the presentation of each group’s findings. As we’ve already mentioned, the PowerPoints ran for too many hours over too many weeks, testing even our patience – and we consider that we are compassionate teachers. There’s probably no need to describe how the less passionate students were reacting to the marathon. At this time, as we were looking to alternative ways of students presenting their research, we noticed student posters being displayed around our Faculty building, from another program, but in a similar area. Suddenly the light bulb came on – this could be our answer! We sought the advice of our colleagues, Drs Eleanor Peirce and Mario Ricci, who were the drivers of this other student project – and became inspired. We were ready to unleash these inspirations on our students.=====