Assessment solutions
To extend the learning through assessment, two assignments were set. The first assignment retained the traditional literature review, requiring students to research the literature on a problematic topic in the assessment of children. The second assignment was based on a face-to-face case study in the intensive mode period. After an introduction to the main methods of assessment of interviews, observations and psychometric measures, students were involved in an all day case study designed to enable them to use these data gathering methods in a hypothesis-driven assessment. The students role-played the parts of a Year 7 student, his mother, his father and his teacher as well as staff of four different schools. The referral problem was that "Tom" had too many absences from school and the counsellor was asked to find out why this was so. Tom was the only one who knew that the real cause of his absences was separation anxiety disorder. The 'school teams' could use any of the assessment techniques to 'solve' the problem.
The basis of the second assignment was therefore changed from the student's choice of a child in a 'real life' case study in the school to a shared problem-based assignment with six scenarios involving a counsellor and a troubled child, "Emma", plus her teachers, parents and friends. The scenarios, filmed using amateur actors, were revealed on a weekly basis online and were made available for a period of one week only. It was intended that the activity extend over a period of time and require a significant investment of student effort (Herrington et al., 2003). The weekly discussion forums were intended to provide opportunities for students to research, reflect and collaborate online, thus modelling their future professional roles. A single chat room session was provided at the end of the six weekly scenarios, in which the unit coordinator played the roles of Emma's friends, parents and teacher. Students were invited to ask questions as an information gathering exercise.
The second assignment was changed to a 'process' report consisting of a personal reflection journal or diary which could be a compilation of the weekly discussion point from the discussion list, in addition to a final report to the teacher. Each of the two major assignments was worth 50% of the overall grade and each had its own criteria sheet which was provided to the students with the outline of the assignments.
The logistical problem of the geographical dispersion of the students was addressed through the provision of the case study online. The online learning environment was delivered via the Online Learning and Teaching (OLT) site at QUT. Similar in function to Blackboard and WebCT, the OLT site was developed in house by the University as a means of sustaining the flexible delivery of learning. The OLT site for each unit is able to be customized using a range of online technologies, including asynchronous and synchronous communication tools. These technologies provided opportunities to design online learning environments which could engage and facilitate communication between students and students and the lecturer and students, which were similar to the face-to-face environment. The ideal mechanism to deliver the content and to encourage students to engage in the process was an Integrated Media Enriched Teaching (IMET) page on OLT. Videoed scenarios were accompanied by a written transcript and a discussion facility. This meant that all of the components students needed to access the learning activities were made accessible from the same OLT page. Students were therefore not required to download or install software or plug-ins.
