Abstract:
The study aims to build teacher competence and enhance students’ agency and engagement in an Indonesian higher education context through the introduction of co-created rubrics for performance-based assessment design. This study responds to the current Indonesian government policy that mandates Indonesian practitioners to promote an active learning culture. It contributes to the positive changes in the student learning culture and teacher professional development in Indonesian higher education. In doing so, the research contributes to the conference theme of education research in a changing world.
The current study is among the first studies to use Participatory Action Research to apply the co-created rubrics to promote agentic/active learning and substantive engagement. It involves the collaboration of the chief student researcher and four ‘teacher-researchers’ in English Education Department, the State Islamic Institute of Palangka Raya, Indonesia. The action research was conducted in 1 semester (24 weeks) with 16 lessons. There were four participating classrooms observed with 25 – 35 students per classroom and invited 5-6 students from each classroom to join focus groups. Data collection utilised classroom observations (video-recorded), interviews with teachers (audio-recorded), teachers’ written self-reflective journaling, focus groups with students (audio-recorded), and textual data and artefacts (co-created rubrics, lesson plans, learning contracts, students’ work samples, teaching materials, and submitted assignments). The data recordings were transcribed and analysed qualitatively using a thematic narrative analysis, socio-cultural discourse analysis (SCDA) and document analysis.
The presentation will discuss the methodological design and present the initial findings of the work-in-progress analysis of the initial focus groups with students. From the initial analysis, it was found that Indonesian Higher Education students occasionally show substantive engagement and agency, and mostly show procedural engagement and lack of agentic involvement in their learning. Moreover, it was identified several barriers categorised as internal factors (anxiety, limited capacity of focus, feeling overwhelmed, procrastination and time management) and external factors (teacher-focused teaching method, rote learning, and traditional assessment structure). Therefore, it was also identified students’ expectations in their teaching-learning such as having choice, inclusivity, collaboration, interactive teaching, enjoyable teaching, authentic and relevant tasks, and supportive community.
Connecting the quality of learning and the co-created rubrics provided this action research project to have significance to guide teachers in designing for active, engaging learning experiences using co-created rubrics and evaluates the evolving teaching-learning practices.
The current study is among the first studies to use Participatory Action Research to apply the co-created rubrics to promote agentic/active learning and substantive engagement. It involves the collaboration of the chief student researcher and four ‘teacher-researchers’ in English Education Department, the State Islamic Institute of Palangka Raya, Indonesia. The action research was conducted in 1 semester (24 weeks) with 16 lessons. There were four participating classrooms observed with 25 – 35 students per classroom and invited 5-6 students from each classroom to join focus groups. Data collection utilised classroom observations (video-recorded), interviews with teachers (audio-recorded), teachers’ written self-reflective journaling, focus groups with students (audio-recorded), and textual data and artefacts (co-created rubrics, lesson plans, learning contracts, students’ work samples, teaching materials, and submitted assignments). The data recordings were transcribed and analysed qualitatively using a thematic narrative analysis, socio-cultural discourse analysis (SCDA) and document analysis.
The presentation will discuss the methodological design and present the initial findings of the work-in-progress analysis of the initial focus groups with students. From the initial analysis, it was found that Indonesian Higher Education students occasionally show substantive engagement and agency, and mostly show procedural engagement and lack of agentic involvement in their learning. Moreover, it was identified several barriers categorised as internal factors (anxiety, limited capacity of focus, feeling overwhelmed, procrastination and time management) and external factors (teacher-focused teaching method, rote learning, and traditional assessment structure). Therefore, it was also identified students’ expectations in their teaching-learning such as having choice, inclusivity, collaboration, interactive teaching, enjoyable teaching, authentic and relevant tasks, and supportive community.
Connecting the quality of learning and the co-created rubrics provided this action research project to have significance to guide teachers in designing for active, engaging learning experiences using co-created rubrics and evaluates the evolving teaching-learning practices.