Simon Lygo-Baker

Dr Simon Lygo-Baker


Senior Lecturer in Higher Education
+44 (0)1483 689578
17 DK 03

Academic and research departments

Surrey Institute of Education.

About

University roles and responsibilities

  • Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching and the MA in Higher Education

    Research

    Research interests

    Publications

    CALVIN JEPHCOTE, Emma Louise Medland, Simon Niall Lygo-Baker (2021)Grade inflation versus grade improvement: Are our students getting more intelligent?, In: Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education46(4)pp. 547-571 Routledge

    The move from elite to mass systems of higher education has been accompanied by concerns relating to the quality of provision and standards, particularly in relation to the increasing proportion of higher grades awarded to students. Bayesian multilevel models were used to investigate the temporal trend of grade attainment in 101 higher education providers across the UK, between the 2009/10 and 2018/19 academic years, to understand if rising grades are due to inflation or a consequence of improvements across the higher education system. The results suggest a much more positive and proactive picture of a higher education system that is engaged in a process of continuous enhancement. The unexplained variables, rather than automatically being labelled as grade inflation, should instead point to a need to investigate further the local institutional contextual factors that inform grade distribution. The deficit lens through which 'grade inflation' is often perceived is a damaging and unhelpful distraction. Measures, such as improved assessment literacy, are suggested as approaches that the sector could adopt to further develop its understanding of grade improvement as opposed to grade inflation.

    R. A. Sporea, P. J. B. Jackson, S. Lygo-Baker (2017)Developing undergraduate teaching materials in collaboration with pre-university students, In: MRS Advances2pp. 1713-1719 Materials Research Society

    In this project we have involved four high-achieving pre-university summer placement students in the development of undergraduate teaching materials, namely tutorial videos for first year undergraduate Electrical and Electronic Engineering lab, and computer simulations of didactic semiconductor structures for an Electrical Science first year compulsory taught module. Here we describe our approach and preliminary results.

    DYNATRA SUBASINGHE, SIMON NIALL LYGO-BAKER, MELANIE BLEVINS Inclusive learning experiences with staff student partnerships and digital learning aids

    Additional publications