Digital ensemble: the ENaCT design‐based research framework for technology‐enhanced embodied assessment in English education

Eilis Flanagan, Tony Hall
2017 English in Education  
This article outlines the ENaCT educational design for Digital Ensemble, an innovative approach to English assessment integrating drama pedagogy with mobile computing (e.g. iPad). ENaCT represents the key themes that framed and informed the research: ensemble, narrative, collaboration and technology. Starting with ENaCT as a prototype concept design for the development and evaluation of technology-enhanced embodied assessment in English, the research developed and refined the model through
more » ... borative cycles of design with post-primary schools. The design-based research study reported here was undertaken in three significant design iterations, totalling 15 weeks and 85 teaching hours. 131 Irish Senior Cycle pupils, aged 15 to 17 participated: 45, 46 and 45 pupils respectively in iterations one, two and three. Two teachers participated throughout. The article outlines for English teachers and educational designers the adaptable ENaCT framework for Digital Ensemble, including design and assessment criteria and evaluation rubrics, illustrated by exemplars of pupils' work. Introduction Pupils are disengaging from learning and literature learning in second level education in Ireland due to an over-emphasis on rote learning practices and the constraints of high-stakes, summative assessments (Chief Examiners' Within the current educational system in Ireland, such research findings initiated the reform of the junior school curriculum, the Junior Cycle, which is the first of two stages of second-level education catering for 12 to 15 year-old pupils. This new Junior Cycle emphasises continuous and formative schoolbased assessment; the development of literacy; collaborative and individual project work; and the use of ICT in the classroom (NCCA 2011). However, at the second, Senior Cycle stage (16-to 18-year olds), no such reform is forthcoming and the pressures of terminal examinations are even more pronounced with pupils defaulting to learning answers and essays by rote. Consequently, there are limitations regarding the degree to which pupils evidence critical literacy and authentic, meaningful personal engagement with literary genres and texts that constitute the upper, second-level English syllabus in Ireland (Chief Examiners' Reports 2008 and 2013). This issue is principally due to the pressures of the Senior Cycle examination, the Leaving Certificate, which is Ireland's predominant state examination that determines progression to third-level education. The research reported in this paper explored the potential of combining two innovative approaches to English learning and assessment-ensemble pedagogy and digital storytelling-and whether the integration of these two novel approaches in English education could enhance Irish Senior Cycle
doi:10.1111/eie.12136 fatcat:jcnx5ejsurczjhvas6al6cmj2a