Dr Mark Sandle

National Teaching Fellow 2007 Institution at time of award: De Montfort University Dr Mark Sandle is a Professor of History at The King's College University, Edmonton, Canada. Previously, he was Principal Lecturer in Russian and Soviet History in the Department of Historical and Social Studies at De Montfort University. He has developed a History assessment strategy that was highlighted in the 2004 Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) Subject Review, and had a major impact on Faculty and University policy. It provides a balance of innovative forms of assessment: web reviews, online assessment, reflective assessment tasks and oral assessment. He places a great deal of emphasis on the importance of feedback. As well as receiving individualised, qualitative feedback, students also receive feedback on the whole cohort performance via Blackboard. They are taught how to apply feedback, not just passively absorb it. In the first year students are assessed on a reflective logbook, in which they devise an action plan to address their weaknesses. He  has undertaken work on how to improve feedback to students. A project, funded by De Montfort University, compared feedback practices in History and Dance to try and improve the understanding of what feedback is, and the experience of feedback for students. Mark has worked on embedding online learning into the undergraduate curriculum, notably the use of blogs and discussion boards in assessment. This proved to be an extremely interesting and stimulating field to work in, and provided many opportunities to innovate and produce original approaches to assessing students. Mark is also interested in and working on transnational curriculum development, and knowledge exchange. He is working with the World History Department at the Ion Creanga State Pedagogical University in Chisinau, Moldova, where he has helped to introduce active learning and feedback to students for the first time. He also acts as mentor to academics from Eastern Europe, helping them to overcome problems arising from curriculum reform and change. His work in Moldova could, in time, lead to a dramatic improvement in the learning experiences of students in the former Soviet bloc countries.