These slides are from a short presentation given during the "swapshop" session of a day conference about teaching ethics to bioscience students. The event, held at the University of Northampton, UK, was organised on behalf of the Higher Education Academy. In this presentation, Barbara Cogdell (University of Glasgow) describes their use of student presentations, of various styles and formats, as a component of a module on bioethics

1. Using presentations with peer assessment
in a bioethics class
Dr Barbara Cogdell
Teaching Bioethics Day Conference
26/3/13

2. • Practice of skills such as ethical sensitivity and ethical
reasoning
• Group discussion
must agree on a common viewpoint
• Transferrable skills
promotes several graduate attributes
Why use presentations in teaching bioethics?

3. • Choice of topics
• Format of presentations
• Methods of assessment
– Peer assessment of presentations
(keeps all audience involved)
– Peer assessment of group members
• Audience participation
– Questions
How to get the most out of doing presentations

4. • Level 4 option
• 10 to 30 students each year
– studying full range of biological subjects
• Duration 5 weeks
• 2 times 3 hour sessions / week
• Summative assessment by 3 hour exam
• Divided into about 6 groups of own choice in
1st
session (no more than 5 members/group)
Outline of Bioethics course

5. Presentations - topics
• Students given choice
• Can choose from list or make up their own
– Only stipulation – should not be a topic covered in lectures
Examples from list Own choices
Jehovah’s witnesses and blood
transfusions (5)
Donating body to science (2)
Testing blood donors for nvCJD (4) Abortion/infanticide
Treatment of lifestyle-induced
illnesses (4)
Plastic surgery
Circuses and zoos (3) Legalisation of heroin
Pharmaceutical industry (3)
Clinical trials on terminally ill
patients
Hunting (3) Morals and science

6. Presentations - content
Power point presentation Role play - with or without props
Talk with no visual aids Question time
Debate Cartoon
Questionnaire Video clips
Made-up scenarios Radio program
Free choice of format – encouraged to be creative
Wide range of methods
Used variety of ethical frameworks
Mepham’s matrix, 4 Principles from medical ethics, Pros and Cons

7. Peer assessment
Aims:
• to encourage greater
involvement from audience
• to provide feedback
Marks collated and put onto
course Moodle site together
with sample comments from
staff and students
Comments from staff and students
very similar
Bioethics Presentations Marking Sheet Marker:
Please allocate a mark out of 22 for each of the presentations using the University’s marking scale,
i.e. Excellent A1=22, A2=21, A3=20, A4=19, A5=18; Very good B1=17, B2=16, B3=15;
Good C1=14, C2=13, C3=12; Satisfactory D1=11, D2=10, D3=9; Weak E1=8, E2=7, E3=6; etc.
When allocating your marks please consider equally the following three criteria.
Clarity/Cogent arguments: (Can I understand what this is about? Ethical arguments)
Content: (Evidence of research, scientific accuracy, relevance, interest)
Presentation/Communication: (How do the visual aids look? Pacing of the speakers)
Please write any helpful comments that may be used as constructive feedback in the box provided.
Title: Mark:
Comments:
Title: Mark:
Comments:
Title: Mark:
Comments:

8. Pearson correlation = 0.629
P-Value < 0.001
A1A3A5B2C1C3D2
A1
A3
A5
B2
C1
C3
D2
Staff grade
Students'grade
Comparison of average grades given to presentations
Line of equality
grade
than staff
grade higher
Students'

9. Discussion
What types of presentations do you use in your Bioethics
course?
Do you have any tips to encourage student engagement in
presentations and so improve performance?

10. Discussion
What types of presentations do you use in your Bioethics
course?
Do you have any tips to encourage student engagement in
presentations and so improve performance?