Hi Maggie,
I've used the BKSB products for the past 6 years to assess the English and maths skills of our incoming undergraduate Nursing students. Other products are available, although I haven't done a providers analysis for a while - mainly because it's actually really useful to have results over a longer time frame from exactly the same assessment. Other companies' products that I reviewed previously (2015) were For Skills, Tribal Group and Skills for Health.
BKSB gives an initial 'working level', from Pre-Entry to Level 2, and then a detailed diagnostic assessment of skills within the appropriate Level. It recommends that the English assessment is reviewed alongside a piece of 'free-writing'. We also therefore set a 500 word formative assessment that requires students to find, read, and compare and contrast 2 texts - a journal article and a chapter from a book, discussing a similar topic. This is also designed to encourage students to make a start on accessing library resources!
Over the 6 years, I've also collected some basic data on initial English levels and final degree outcomes that may be a useful measure of the effectiveness of our support strategies. I need to do some more work on this, as there does seem to be a correlation between English levels on entry and degree classification. Given that our programmes require GCSEs grade C/4 (or equivalent) in both maths and English, it is always interesting to measure the proportion of students who have retained skills at that level.
It's worth noting, however, that my role is directly embedded within our Nursing programmes, so I do get a lot of professional freedom to implement this for all students, not just those who voluntarily access academic support. In terms of implementation, it's quite a task getting a whole cohort of students through invigilated online assessment at the start of term, when everyone is fighting over the use of the IT Labs. Additionally, getting a whole cohort-worth of 500 word formative assessments read, marked, and fed back to students in a quick enough timeframe for meaningful impact before their first assignment is due is very challenging! However, I'm quite convinced that it really does result in improved academic achievement, better retention and completion rates and fewer academic offences. It also ensures prompt, effective and consistent intervention for students who appear likely to find the written parts of their programmes difficult.
Happy to discuss further if you would like!
Kind regards,
Karen.
Karen Hudson MA PGCE QTLS FHEA
Literacy, Language and Numeracy Tutor
School of Health and Social Care
University of Essex
T +44 (0)1702 328443
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► https://www.essex.ac.uk/departments/health-and-social-care
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-----Original Message-----
From: learning development in higher education network <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Maggie Gibson
Sent: 05 February 2019 11:14
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Diagnostic testing for academic literacy skills
Dear all
In our learning development team at Birmingham City University we're considering using diagnostic testing of students' academic literacy skills (including basic maths skills) in order to identify areas for development and target our support appropriately. It seems that if support services within institutions do this, they often use their own bespoke tests, although there are one or two commercial options available. I was hoping that the members of this list might know of suitable packages, or indeed have their own institutional tests that they may be willing to share information on? In addition, any insights into effective implementation and other necessary considerations would be very gratefully received.
Thanks in advance
Maggie
Maggie Gibson
Head of Learner Development
Birmingham City University
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