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Gina’s Blog

My diary of work, play and other important matters

Patchwork Text

February 22nd, 2005 by gina.revill

When Ultraversity was conceived, patchwork text was put at the heart of our module design.

patchwork.jpg

Richard Winter, who was instrumental in the conception of this method of assessment, describes it in a Guardian article, as an ‘alternative to the essay’ which is traditionally submitted at the end of, or near the end of the course. The new idea for patchwork authoring, is that students are set small scale pieces of varying genre over the course of a programme of study, with opportunity for feedback and discussion from the tutor. Then the student must create a concluding piece which ’stitches’ together the previous pieces, linking ideas and forming conclusions.

This is what we aimed to do with most of our modules. It has worked for some better than others. I remember some stunning results from early modules. In times of stress, familiar forms are relied upon such as text essays, and I haven’t seen as many examples lately.

Are we still encouraging this approach as much as we should? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. What could we say is the ideal way to apply the patchwork method to Ultraversity?

  • Encourage the sharing of small pieces of work in the online communities for discussion throughout the course of the modules
  • Encourage the use of all genres when completing the module learning activities, including poetry, fiction, film, audio files, short stories, photos etc, accompanied if needed by a commentary
  • Keep our minds open when assessing different genre - looking for imagination, innovation, and reflection
  • Talk more about what patchwork authoring means

    • Posted in Ultraversity |

    Comments

    1. As I recall Gina, this approach was at Ma level and it was a f2f experience. rather than the feedback coming from the lecturer, the focus was on students sharing their work using different authoring genre to help with thier reflexive thinking, and then feeding back to each other. The author then sometimes edited the work to take onboard the comments received.

      I think that in UV we did not discuss this enough as a process at the meta level from teh outset. I think this was partly because of the poor set of discourse tools to hand, and I do agree we should revisit this in both FC discussions and module design. You could include this as feedback on the ILM module you are being a critical frien too.


      Stephen Powell
      February 22nd, 2005

    2. In my memory, quite a big deal was indeed made of the whole idea of patchwork text in C1 Year 1 assignment 1. Denise’s first report mentions it explicitly, and I embraced the idea by writing the LAS first and then linking to them from the report. Since then it has got more muddied.

      Even though I have referred to patchwork text recently, Gina’s article has surprised me by just how far we seem to have moved away from it. Going back to the origins, the problem seems to stem from the emphasis shifting away from Learning Activities and onto Assesment products.

      Maybe its something to do with individually tailored ILPs which mean that LAs don’t count for much, they are not experienced socially, and the due dates are irrelevant. It’s only when the deadline for the report becomes due that people start to gather their writing and submit drafts perhaps.

      Gina has asked for “small pieces” before, and now I understand why. I tend to wait until I have a draft for the whole report, and then there isn’t enough time left to do much with it.

      So how can we make the smaller chunks of work more noteworthy, such that they can be shared, reviewed, and stitched?


      Andy
      February 22nd, 2005

    3. Not sure if the original was only at MA level - I had a feeling it was also at undergraduate but will do some more reading - I need to anyway - I’m becoming interested in how it was originally conceived. Would be great to talk to Richard Winter and ask for his thoughts. Wonder where he is now? I know he left APU a while ago….

      And yeah, Andy, I agree we did talk about it more in the first year. Your assignment was a great example- you used fiction and photos and managed to stitch it all together, and make some excellent points about reflection.

      I also agree we are moving more and more towards focusing on summative assessment products, rather than looking at separate learning activities. I think there are several reasons - none the least that it’s now the second year and marks matter for the degree classification, and people just want to get good marks, and care less about experimenting. Everyone seems to be more busy - or maybe just more tired.

      I’d also like to see learning facilitators encourage the patchwork approach more. But I agree with Stephen it needs addressing on a meta level. It would be great to have a discussion about it in the Ultraversity community with researchers and LFs - without it being a stressful thing or one more thing for people to think about.

      That’s always a tension - some researchers just want to get on and do it and to be told what to do. Others want to be involved at the conceptual level.

      I need to think about the best way to address it…

      Thanks for your thoughts both.


      Gina
      February 23rd, 2005

    4. This is not an individual quilt/essay, but a powerful voice of a whole community. Have a look at what may be the “Greatest Quilt Ever Made” …
      http://www.aidsquilt.org/history.htm


      James B
      February 26th, 2005

    5. Yes, It was at undergraduate level primarily. And in Healthcare.


      pete
      April 1st, 2005

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