Contextual Background
A key challenge for teaching cross-course units for on-site postgraduate fashion marketing is the limited time we spend with each student individually during tutorials due to the high student-to-staff ratio. Individual tutorials are often 15 minutes long, which feels rushed when reviewing complex ideas and lengthy student projects.
Evaluation
My current strategy is to request that students come with questions ready and prepared for their tutorial and focus on the areas they need the most help with to get the most out of their 15-minute slot. However, it would be preferential for the tutor to allocate time to their workload planners before the tutorial to read, review, and make feedback notes for the student. On the recent unit feedback form for Consumer Insights for Communication, the lowest score overall was for how students considered the usefulness of their formative assessment. As the unit leader moving forward, this will be a key objective.
Moving forwards
Other units at MA cross-course units have the same issue. Ideally, I would like to double the time spent per student by allowing the tutor time to review work ahead of tutorials. However, this will have staff implications and require review with the Programme Director.
Self-assessment, peer assessment, and group assessments offer solutions. In self-assessment, students assess their work using established criteria. For peer assessment, students assess each other’s work multiply to ensure consistency, often anonymously. Group assessments involve assessing group work by tutors, group members, or peers. Race considers self-and peer assessment to foster autonomous and lifelong learning (Race, 2001). The paper concludes that engaging students in assessment taps into the five pillars of successful learning:
- Intrinsic motivation
- Extrinsic motivation
- Learning by doing
- Learning through feedback
- Making sense of learning
Race notes that involving students in assessment transforms them from passive receivers into active participants in their learning journey (ibid).
Conversely, research shows that students highly value their personal one-to-one tutorials, citing them as motivating and emotionally supportive (Brooks, 2008). They had mixed feelings about group tutorials, considering them generic at times. That said, Brooks believes that peer feedback models can foster a sense of community and reflection. The article makes a case for quality over quantity of feedback (ibid).
Blended learning is a further option. I am familiar with synchronous and asynchronous lesson delivery through MA Strategic Fashion Marketing Online. I have already begun integrating elements such as my theory revision video library as assets into multiple course and unit content delivery. Research indicates that students generally prefer a variety of synchronous and asynchronous formats, appreciating the autonomy of e-learning opportunities (Padmavathi et al., 2021). By designing courses incorporating online discussions, recorded lectures, and digital resources, lecturers can cater to diverse learning preferences while optimising their contact hours. This relates to case study one, which discusses how autonomy can be a key driver of motivation, rooted in Self-Determination Theory (Ryan and Deci, 2000).
In conclusion, I will reevaluate formative assessment methods based on peer feedback. Integrating a combination of blended learning techniques can maximise contact time when facing the challenge of teaching large cohort sizes. Furthermore, a wider variety of low, middle, and high-stakes assessment points (Russell, 2010) across the postgraduate fashion marketing courses at LCF would provide variety for the students and ease workload bottlenecks.
References
Brooks, K. (2008) ‘“Could do better?”: Students’ critique of written feedback’. University of the West of England, Bristol. [Accessed March 2025].
Race, P. (2001). A Briefing on Self, Peer and Group Assessment. LTSN Generic Centre Assessment Series No. 9.
Ryan, R.M. and Deci, E.L. (2000) ‘Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being.’, American Psychologist, 55(1), pp. 68–78. doi:10.1037//0003-066x.55.1.68.
Russell, M. (2010) Assessment Patterns: a review of the possible consequences. University of Hertfordshire: ESCAPE project.