injustice and inequality in contemporary society . As such , this knowledge material and pedagogical practice embed and prioritise sustainability in the final week of the teaching programme , ‘ education , teaching and learning that appear to be required if we are concerned about ensuring social , economic and ecological wellbeing , now and into the future ’. 8 This also promotes Strategic Aim Five in the Keele Learning and Teaching Strategy to 2020 : ‘ To provide opportunities for students to learn beyond the curriculum by ensuring our students are informed about and engaged in the sustainability agenda both within and beyond their academic curriculum .’ 9 . Embedding sustainability in the teaching and learning programme fosters a wider versatility and applicability of the curriculum to extend to wider issues surrounding the responsibilities and obligations of citizenship . Furthermore , as 91.19 % of Keele undergraduate students surveyed agreed or strongly agreed with the statement , ‘ Sustainability is something which universities should actively incorporate and promote ’, this teaching strategy integrates recent student feedback into its pedagogical rationale . 10
Over the course of the term , I weave inclusivity with content by reinforcing threshold concepts to ensure all students have an adequate grasp of the core theoretical concepts of the module . 11 Namely , at the start of each seminar I pose review questions to summarise the previous seminar ’ s material and link it to the foundational concepts of the module : violence and power . For example , in my review of the Emancipation Proclamation , I ask students : How did the Emancipation Proclamation shape cultures of violence from 1863 to 1865 ? Did the Emancipation Proclamation give more power to enslaved persons ? Then , at the end of the seminar , I pose similar questions linking that day ’ s material to the themes of violence and power . In explicitly returning to these threshold concepts at the beginning and end of every seminar , I try to make sure every student engages with these core issues on a regular basis . Furthermore , I include basic definitions of all key threshold concepts on the module KLE site for students to access outside of the classroom setting .
Following the Biggs ’ model for constructive alignment , all teaching and learning activities undertaken in seminars are constructively aligned with the intended learning . 12 This is done to make sure students are continually made aware of the module expectations . This process of constructive alignment promotes inclusivity and transparency for students as well as educators . While it is impossible to include all teaching and learning activities for the module in the below table , a selection of teaching activities from the above analysis has been included for illustrative purposes ( see Table 1 ).
Inclusivity in module assessment
The assessment format for the module is a 2,500 word research essay ( 65 %) and group presentation ( 35 %).
This assessment scheme strives to be as inclusive as possible , catering to a variety of different learning styles , encompassing both written and oral , as well as individual and group exercises : ‘ Inclusive assessment offers flexibility of assessment choice ; a range of tried and tested methods for assessing competence in a rigorous and reliable way , built into course design and subject to student and staff evaluation ’. 13 As in the above explanation of the constructive alignment of intended learning outcomes with teaching activities , the intended learning outcomes are constructively aligned with assessment tasks . 14 This makes assessment processes and expectations clear and transparent in evaluating students ’ acquisition of the intended learning outcomes ( see Table 2 ).
This assessment model does pose some disadvantages to instructors and students . Written assignments are especially germane to the Humanities as a discipline , ‘ In writing we bring knowledge into being , we record and preserve it . Writing is the seed , the fruit and the pickle of our understanding .’ 15 However , some students struggle with research essays ; in particular , non-native speakers and some students with disabilities may not perform as well on the research essay task as their peers . An investigation into the experiences of disabled students in eight universities in the UK found that they preferred diverse modes of assessment : ‘ continuous assessment ; coursework with discussion ; oral examinations ; portfolios and sketchbooks ; personal research projects ; critical diaries , learning logs and journals ; [ and ] exhibition and poster displays ’. 16 The central issues facing students with disabilities must be taken into
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