Professor David Boud - Abstracts

Books

Boud, D. (1995). Enhancing Learning through Self Assessment. London: Kogan Page. ISBN 0 7494 1368 9

Self assessment is being increasingly used as a strategy for both student learning and assessment—it is a key skill to be developed on any course. Self assessment is not a new technique, but a way of increasing the role of students as active participants in their own learning. Enhancing Learning through Self Assessment brings together research on self assessment with the work of many experienced practitioners. It is richly illustrated with examples of student self assessment in the context of courses in higher education. Good practice in self assessment is identified and suggestions made for the design and implementation of self assessment procedures for new situations.

Contents:
1. Introduction

Part 1. Self assessment, learning and assessment
2. What is learner self assessment?
3. How does self assessment relate to ideas about learning?
4. How does self assessment relate to ideas about assessment?
5. What is the scope of self assessment? Angela Brew

Part 2. Examples of practice
6. Self and peer marking in a large technical subject.
David Boud and Harvey Holmes
7. Self assessment using provided criteria in engineering design.
David Boud, Alex Churches and Elinor Smith
8. Involving self and peers in assessment of class participation.
David Boud and Alan Tyree
9. The use of self-assessment schedules in negotiated learning.
10. Using self-appraisal with peer feedback in professional development. David Boud and James Kilty
11. Self assessment in a variety of domains.
Angela Brew

Part 3. Self assessment and marking
12. What does research tell us about self assessment?
David Boud and Nancy Falchikov
13. What is the role of self-assessment in student grading.

Part 4. Design, implementation and evaluation
14. How can self assessment be effectively implemented?
15. How can effective self-assessment strategies be designed?
16. How can peers be used in self assessment?

Part 5. Conclusion
17. What issues in self-assessment are still to be explored?


.Anderson, G., Boud, D. & Sampson, J. (1996).
Learning Contracts: A Practical Guide. London: Kogan Page.
ISBN 0 7494 1847 8

A learning contract is a negotiated agreement between a learner and a teacher, lecturer or staff adviser that an activity will be undertaken in order to achieve a specific learning goal. Such contracts have many benefits—they encourage learners to take more responsibility for their own learning, to focus on their own learning needs, and to use their existing skills and experiences as the basis for new learning.
Learning contracts have been a successful feature of many university and continuing education programs over the last twenty years, but many staff are still unfamiliar with them or have difficulty using them. This step-by-step guide introduces learning contracts to those considering using them. Equally, teachers familiar with learning contracts should find the models helpful in developing further ways to employ this
versatile approach to organising learning.
Contents
Part I. Introduction
1. What is a learning contract?
2. Why use learning contracts?
3. Steps in developing a learning contract.
Part II. The elements of a learning contract.
4. Writing learning objectives
5. Identifying resources and strategies for learning
6. Deciding what will be produced
7. Determining assessment criteria
8. Examples
Part III. Taking account of learners’ and advisers’ needs
9. Learners’ experiences of learning contracts
10. Orienting advisers
11. Orienting learners
12. Other strategies for assisting learners
13. Organisational implementation
Part IV. Extending the range
14. Variations in use
15. Applications in work-based learning
16. Limits to learning contracts

 
Boud, D. & Miller, N. (Eds.)(1996).
Working with Experience: Animating Learning.
London: Routledge. ISBN 0 415 14245 8 & ISBN 0 415 14246 6

Every day, when we are confronted with problems and challenges, we draw on our experience. We learn from experience and so face new circumstances with fresh insights. Learning through experience is the normal, commonplace approach to learning, yet we take it for granted. Much is known about teaching and being taught. Far less is known about how we learn, especially outside the classroom. One particularly neglected area is the role that people pay in animating other people’s learning. This role is undertaken not only by teachers, trainers, parents and counsellors, but also by managers, supervisors, care-givers and friends. This book brings together the experiences of a number of practitioners, who write from often strongly contrasting perspectives; these include feminism, critical pedagogy and post-modernism and different psychological perspectives—Gestalt, humanistic, clinical and transpersonal. The authors come from a wide range of backgrounds, including adult, higher and teacher education, community work, organisational development and psychotherapy. Each chapter is grounded not only in professional practice and theory, but also in personal experience. The book provides fascinating insights into what some good practitioners do to animate other people’s learning and how they make sense of it.

Contents
1. Animating learning from experience.
Nod Miller and David Boud.
2. Synthesising traditions and identifying themes in animating learning.
David Boud and Nod Miller.

Part 1
3. Helping people learn what they do: breaking dependence on experts.
Stephen Brookfield
4. Developing socially critical educators.
John Smyth

Part 2
5. Sharing the secrets of perspectives: operating honestly in the classroom.
Joyce Stalker
6. Helping whole people learn.
John Heron

Part 3
7. Making the difference/teaching the international.
Jan Jindy Pettman
8. Using life experience to teach feminist theory.
Elizabeth J. Tisdell.

Part 4
9. Building on experience: working with construction workers in Brazil.
Timothy D. Ireland
10. Community empowerment: what happens when a community decides to do things differently.
Jim Brown

Part 5
11. Animating learning in teams: a Gestalt approach.
John Bernard Harris
12. Writing and power: influence and engagement in adult literacies.
Jane Mace
13. Feeling the fear.
Bob Johnson

Epilogue
14. Ending with ourselves: reflections on learning and animation.
Nod Miller and David Boud

 
Boud, D. & Feletti, G. (Eds) (1997).
The Challenge of Problem-Based Learning,
Second, revised edition. London: Kogan Page, New York: St Martin’s Press.

Problem-based learning is grounded in the belief that learning is most effective when students are actively involved and learn in the context in which the knowledge is to be used. Problems act as a stimulus and focus for student activity. Problem-based learning is not simply the addition of problem-solving activities to otherwise discipline-centred curricula, but a way of shaping the learning program of professional practice. This new paperback edition examines approaches to this method both systematically and critically, to highlight its significance, its uses, its strengths and imitations. The editors have brought together experiences from many countries and fields of practice—from architecture to computer studies, from engineering to social work—in order to present the fullest picture yet of the role of problem-based learning in practice. Contributors, drawn from 30 different institutions, bring their experience to bear on issues such as: conversion to PBL, organisational and institutional hostility, accreditation and assessment, issues of implementation, the future of PBL.

Contents
1. Changing problem-based learning. Introduction to the Second Edition
David Boud and Grahame Feletti
Part IWhat is Problem-Based Learning?
2. Not just a method but a way of learning
Charles E. Engel.
3. Towards a framework for problem-based curricula
Bob Ross
4. Why is problem-based learning a challenge?
Don Margetson

Part II Getting Started
5. Good planning is not enough
Stephen Abrahamson
6. Persevering with problem-based learning
Peter Schwartz
7. Conversion to problem-based learning in 15 months
Alexander S. Anderson
8. Initiating problem-based learning at Harvard Medical School
Gordon Moore
9. Organisational and institutional impediments to a problem-based approach
Stephen Little and Chris Sauer

Part III
Design and Implementation
10. Selection of health problems for a problem-based curriculum
Peter J MacDonald
11. Responding to `non-traditional' students: an enquiry and action approach.
Imogen Taylor and Hilary Burgess
12. Preparing tertiary teachers for problem-based learning
Shona Little
13. Ensuring that students develop an adequate, and well-structured, knowledge
base
Greg Ryan
14. A hybrid model of problem-based learning
Elizabeth G Armstrong
15. Case writing: case writers' perspectives
Janet P Hafler
16. Becoming a problem-based tutor: increasing self-awareness through faculty development
LuAnn Wilkerson and Edward M Hundert
17. Issues in implemention in an otherwise conventional program
Donald R Woods

Part IV
Examples from different professions
18. A problem-based module in mechanical engineering
Peter Cawley
19. Use of issue-based approach in social work education
Natalie Bolzan and Karen Heycox
20. Problem-based learning in optometry
Jan Lovie-Kitchin
21. Problem-based learning for architecture and construction management
Barry Maitland
22. Problem-based learning in an integrated nursing curriculum
Debra Creedy and Christine Alavi.
23. Applying problem-based learning to practical legal training
Keith Winsor
24. Industrial enhancement through problem-based learning
John R Usher, David G Simmonds, Iain Mackenzie, Ken Brown and Shirley E Earl
25. Experiences with problem-based learning in business and management
Alan Gilbert and Stephen F. Foster
Part V Assessment and Evaluation
26. Accreditation and assessment in architecture
Barry Maitland
27. Assessment in problem-based learning
Geoffrey R. Norman
28. Strategies for student assessment
David B. Swanson, Susan M. Case and Cees P.M. van der Vleuten
29. Learning from the assessment of problem solving
David Dathe, Kathleen O'Brien, Georgine Loacker and Mary Georgia Matlock
30. What can we learn from program evaluation studies in medical education?
Christel A. Woodward

Part VI
Beyond Problem-Based Learning
30. Is problem-based learning the only way?
Colin Coles
31. Towards a praxis of situation improving
Richard Bawden
32. The limits of problem-based learning?
John Drinan
 

Boud, D. (Ed) (1998)
Current Issues and New Agendas in Workplace Learning.
Adelaide: National Centre for Vocational Education Research. ISBN 0 87397 4700

The aim of the book is to bring together what is known about workplace learning, examine it critically and propose directions for future developments in both research and practice. The book provides a research-based picture of developments in this growing area. Some of the themes which appear throughout the book are:
· a new recognition of the importance of workplace learning
· the highly contextualised nature of workplace learning
· the rapidly changing context which responds to changes in the nature of work
· the inappropriateness of seeing research as a collection of ‘facts’ about workplace learning
· the need to engage issues of practice and performance
· the location of workplace learning in the broader context of lifelong learning.
Throughout the authors seek to provide frameworks for considering issues and new ways of representing the complexities of the field in an accessible form. Directions.for research are considered, but simple prescriptions are avoided as these would not reflect the diverse needs of workplace learning.

Contents
1. The new focus on workplace learning research.
David Boud
2. Fusing learning and work: changing conceptions of workplace learning.
Philip Candy and Judy Mathews
3. Understanding workplace learning: general perspectives.
Paul Hager
4. Understanding workplace learning: cognitive and sociocultural perspectives.
Stephen Billett
5. Management learning.
David Beckett
6. Equity and workplace learning: emerging discourses and conditions of possibility.
Elaine Butler
7. The assessment of learning.
Russell Docking
8. The costs and benefits of training and assessment.
Rod McDonald
9. More strategic, more critical, more evaluative: perspectives on research into
workplace learning and assessment.
David Boud, John Freeland, Geof Hawke and Rod McDonald

 
Boud, D. & Garrick, J. (Eds) (in press)
Understanding Learning at Work. London:
Routledge. Due 1999.

The book focuses on what we know about workplace learning and what we think it can encompass. It is about understanding the complex and multifaceted field of learning at work. It brings together what is currently known about workplace learning in ways helpful to practitioners, researchers and policy-makers. It focuses on the rich and varied research undertaken on the important phenomenon of learning in work. It
aims to generate discussion and critique directions for developing it.
Understanding Learning at Work is a starting point for those who want to engage with this newly emerging field of interest. It is directed towards practitioners who want to know about the implications of research on learning in enterprises. It is addressed to those who are assisting organisations to transform themselves with an emphasis on learning. It is also be of interest to researchers who wish to locate their
own work in a broader perspective of economic and social change.

Contents
1. Understandings of workplace learning
David Boud & John Garrick

Section One. Context.
2. The changing contexts of work
Catherine Casey
3. Learning to work and working to learn
Ronald Barnett

Section Two. Perspectives
4. New dimensions in the dynamics of learning and knowledge
Judy Matthews and Philip Candy
5. Finding a good theory of workplace learning
Paul Hager
6. Past the guru and up the garden path: The new organic management learning
David Beckett
7. Gender workers and gendered workplaces: Implications for learning
Belinda Probert
Section Three. Issues in Practice
8. Culture and difference in workplace learning
Nicky Solomon
9. Technologising equity: The politics and practices of work-related learning
Elaine Butler
10. Guided learning at work
Stephen Billett
11. Is learning transferable?
Mark Tennant
12. Competency-based learning: a dubious past—an assured future?
Andrew Gonczi
Section Four. Futures
13 Envisioning new organisations for learning
Victoria J. Marsick & Karen E. Watkins
14 The dominant discourses of learning at work
John Garrick

Papers

Brew, A. & Boud, D. (1995).
Teaching and research: establishing the vital link with learning, Higher Education, 29, 3, 261-273. ISSN 0018 1560

Abstract
Much time and effort has gone into trying to demonstrate an empirical link between research activity and teaching performance. In general, the correlations between these factors have been shown to be low. This paper argues that the attempt to find such a link will always be confounded by different conceptions of the two enterprises. The debate about the relationships between teaching and research as presently conceived is not fruitful. If there is a link between the two it operates through that which teaching and research have in common; both are concerned with the act of learning, though in different contexts. Greater emphasis needs to be placed on the ways in.which knowledge is generated and communicated. Those aspects of teaching which lead to learning and the learning which occurs through research provide the vital link. This is important if the debate is to progress beyond a political defence of the status quo and be of practical use to considerations of whether, in higher education, teaching without research is to be encouraged.  


Brew, A. & Boud, D. (1996)
Preparing for new academic roles: a holistic approach to development. International Journal of Academic Development, 1, 2, 17-25. ISSN 1360 144X

Abstract
In recent years there has been sustained emphasis in many countries on preparing academic staff for their teaching role. However, the necessary emphasis on teaching has distracted attention from the fact that university teachers are facing many other complex demands. University teachers are being appointed from a greater range of backgrounds and types of experience and performing an increasingly diverse range of roles. Moreover, while the emphasis has tended to be on the needs of full-time tenurable staff, the numbers of casual and contract staff have grown. While much has been achieved, staff development provision is not coordinated, resources are not necessarily provided, centralised schemes do not link with departmental activities and responsibilities are often ambiguous. The paper identifies some of the influences on preparation for academic roles being faced today and argues that new frameworks are needed. It suggests that a holistic view should be adopted: one which places as central the staff member and their roles, and which emphasises negotiation and flexibility in response to the diversity of academic activities. The paper outlines the dimensions of such an approach.
 

Boud, D. & Walker, D. (1998)
Promoting reflection in professional courses: the challenge of context. Studies in Higher Education, 23, 2, 191-206. ISSN 0307-5079

Abstract
Reflection and the promotion of reflective practice has become a popular feature of the design of educational programs. This has often led to learning being more effectively facilitated. However, alongside these positive initiatives have grown more disturbing developments under the general heading of reflection. They have involved both misconceptions of the nature of reflection which have led to instrumental or rule-following approaches to reflective activities, and the application of reflective strategies in ways which have sought inappropriate levels of disclosure from participants or involved otherwise unethical practices. The paper examines the question: what constitutes the effective use of reflective activities? It argues that reflection needs to be flexibly deployed, that it is highly context-specific and that the social and cultural context in which reflection takes place has a powerful influence over what kinds of reflection it is possible to foster and the ways in which this might be done. The paper concludes by exploring conditions in which reflective activities might appropriately be used in professional education.


Boud, D. (forthcoming)
Situating academic development in professional work: using peer learning. International Journal of Academic Development.

Abstract
Academic development should be conceptualised not only as a university-wide process, but also as a local practice and as a process of peer learning in the workplace. The paper suggests that formal approaches need to more fully situate academic development in sites of academic practice. Two examples from the author’s own setting—teaching development projects and writing for publication groups—illustrate the argument. Challenges arising from such a shift in perspective are discussed.


Boud, D., Cohen, R. and Sampson, J. (forthcoming)
Peer learning and assessment.
Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education.

Abstract
Various forms of peer, collaborative or cooperative learning, particularly small group activities, are increasingly used within university courses to assist students meet a variety of learning outcomes. These include working collaboratively with others, taking responsibility for their own learning and deepening their understanding of specific course content. The potential benefits of peer learning have long been recognised and are especially relevant today. However many existing assessment practices act to undermine the goals of peer learning and lead students to reject learning cooperatively. If assessment gives students the message that only individual achievement is valued, and that collaborative effort is akin to cheating, then the potential of peer learning will not be realised. Inappropriate assessment practices may also lead to unhelpful forms of competition within and between groups which prevent the groups functioning effectively. This paper examines some of the main assessment issues in connection with peer learning and suggests ways in which the benefits of this approach can be maintained while still meeting the formal assessment requirements of the course. It discusses the use of group assessment, peer feedback and self assessment, assessment of participation and negotiated assessment and concludes with the identification of a number of issues which remain to be addressed.  


Boud, D. (forthcoming)
Avoiding the traps: seeking good practice in the use of self assessment and reflection in professional courses, Social Work Education.

Abstract
Ideas about self assessment and reflection are widespread in professional courses.
These terms are often used uncritically, with the assumption that they are necessarily worthwhile additions to the curriculum. The aim of this paper is to provide an.overview of issues that need to be confronted in the use of self assessment and reflection in professional education. It identifies some features of good teaching and learning practice. An emphasis is placed on the importance of context, locating learning in both educational and professional practice.

Chapters in books

Boud, D. (1995)
Assessment and learning: contradictory or complementary? In Knight, P. (Ed.). Assessment for Learning in Higher Education. London: Kogan Page, 35-48. ISBN 0 7494 1532 0

The chapter starts from the premise that assessment for accreditation or certification cannot be separated from assessment for learning. Assessment always leads to learning. But the fundamental question is, ‘what kind of learning?’ What do acts of assessment communicate to students? The discussion aims to show that although assessment and learning are in an uneasy state of tension at present but that it is possible to move towards complementarity. The starting point is: what do students learn from assessment? From there assessment is viewed in terms of consequences, the development of thinking about assessment is considered and the important, but neglected, issue of language in assessment is explored.  


Andresen, L, Boud, D. & Cohen, R. (1995)
Experience-based learning. In Foley, G. (Ed.). Understanding Adult Education and Training. Sydney: Allen & Unwin,
207-219. ISBN 1 86373 901 7 Second edition due 1999.

The distinguishing feature of experience-based learning (or experiential learning) is that the experience of the learner occupies central place in all considerations of teaching and learning. This experience may comprise earlier events in the life of the learner, current life events, or those arising from the learner's participation in activities implemented by teachers and facilitators. A key element of experience-based learning is that learners analyse their experience by reflecting, evaluating and reconstructing it (sometimes individually, sometimes collectively, sometimes both) in order to draw meaning from it in the light of prior experience. This review of their experience may lead to further action. The aim of the chapter is to provide an overview and introduction to ideas and literature about experience-based learning as a starting point for those who wish to investigate this area further.

 
Boud, D. & Knights, S. (1996)
Course design for reflective practice. In Gould, N. &Taylor, I. (Eds.). Reflective Learning for Social Work: Research, Theory and Practice. Aldershot, Hants.: Arena, 23-34. ISBN 1 85742 321 6 & ISBN 1 85742320 8.

There has been increasing interest in the role of reflection in learning from experience and how reflective activities can be incorporated into learning in a variety of ways. There have been two separate emphases in this. The first on reflection which takes place alongside action, which has close parallels with Schön, the second on reflection which takes place following action. The latter has emerged from a groupwork tradition and from an interest in debriefing complex events.
The argument of the present paper is that the encouragement of reflective practice requires more than the development of effective ways of debriefing periods of fieldwork or introducing a new topic into the curriculum. It requires finding appropriate ways to build notions of reflective practice into the processes of teaching and learning throughout courses.

 
Boud, D. (1996)
Developing modes of independent study in a professional school. In Tait, J. and Knight, P. (Ed.). The Management of Independent Learning. London: Kogan Page, 113-122. ISBN 0 7494 1949 0

How can a large school or department incorporate independent study and flexible learning into its activities? What strategies have been successful and what are the pitfalls to be avoided? What issues does this raise? While it is relatively straightforward for individual staff to adopt independent study approaches within the parts of the courses for which they are responsible, it is much more challenging to do this across entire courses and throughout an entire department. The aim of this chapter is to focus on a particular School which has been successful in this process, to describe the main features of independent study which have been developed and to explore factors which have fostered the development.
 

Anderson, G., Boud, D. & Sampson, J. (1998)
Qualities of learning contracts. In Stephenson, J. & Yorke, M. (Eds.). Capability and Quality in Higher Education. London: Kogan Page, 162-173. ISBN 0 7494 25709

Learning contracts provide a way of structuring learning and assessment which allows students to significantly direct their own learning within the overall goals of a course. While they are becoming an increasingly common feature of higher education courses which promote capability, there has been little investigation of the expectations academic supervisors have of either the initial proposal or the completed work. This chapter outlines the practice of using learning contracts and discusses common concerns which are raised. It draws on the experience of teaching staff who have used this approach over many years to outline the qualities such staff look for in learning contracts, to identify what is non-negotiable in this form of negotiated learning and to suggest ways in which learning contracts can be effectively used in practice.
 

Boud, D. (1998)
How can university work-based courses contribute to lifelong learning? In Holford, J., Jarvis, P. & Griffin, C. (Eds.). International Perspectives on Lifelong Learning. London: Kogan Page, 213-223.
ISBN 0 7494 2869 4

The aim of this chapter is to focus on work-based learning as an example of a major development which highlights a new approach to lifelong education. In work-based learning takes a radical approach to the notion of a university education as students undertake study for a degree or diploma through activities conducted primarily in their workplace and in topic areas in which there may be no immediate equivalence with university subjects. A focus on this innovation moves discussion about lifelong learning beyond consideration of principles and ideals to the pragmatics of translating its goals into practice. This chapter explores some of the dilemmas which innovations of this kind pose. After a description of common features of current emerging practice, it examines issues to be addressed if courses of this kind are to be credible as a normal part of the spectrum of university education and if they are to contribute to goals of lifelong learning.