Challenges
Through the ARP, I faced logistical challenges at work and some personal challenges, both of which were unfortunately out of my control and hindered my progress.
For the former, I faced an issue of low attendance in the Creative Magazine Writing unit that I was basing my ARP in, which was surprising to me as this unit is beloved by the previous cohort and had good attendance last year (the first year of the unit). I anyway had a small class to begin with, as it is an option unit with half of the full class strength (of a cohort that is anyway small) – at just 8. So, while the first survey of the self-assessment project was answered by almost all as I had 7 students present in class the first week, it dwindled to 6 students in class for the mid-point worksheet and then only to 4 for the second survey and ultimately 3 for the focus group for the ARP. I tried my best to keep encouraging the students and was compassionate and sterner as and when required (after students didn’t acknowledge several of my emails). This unit, which is a favourite of mine to teach, became quite disheartening and frustrating at times with only 2–3 students in class. I worried that 3 participants for the focus group may not be enough, but my tutor Carys assured me that for a project of this scale, it should be fine.
As for the latter challenge, I had a bereavement in the family in December 2025 and was unsure if I would be able to submit on time. I am glad that I have been able to pull this together in time for the deadline.
Project Limitations and Areas for Future Research
I always use my project limitations to think of areas where future research can be carried out, and I follow that here too.
As the ultimate aim of this project is to roll out this self-assessment tool as a university-wide practice, the experiment needs to be ratified from further testing. While the project received an overall positive response in my assessment of its efficacy, it was only through 3 participants in the focus group. Though the data generated is sufficient for the scope of the ARP, it must be verified through testing in other units and programmes, with different class sizes and teaching and assessment styles, to ensure that it would be relevant for other classroom types too.
As I have limited design and statistical data knowledge, I would also be interested by my colleagues’ inputs about how the data can be generated visually and through reports for students’ ease of understanding. While my participants enjoyed the radar chart approach, I am curious to find out about other alternatives.
Finally, some research and investment would be required to create an automated tool that can ease the process of analysing student responses and creating the radar charts (or equivalent) and filling in data for a report template that the lecturer can create for their units.