Investigating the efficacy of concept mapping with pupils with autistic spectrum disorder

Pupils with autism often present significant challenges to teachers. They seem to have real strengths in visual processing but a cognitive style that encourages them to focus on detail rather than the overarching connections between concepts. Veronica Roberts, currently undertaking doctoral training at the Institute of Education, University of London, in order to become an educational psychologist, and Richard Joiner, senior lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Bath, set out to explore these issues. In this article, they report the outcomes of a naturalistic experiment in which they investigated the utility of concept mapping as an educational strategy with pupils diagnosed with an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). Theoretical arguments supporting the use of concept mapping with an autistic population are outlined in the paper. A tutor group of ten pupils with ASD, aged between 11 and 14 years, took part in the study. Concept mapping tasks were integrated within National Curriculum science lessons in collaboration with the school's science teacher. The study found that the increase in pupil performance in subject-specific questionnaires was nearly four times greater in the concept mapping condition than after a more conventional teaching intervention. Veronica Roberts and Richard Joiner tentatively draw out the implications of their work for staff who work with pupils with ASD and make recommendations for further research into the use of these learning strategies.     

Rigour in moderation processes is more important than the choice of method

Processes for moderating assessments are much debated in higher education. The myriad approaches to the task vary in their demands on staff time and expertise, and also in how valid, reliable and fair to students they appear. Medical education, with its diverse range of assessments and assessors across clinical and academic domains presents additional challenges to moderation. The current review focuses on medical education, considering double-marking and benchmarking as two broad classes of moderation procedure, and argues that it is the process more than the type of procedure which is crucial for successful moderation. The advantages and disadvantages of each class of procedure are discussed in the light of our medical school’s current practices, and with respect to the limited empirical evidence within medical education assessment. Consideration of implementation is central to ensuring valid and reliable moderation. The reliability of assessor judgements depends more on the consistency of assessment formats and the application of clear and agreed assessment criteria than on the moderation process itself. This article considers these factors in relation to their impact on the reliability of moderation, and aims to help assessors and students appreciate the diversity of these factors by facilitating their consideration in the assessment process.