Supporting Student Success

Supporting student success  

All students come with different abilities and with different life experiences. To support their success at any level, you can embed literacy, numeracy and study skills in class activities and assessments.  
Here are some ideas.  

Lexicon  

Every subject has its own language and acronyms. Helping students learn key words, what they mean and how to use them will help them write in a meaningful way within the discipline. Here are some ideas on how to build this language:  

• Write words that from experience you know students struggle with up on the side of the board as you are speaking and review at the end of class  
• Encourage students to write a glossary including using a definition and a sentence using the word  
• Use the discussion forum for students to add words which are new to them from readings or from class  
• Discuss new words and their meanings to show that it is expected that students will not know all the words and it is fine to ask  
• Include commonly used academic words from the Academic Word List  

Assessments  

• Have students hand in drafts of their assignments and give good quality verbal feedback (via Canvas). Not only will their writing improve but it will be a lot easier to read and mark when it is completed.  
• Include peer and self-assessment using rubrics  
• Hand out some written text and ask students to critique the writing  
• Practice –   
  • Ask students to write their response to a topic in 2 minutes, share with their partner and then share their ideas with the class  
  • Ask students to write out the process of solving a problem  
  • Ask students to apply a theory to a real world situation  
  • Have students link a concept to their own experience  
  • Ask students to summarise the major points they had learnt from the last week  
  • Reflect on a project/assignment/trip and write about what it added to learning  

Scaffolding  

Scaffolding involves breaking up big high stakes assessments into parts – offering opportunities to provide feedback at each stage. This helps students develop academic writing skills while getting feedback along the way so they know they are on the right track or if they need help.  

For instance:  

• Students start with building an annotated bibliography using the discussion forum in Canvas  
• Next they synthesis three research articles from the bibliography to write a paragraph answering a question related to the research topic. Feedback at this stage will help set them up for a successful finished assignment  
• The third step is to write a 1500 word assignment on the topic.  
• The final step is a reflection focused on the process and the outcome  

Portfolios provide a good opportunity for scaffolded assessment with each step contributing to the overall mark.  

For instance:  

• Students read and interpret drawings for a widget identifying any complicating factors – written report (10%)  
• Students develop a project plan to build the widget including a budget – Gantt chart with justifications (20%)  
• Students implement the plan and build the widget – report on outcomes (15%)  
• Reflection – what went well, what would you do differently next time? (5%)  

Each step is documented/evidenced as appropriate within the portfolio.