An overview of the Input 2 requirements for the Edinburgh Award Purpose The Developing stage of the Award process is an opportunity for students to formally stop and reflect on their development thus far. This will include considering how they have developed, any challenges they may have faced and how they overcame those challenges as well as next steps going forwards in terms of further areas to improve. This can be conducted as a group session or as a series of self-directed tasks for the students to complete independently. The requirements at Input 2 are lighter than those at Inputs 1 and 3 and so if a session is being held this can be a really great opportunity for community buiding amongst the students, peer discussion, a chance for staff to check-in with students in terms of the activity as well as the Award. Eligibility To be able to continue onto this stage students must have: submitted their self-assessment against the full skills list identified in Input 1 submitted their three chosen development priorities and their action plan for these completed the appropriate amount of the underlying activity, this will have been stipulated in 2.2 of the Framework. What Overview of Input 2 requirements Overview of requirements Image Why Rationale for Input 2 requirements Element I2 - 1 - Students self-rate themselves against the list of skills and abilities created at Input 1 This is so the students can reflect on their overall development. Self-rating again at this stage can be really valuable as often a student has learnt a lot about their ability in certain areas between Input 1 and 2. It’s not uncommon for a student to rank themselves as being lower in a certain skill at Input 2 compared to how they felt at Input 1 because, having spent time doing their activity, they better recognise their abilities and areas for development. Element 2.1 - Students consider their development so far, challenges they’ve faced and changes they might make as a result of their learning Students should consider how far they have come in terms of their development goals. Whether they faced challenges they weren’t expecting or how they tackled the ones they were anticipating. They may decide to amend their action plans as a result of their learning to this point. Peer review and feedback is encouraged here. Element 2.2 - More focus should be placed on the idea of having impact; by this time in their journey students should be able to see where/how they can impact on individuals or the organisation they are a part of and be working on this Impact is a greater focus within Input 2. Students should be encouraged to reflect on how they have had impact so far and potential ways they could increase their impact going forwards. This can sometimes be a tricky concept for students to appreciate and they tend to find it much easier to focus either on the impact they could/have had as part of a group or the impact that doing an activity has had on them. However, for the purposes of the Award they need to reflect on their impact as an individual. Element 2.3 - Students write a reflection on the purposeful steps they have taken to try to improve their three skills and their impact. This must be captured electronically by the Award leader Students need to write a reflection on their development at this stage. This must include a reflection on each of their three development goals and one on their impact. This reflection needs to be stored electronically by the Award leader. At this stage reflections should focus on the steps that students took to try to improve their skills and to increase their impact as well as the learning that has come about as a result of this development, regardless of how successful they have been. Students should also consider their plans for the remainder of their time on the Award, whether approaches they’ve taken so far need to change or if there are future challenges that they can foresee. How Input 2 - Requirements and examples of how to approch them Examples of practice Element Example 1 Example 2 Online example (1) Students self-rate against the full list of skills Students discuss their progress in terms of their overall development and then submit the form after the session. Students complete this document in their own time. (2) Students consider their development so far in terms of their skills and impact – what approaches are working, what isn’t working and how might they amend their development plans for the rest of their time on the Award. Within a session students discuss in pairs or small groups the development of their three skills and impact on others so far. Students are put into autonomous learning groups and asked to meet up themselves to discuss progress so far. The previous examples can be replicated in an online environment, through breakout groups in an online session or students can meet online if no session is being held. (3) Students submit a reflection of around 800 words (or equivalent) capturing their learning and progress so far in terms of their three skills and impact Students can be given the option to submit this as a blog or other creative medium. You might choose to use a peer review method whereby students submit their reflection and this is reviewed by other students. More information about options here are available in the Using Peer Assessment section. Students might be given a reflection template and asked to submit this to the Award leader directly. Submissions (Output 2) to Award leader as a result of this Input and to gain entry to Input 3 Self-assessment against full list of skills and abilities Written reflection on development thus far; must include a reflection on each of the development goals and impact. Once the above have been submitted the Award leader needs to send a list of students still engaged with the Award process to the central Award team. Resources for Input 2 Reflection template – under ‘Student Submissions’. Tips for reflection for students Reflection Toolkit – a resource containing lots of information and support for staff and students interested in reflection or facilitating reflection. Peer Assessment – peer assessment is used by a number of versions of the Award and can be a useful tool for reviewing reflections at Inputs 2 and 3. This article was published on 2024-05-06
