Using a sustainability focused, co-created engineering assessment as a vehicle for staff development

Sustainable Engineering is a key enabler in the transition to achieving global netzero. At postgraduate level, the Engineering Department at Teesside University
explores this topic via an innovative module delivered to a large (300+) cohort of
engineering students from a range of sub-disciplines. This presentation describes
how experiences on this module have led to the creation of a unique staff
development opportunity that addresses a range of academic practices.
Within the module, new and early career staff support an experienced core team
during a Group Learning Activity where students collaborate on a formative
assessment that scaffolds the subsequent creation of an individual summative
assessment. During this exercise staff facilitate the completion of the formative
assessment and discuss the students’ unique and self-selected summative
assessment topics, which often relate to sustainability issues in their home
regions. This dialogic approach improves student engagement and affords staff
with greater context when marking. It also offers staff exposure to classroom
management techniques, digital tools and assessment and feedback practices,
with additional opportunities for discipline-specific knowledge enhancement and
peer observation. In this presentation we will reflect on two years of module
delivery and propose a formalised in-module staff development plan that can be
adapted to other scenarios.