Learning & Teaching

Title of case study	Surfacing skills… in the course Moodle (How good is your marking?)
School/Subject:	Life Sciences Portfolio
Lecturer(s):	Dr Pamela Scott, Dr Sonya Taylor, Dr Lesley Hamilton
Course:	Fundamental Topics in Biology 2
Student Level:	Undergraduate (Years 2: SCQF level 8)
Class size:	~ 600 students
Location:	Online

Brief summary

The Moodle Lesson activity “Challenge! How good is your marking?” is an online self-guided resource that allows students to mark anonymised assignments from previous years before viewing the actual awarded mark and feedback.

The resource was designed and developed as part of an LTDF project involving teaching staff, two interns and the Life Sciences Portfolio eLearning Officer.

Objectives

The main aim of the resource is to improve students’ understanding of the marking criteria, enabling them to reflect and identify good academic writing so that they may enhance their own skills in writing essay assignments. Beyond this, the activity develops students’ future skills such as critical evaluation, independent learning and digital communication, essential for academic success and future employability.

What is done? 

Development of the resource

Two third-year student interns were trained in Moodle and in parallel, developed detailed storyboards for the lesson. This process involved applying academic writing skills and instructional design skills to craft clear instructions and reflective prompts that guided learners through the resource.

As they progressed, they demonstrated project management and collaborative working by planning the lesson structure, sequencing content effectively, managing deadlines and coordinating with academic staff.

Their digital literacy was significantly enhanced through the creation and embedding of multimedia elements, including videos and images and configuring the lesson flow using Moodle’s branching and navigation tools. Each content page was carefully designed using their visual communication and design thinking skills, ensuring clarity through consistent use of headings, layout, and intuitive navigation.

The final resource featured professional and constructive feedback aligned with accessibility and inclusive design principles. The feedback was respectful, academically sound and designed to support student reflective practice and continuous learning.

Throughout the project, the interns showed excellent teamwork and collaboration, co-creating the resource, liaising with academic staff and engaging with second-year peers during class sessions to promote the resource and explain its benefits. Their work exemplified the integration of multiple surface skills in a real-world digital learning context.

Students using the resource

Second-year students are tasked with writing a 500-word essay based on a science news article, with the objective of explaining the molecular science behind the story. This requires students to apply their basic research skills by locating and reading the original scientific paper that inspired the news article and then distilling its key scientific concepts into a clear and concise explanation.

To support this task, students access the interactive Moodle lesson titled “Challenge! How good is your marking?”. This resource enables students to develop their academic writing, self-assessment and critical thinking by comparing their own work to exemplar essays and reflecting on the feedback provided. Through this process, they engaged in critical thinking, evaluating essay quality and identifying strengths and weaknesses in writing and discussion.

Students also demonstrate digital literacy by navigating the structured lesson pages, interacting with embedded videos and images and completing quiz questions designed to simulate the marking process. These quizzes encourage students to develop their analytical reasoning to estimate the grades of exemplar essays and then review the actual feedback provided by markers. This helps them understand assessment standards better and improve their self-assessment skills.

The resource supports project management skills, as students can track their progress through the lesson, revisit sections as needed and manage their time effectively in preparation for submitting their own essays.

Importantly, the lesson helps students understand the marking criteria in a practical and engaging way, reinforcing principles of professionalism such as academic integrity, respectful engagement with feedback and the importance of clarity and structure in scientific writing.

What works well?

• Clear link to academic writing
• Integration of digital literacy through interactive Moodle tools
• Emphasis on critical thinking
• Promotes self-assessment and professionalism
• Progress tracking

Benefits (students & staff)

• Improves academic writing – by comparing their own essays to anonymised exemplars and reading feedback, students gain insight into structure and clarity of writing. This not only strengthens writing but also builds communication skills applicable in both academic and professional settings.
• Enhances critical thinking – students evaluate essay quality, apply the assessment criteria when marking the essay and reflect on feedback developing analytical judgement and decision-making skills that are vital for research, problem-solving, and professional evaluation tasks.
• Develops digital literacy – navigating the Moodle lesson, interacting with embedded content such as videos, images, quizzes, helps students become more confident in using digital learning environments.
• Supports self-assessment and professionalism – understanding marking criteria and reading feedback enables students to assess their own work before submission, promoting academic integrity, becoming more responsible and self-directed learners.
• Encourages independent learning and time management – the resource’s flexibility allows student to track their progress, revisit difference essays and manage their own learning pace. This fosters self-regulation, persistence and effective study management.
• Clarifies assessment expectations – students gain a clearer understanding of what constitutes a high-quality essay, reducing anxiety and confusion around marking and feedback.

Challenges (students & staff)          

• Maintaining student engagement from year to year
• Ensuring staff consistently reference the tool in teaching
• Selecting exemplar essays and writing feedback that provoke deep reflection and learning
• Designing and configuring complex lesson flows with branching logic in Moodle
• Refreshing the essay exemplars from year to year to ensure relevance to current scientific news

What did you learn?

Working with student interns taught me how to guide learners in content creation and managing how best to balance mentoring with instructional support. The process helped me refine my approaches to design and development aspects such as storyboarding, providing feedback on the design and supporting resource creation in Moodle as a co-creator.

What advice would you give to others?

To resource creators (staff and/or student interns):

• Define clear aims for the resource and what you want students to be able to do and achieve.
• View creating resources as a chance to practice and improve skills such as academic writing, digital literacy and project management
• Build in place a review and feedback process to ensure the quality of the resource, it enhances your skills in communication, collaboration and reflection
• Think like a student to help guide design decisions and improve the resources impact

To students using the resource:

• Engage actively, don’t just read the feedback
• Don’t just compare your essay to the exemplars: use them to understand structure, clarity and how to discuss points. This help build your own writing voice and confidence
• Take time to explore the lesson
• Take time to understand the marking criteria early – use the resource to see what markers are looking for.

For Learning Technologists:

• Provide structure training in Moodle and resource design
• Give interns space to contribute creatively – they are the student voice
• Encourage interns to storyboard, write content and test lesson flows
• Act as a reviewer to test lesson flow and provide feedback on functionality and educational aspects