Participants Wanted: Implementing program Change – Clarifying Evaluative Expectations Through Assessment Development

Dr. Amanda Kelly Ferguson, a postdoctoral fellow and staff at the MacPherson Institute, and Maddie Brockbank, a PhD student in the School of Social Work, are leading a project as recipients of the Leadership in Teaching Learning Fellowship, where they will be developing an assessment guide for the School of Social Work. The following is a brief description of their study.
If you are interested in getting more information about taking part in their study, please read the brief description below and/or contact them directly by using either of their email addresses: brockbam@mcmaster.ca and fergua17@mcmaster.ca.The research team will not share with the department who has participated in the study. Taking part or not taking part in this study will not affect your status in the program. The team is looking for undergraduate student participants, specifically.
Amanda and Maddie are inviting you to participate in a 90-minute online focus group over Zoom (date to be determined). They hope to elicit feedback about a selected sample of assessment tools (e.g. rubrics) to discuss how experiences of assessment can be improved. The goal of the project is to draw on student feedback about assessment tools to develop a guide for educational stakeholders about student evaluation as informed by their experiences and ideas.
Amanda and Maddie have explained that you can stop being in the study at any time by not completing the focus group, or you may skip any questions that you don’t want to answer while still remaining a part of the study.
If you are an undergraduate student and are interested in being a part of the focus group, please contact Maddie and/or Amanda directly. Upon receiving your email, you will be provided with a Letter of Information providing full details of the study procedures.
In addition, this study has been reviewed and cleared by the McMaster Research Ethics Board (Protocol #5506). If you have questions or concerns about your rights as a participant or about the way the study is being conducted, you may contact:
McMaster Research Ethics Board Secretariat
Telephone: (905) 525-9140 ext. 23142
Gilmour Hall – Room 305 (ROADS)
E-mail: ethicsoffice@mcmaster.ca