Current ProjectsPrevious Projects
Quality Pursuits for Higher Education
Achievement Matters: External Peer Review of Accounting Learning Standards
Team Leaders – Phil Hancock, University of Western Australia, Mark Freeman, University of Sydney
http://www.olt.gov.au/project-achievement-matters-external-peer-review-accounting-learning-and-teaching-academic-standards
After Standards: The Future of History
Team Leader – Sean Brawley, UNSW
http://afterstandards.omeka.net/about
Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes (AHELO)
http://www.acer.edu.au/research/he/assessment-of-higher-education-learning-outcomes-ahelo
ALTC Learning and Teaching Standards Project Peer Review and External Moderation of Coursework
Team Leaders – Kerri-Lee Krause, UWS and Geoffrey Scott, UWS
http://www.altc.edu.au/march2011-new-assessment-model-assure-academic-standards
Assessing and Assuring Graduate Learning Outcomes (AAGLO)
Team Leaders – Simon Barrie, University of Sydney; Clair Hughes, UQ; Geoffrey Crisp, RMIT; Anne Bennison, UQ
http://www.itl.usyd.edu.au/projects/aaglo/pdf/AAGLO_Summary201_Final.pdf
GO8 Quality Verification Standards
http://quality.cedam.anu.edu.au/projects-initiatives
Assuring Graduate Capabilities
Team Leader – Beverly Oliver, Curtin University
http://boliver.ning.com
Graduate Attributes
| Project | Statement | References |
|---|---|---|
| The national graduate attributes project: integration and assessment of graduate attributes in curriculum | Graduate attributes are an orienting statement of education outcomes used to inform curriculum design and the provision of learning experiences at a university (Barrie, 2009). They are descriptions of the core abilities and values a university community agrees all its graduates should develop as a result of successfully completing their university studies. While all Australian universities make such claims in policy, few can provide convincing evidence of curricula that comprehensively and systematically develop these abilities. p.1Key findings The project identified a GAP framework of eight interacting elements, which affect an institution’s efforts to foster curriculum renewal to achieve graduate attributes. The importance of underlying conceptions already identified in previous research was acknowledged in the framework. The elements of the framework included:
|
Barrie, S., Hughes, C. & Smith, C. 2009, The National Graduate Attributes Project: integration and assessment of graduate attributes in curriculum. |
| Business as usual: A collaborative and inclusive investigation of existing resources, strengths, gaps and challenges to be addressed for sustainability in teaching and learning in Australian university business faculties. | One area increasingly emphasised in many recent studies of business education by stakeholders external to business faculties is the role of the university in the development of generic graduate skills, sometimes referred to disparagingly as ‘soft skills’ (Allen Consulting Group, 2006; Australian Industry Group, 2006; Bowden et al., 2002; Business Council of Australia, 2006; CPA Australia, 2005; DEST, 2002, 2005, 2006; Goldsworthy, 2003; Hager, Holland and Beckett, 2002). P13 | Freeman, M., Hancock, P., Lyn Simpson & Sykes, C. 2008, Business as usual: A collaborative investigation of existing resources, strengths, gaps and challenges to be addressed for sustainability in teaching and learning in Australian university business faculties. |
| Benchmarking Partnerships for Graduate Employability | Each unit in the course has learning outcomes, indicating what successful students know or can do as a result of experiences in that unit. In the CCMap, each unit learning outcome is aligned to at least one assessment task; each outcome is coded to up to three of Curtin’s graduate attributes to show what is assessed. P19 | Oliver, B. 2010, Teaching Fellowship: Benchmarking Partnerships for Graduate Employability. |
| Designing a Diverse, Future-oriented Vision for Undergraduate Psychology in Australia – Final Investigation Report | This project recommended the gradual integration of some of the key GAs and student learning outcomes (SLOs) into the APAC standards.This is highly significant, as it means that every Department/School of Psychology will need to demonstrate in applications for accreditation how their programs address these GAs and SLOs. Although this is only a start in the integration, development, assessment and evaluation of GAs/SLOs in the Australian undergraduate program, it is a significant start. P13 | Cranney, J., Provost, S., Katsikitis, M., Martin, F., White, F. & Cohen, L. 2008, Designing a diverse, future-orientated vision for undergraduate psychology in Australia. |
| Facilitating staff and student engagement with graduate attribute development, assessment and standards in Business faculties | The teaching and assessment of these graduate attributes are often mentioned in curriculum documentation but the effective integration of these into developmental approaches in the classroom has been somewhat intangible. P14Graduate attributes are often mentioned in curriculum documentation but the effective integration of these into developmental approaches in the classroom has proven to be somewhat elusive. P8 | Taylor, T., Thompson, D., Clements, L., Simpson, L., Paltridge, A., Fletcher, M., Freeman, M., Treleaven, L., Lawson, R. & Rohde, F. 2009, Facilitating staff and student engagement with graduate attribute development, assessment and standards in Business faculties. |
| Learning and Teaching in the Discipline of Law: Achieving and sustaining excellence in a changed and changing environment | Some law schools have developed levels of Graduate Attributes at basic, intermediate and advanced levels, with an expectation of more sophisticated skills growth occurring incrementally and progressively throughout the program. p 21 | Owen, S., Davis, G., Coper, M., Ford, W. & McKeough, J. 2009, Learning and Teaching in the discipline of Law: Achieving and sustaining excellence in a changed and changing environment. |
| Accounting for the future: more than numbers | Barrie (2004) identifies the absence of a conceptual framework and theoretical underpinning for ‘graduate attributes’ and generic (non-technical) skills, which encourages different understandings of the ‘teaching and learning processes’ necessary to enable the skills to be developed. The absence of a conceptual framework also contributes to lack of enthusiasm among academics for initiatives to develop such skills. p14 | Hancock, P., Howieson, B., Kavanagh, M., Kent, J., Tempone, I. & Segal, N. 2009, Accounting for the future: more than numbers. A collaborative investigation into the changing skill set for professional accounting graduates over the next ten years and strategies for embedding such skills into professional accounting programs. |
| Mapping the Future of Occupational Therapy Education in the 21st Century | By specifying generic graduate attributes, in effect a university issues an assurance that its graduates will provide a valuable contribution to the workforce (Barrie, 2004; Beckett, 2004). p10Although all Australian universities have complied and developed their own sets of generic graduate attributes, inconsistencies in format (Barrie, 2004), sheer variety and the “hodge-podge of general desiderata with low-level technical competencies… lumped indiscriminately together with higher order intellectual skills” (Clanchy & Ballard, 1995, p.157) would suggest that the concept of generic graduate attributes is not really well understood (Barrie, 2006; Clanchy & Ballard, 1995). p10The variation in generic graduate attributes between universities poses a potential threat to the entry level standards of nationally trained occupational therapists. p10 | Rodger, S. & Clark, M. 2009, Mapping the future of occupational therapy education in the 21st century: review and analysis of existing Australian competency standards for entry-level Occupational Therapists and their impact on Occupational Therapy curricula across Australia. |
| The b-factor Project – understanding academic staff beliefs about graduate attributes | The majority of academic staff (73%) surveyed believed that graduate attributes should be included in the curriculum and should be an important focus for their university. p.iii | Radloff, A., de la Harpe, B., Scoufis, M., Dalton, H., Thomas, J., Lawson, A., David, C. & Girardi, A. 2009, The B factor project: understanding academic staff beliefs about graduate attributes. |
Curriculum Mapping
| Project | Statement | References |
|---|---|---|
| Benchmarking Partnerships for Graduate Employability | Mapping capabilities in the intended curriculum Each unit in the course has learning outcomes, indicating what successful students know or can do as a result of experiences in that unit. In the CCMap, each unit learning outcome is aligned to at least one assessment task; each outcome is coded to up to three of Curtin’s graduate attributes to show what is assessed. P19“It is generally agreed that embedding employability as part of the graduate skill set (or learning outcomes) through curriculum design, course content and delivery is a promising start: curriculum mapping (also known as auditing) offers a way of testing how and where employability-related learning is incorporated into a course curriculum, and that this is far more effective than focusing on what occurs in individual units (subjects or modules) (Yorke & Knight, 2006).” pp10The limitations of the process of mapping the curriculum must also be borne in mind: mapping the curriculum is almost always focused on mapping the ‘intended’ curriculum – or the teacher’s plan in a particular unit (subject or module). The ‘intended’ curriculum does not always mirror the ‘enacted curriculum’ (what actually happens in the classroom), nor does it necessarily mirror the ‘experienced curriculum’ from the student’s point of view (Porter, 2004). P18Curriculum mapping can be a matrix approach whereby teachers indicate where attributes are taught, practiced and assessed (Oliver, Jones, & Ferns, 2008; Oliver & Tucker, 2004; Sumsion & Goodfellow, 2004). P.18It (curriculum mapping) should also be a cyclical process which includes the design of visual representations to create a curriculum that is fluid and adaptable to the changing needs of students, employers and the discipline (Uchiyama & Radin, 2009). p.18Three major considerations for effective practice emerge from the literature: (1) the tool – an instrument, document or package which allows aggregation and visualisation of a course; (2) a process – the way in which the tool is used with and by teaching and support staff; and (3) the purpose for which curriculum mapping is adopted. P.18 |
Oliver, B. 2010, Teaching Fellowship: Benchmarking Partnerships for Graduate Employability.Yorke, M. & Knight, P. 2006, Embedding employability into the curriculum (York: Higher Education Academy)Porter, A. C. 2004. Curriculum Assessment. In G. C. Judith, L. Green, P.B. Elmore (Eds.), Handbook of Complementary Methods in Education Research (pp. 141-160). Washington D.C.: American Educational Research Association. Oliver, B., Jones, S. & Ferns, S. 2008, ‘Leading curriculum reform: lessons learnt and challenges ahead’, Teaching and Learning Forum 2008,Perth, Western Australia.Oliver, B. & Tucker, B. 2004, ‘Curriculum mapping of assessment tasks within an outcomes-focused framework: A school-based professional development approach’, Evaluations and Assessment Conference,Melbourne.Sumsion, J. & Goodfellow, J. 2004, ‘Identifying generic skills through curriculum mapping: a critical evaluation’, Higher Education Research & Development, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 329-46.Uchiyama, K.P. & Radin, J.L. 2009, ‘Curriculum mapping in higher education: A vehicle for collaboration’, Innovative Higher Education, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 271-80. |
| Designing a Diverse, Future-oriented Vision for Undergraduate Psychology in Australia Final Investigation Report | This project recommended gradual integration of some of the key GAs and student learning outcomes (SLOs) into the APAC standards.This is highly significant, as it means that every Department/School of Psychology will need to demonstrate in applications for accreditation how their programs address these GAs and SLOs. Although this is only a start in the integration, development, assessment and evaluation of GAs/SLOs in the Australian undergraduate program, it is a significant start. P13 | Cranney, J., Provost, S., Katsikitis, M., Martin, F., White, F. & Cohen, L. 2008, Designing a diverse, future-orientated vision for undergraduate psychology in Australia. |
| Learning and Teaching in the Discipline of Law: Achieving and sustaining excellence in a changed and changing environment | Alignment templates tend to be essential to successful implementation and embedding. P20This (curriclumum re-invigoration) usually involves general overview mapping within individual subjects or broader topical or level-of-study areas, providing scaffolded learning opportunities for students and ensuring transparency of assessment tasks and criteria related to outcomes. P20Some law schools have developed levels of Graduate Attributes at basic, intermediate and advanced levels, with an expectation of more sophisticated skills growth occurring incrementally and progressively throughout the program. P 21 | Owen, S., Davis, G., Coper, M., Ford, W. & McKeough, J. 2009, Learning and Teaching in the discipline of Law: Achieving and sustaining excellence in a changed and changing environment. |
| Assessing Students Unfamiliar with Assessment Practices in Australian Universities | Equivalency of learning will only be assured where generic skill development is mapped across every course in a program. Pp8By acknowledging that assessment defines the curriculum, there is a need to develop a strategic approach to integrating the development of these skills across the whole accounting program. p18 | Jackson, M., Watty, K., Yu, L. & Lowe, L. 2006, Assessing Students Unfamiliar with Assessment Practices in Australian Universities (Accounting). |
| Business as usual: A collaborative and inclusive investigation of existing resources, strengths, gaps and challenges to be addressed for sustainability in teaching and learning in Australian university business faculties. |
To reduce confusion and overlap and increase coherence many universities are currently ‘mapping’ their curriculum. In fact, over the previous decade, most have specified graduate qualities/attributes that graduates should be able to demonstrate if they are to meet career challenges.p13Curriculum mapping for staff, faculty and university leadership is highly valuable, both for monitoring course diversity and overlap and as a strategic opportunity for reflection resulting in alignment of graduate attributes, course objectives and assessment (Biggs, 2003). Additionally, for staff involved it encourages discourse and provides an opportunity for reflection (Sumsion and Goodfellow, 2004). p15 | Freeman, M., Hancock, P., Lyn Simpson & Sykes, C. 2008, Business as usual: A collaborative investigation of existing resources, strengths, gaps and challenges to be addressed for sustainability in teaching and learning in Australian university business faculties. |
| EXTENDING TEACHING AND LEARNING INITIATIVES IN THE CROSS-DISCIPLINARY FIELD OF BIOTECHNOLOGY | This pilot study indicates that it would be necessary to conduct an extensive audit of each subject, including interviews of teaching staff and students, to reliably map graduate attributes. Furthermore, there needs to be some consideration of how each subject fits into a program as a whole and how this structure influences the development of graduate attributes. p33 | Hine, D., Barnard, R., Rifkin, W., Bridge, W., Franco, C., Schmidt, L. & MacKinnon, P. 2008, Extending Teaching and Learning initiatives in the cross-disciplinary field of Biotechnology. |
| The national graduate attributes project: integration and assessment of graduate attributes in curriculum | Curriculum: curriculum planning for graduate attributes development, general curriculum structure (e.g. modular, postgraduate entry) and pedagogical features (e.g. PBL, WIL) influence the development of graduate attributes;
|
Barrie, S., Hughes, C. & Smith, C. 2009, The National Graduate Attributes Project: integration and assessment of graduate attributes in curriculum. |
| The b-factor Project – understanding academic staff beliefs about graduate attributes | Academic staff were more likely to believe that the most effective method for developing graduate attributes was by integrating them in the curriculum and being taught by the discipline teacher and a specialist with skill in the relevant attribute, followed by being taught by the discipline teacher alone and/or through WIL experiences. They believed that graduate attributes were least effectively developed when they were integrated into a capstone course or developed by students independently. Just over half believed that there were obstacles to them teaching and/or assessing attributes. p.iiiObstacles Curriculum relevance… Lack of alignment with discipline/curriculum objectives presented obstacles to the teaching and assessment of graduate attributes. Intrinsic to this was the challenge, for many academic staff, of understanding how to contextualise graduate attributes within their discipline.Enablers Curriculum design… Greater alignment within the curriculum, adopting a whole of program approach, greater team co-operation and more time spent on design and, an improved process for mapping graduate attribute development, were all seen to be strategic and important enablers |
Radloff, A., de la Harpe, B., Scoufis, M., Dalton, H., Thomas, J., Lawson, A., David, C. & Girardi, A. 2009, The B factor project: understanding academic staff beliefs about graduate attributes. |
Embedding/Operations
| Project | Statement | References |
|---|---|---|
| Benchmarking Partnerships for Graduate Employability | “It is generally agreed that embedding employability as part of the graduate skill set (or learning outcomes) through curriculum design, course content and delivery is a promising start: curriculum mapping (also known as auditing) offers a way of testing how and where employability-related learning is incorporated into a course curriculum, and that this is far more effective than focusing on what occurs in individual units (subjects or modules) (Yorke & Knight, 2006).” P10 | Yorke, M. & Knight, P. 2006, Embedding employability into the curriculum (York: Higher Education Academy). |
| The b-factor Project – understanding academic staff beliefs about graduate attributes | “In Australia, the ALTC ‘B Factor’ report found that “academic staff were more likely to believe the most effective method for developing graduate attributes was by integrating them in the curriculum and being taught by the discipline teacher and a specialist with skill in the relevant attribute, followed by being taught by the discipline teacher alone and/or through work-integrated experiences” (Radloff et al., 2009)” P10 | Radloff, A., de la Harpe, B., Scoufis, M., Dalton, H., Thomas, J., Lawson, A., David, C. & Girardi, A. 2009, The B factor project: understanding academic staff beliefs about graduate attributes. |
| Facilitating staff and student engagement with graduate attribute development, assessment and standards in Business faculties | The teaching and assessment of these graduate attributes are often mentioned in curriculum documentation but the effective integration of these into developmental approaches in the classroom has been somewhat intangible.p14Institutional support for the acquisition and assessment of graduate attributes has been inconsistent and not without its problems (Hoban et al. 2004). P14 | Taylor, T., Thompson, D., Clements, L., Simpson, L., Paltridge, A., Fletcher, M., Freeman, M., Treleaven, L., Lawson, R. & Rohde, F. 2009, Facilitating staff and student engagement with graduate attribute development, assessment and standards in Business faculties.Hoban, G., Lefoe, G., James, B., Curtis, S., Kaidonis, M., Hadi, M., Lipu, S., McHarg, C. & Collins, R. 2004, ‘A web environment linking university teaching strategies with graduate attributes’, Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 10-9. |
| Learning and Teaching in the Discipline of Law: Achieving and sustaining excellence in a changed and changing environment | This project found that successful Graduate Attributes processes have been shown to be able to arise either from top-down or bottom-up orientations, with the former more commonly utilised. However, effectiveness will depend upon matters such as availability of sufficient resources; supported committee structures and processes; use of champions and energetic drivers; institutional high level backing; and an emphasis upon cooperation and collective responsibility within a corporate framework. Alignment templates tend to be essential to successful implementation and embedding. p20 | Owen, S., Davis, G., Coper, M., Ford, W. & McKeough, J. 2009, Learning and Teaching in the discipline of Law: Achieving and sustaining excellence in a changed and changing environment. |
| Designing a Diverse, Future-oriented Vision for Undergraduate Psychology in Australia – Final Investigation Report | This project recommended the gradual integration of some of the key GAs and student learning outcomes (SLOs) into the APAC standards.This is highly significant, as it means that every Department/School of Psychology will need to demonstrate in applications for accreditation how their programs address these GAs and SLOs. Although this is only a start in the integration, development, assessment and evaluation of GAs/SLOs in the Australian undergraduate program, it is a significant start. P13 | Cranney, J., Provost, S., Katsikitis, M., Martin, F., White, F. & Cohen, L. 2008, Designing a diverse, future-orientated vision for undergraduate psychology in Australia. |
| Enhancing Communication and Life Skills in Veterinary Students: Curriculum Development and Assessment of Methods | The support of Deans and curriculum conveners are critical factors in the success of implementing program changes. Workloads by involved staff need to be taken into account and given appropriate support and consideration P14 | Mills, J., Baguley, J., Coleman, G. & Meehan, M. 2009, Enhancing Communication and Life Skills in Veterinary Students: Curriculum Development and Assessment of Methods. |
| Business as usual: A collaborative and inclusive investigation of existing resources, strengths, gaps and challenges to be addressed for sustainability in teaching and learning in Australian university business faculties | Curriculum mapping for staff, faculty and university leadership is highly valuable, both for monitoring course diversity and overlap and as a strategic opportunity for reflection resulting in alignment of graduate attributes, course objectives and assessment (Biggs, 2003). Additionally, for staff involved it encourages discourse and provides an opportunity for reflection (Sumsion and Goodfellow, 2004). p15 | Freeman, M., Hancock, P., Lyn Simpson & Sykes, C. 2008, Business as usual: A collaborative investigation of existing resources, strengths, gaps and challenges to be addressed for sustainability in teaching and learning in Australian university business faculties. |
| The national graduate attributes project: integration and assessment of graduate attributes in curriculum | Implementation: the way a university coordinates and approaches the implementation of its graduate attributes policy is often neglected; | Barrie, S., Hughes, C. & Smith, C. 2009, The National Graduate Attributes Project: integration and assessment of graduate attributes in curriculum. |
| The b-factor Project – understanding academic staff beliefs about graduate attributes | Academic staff were more likely to believe that the most effective method for developing graduate attributes was by integrating them in the curriculum and being taught by the discipline teacher and a specialist with skill in the relevant attribute, followed by being taught by the discipline teacher alone and/or through WIL experiences. They believed that graduate attributes were least effectively developed when they were integrated into a capstone course or developed by students independently. Just over half believed that there were obstacles to them teaching and/or assessing attributes. p.iiiObstacles Skill in teaching and assessing… Lack of knowledge or skill and personal interest were obstacles to teaching and assessing graduate attributes. Time and resources…Work overload, time constraints, competing organisational demands and limited and inadequate resources were also identified as key obstacles. Lack of support and bureaucracy… Issues relating to lack of management support and consultation, program design, excessive bureaucracy and lack of rewards were also seen as obstacles.p.55Enablers Curriculum design… Greater alignment within the curriculum, adopting a whole of program approach, greater team co-operation and more time spent on design and, an improved process for mapping graduate attribute development, were all seen to be strategic and important enablers |
Radloff, A., de la Harpe, B., Scoufis, M., Dalton, H., Thomas, J., Lawson, A., David, C. & Girardi, A. 2009, The B factor project: understanding academic staff beliefs about graduate attributes. |
Staff Engagement
| Project | Statement | References |
|---|---|---|
| Enhancing Communication and Life Skills in Veterinary Students: Curriculum Development and Assessment of Methods | “Attitudes of some staff to the new focus on communication and its emotional aspects were eased through staff development programs introducing positive psychology and a perspective on the new curriculum.” P14 | Mills, J., Baguley, J., Coleman, G. & Meehan, M. 2009, Enhancing Communication and Life Skills in Veterinary Students: Curriculum Development and Assessment of Methods. |
| Benchmarking Partnerships for Graduate Employability | “In Australia, the ALTC ‘B Factor’ report found that “academic staff were more likely to believe the most effective method for developing graduate attributes was by integrating them in the curriculum and being taught by the discipline teacher and a specialist with skill in the relevant attribute, followed by being taught by the discipline teacher alone and/or through work-integrated experiences” (Radloff et al., 2009)” P10However, in spite of the significant focus on graduate attributes both the ‘National GAP’ and the ‘B factor’ reports suggest that there is, to some degree, a lack of ‘buy in’ by academic teaching staff in Australian universities. p 14 | Radloff, A., de la Harpe, B., Scoufis, M., Dalton, H., Thomas, J., Lawson, A., David, C. & Girardi, A. 2009, The B factor project: understanding academic staff beliefs about graduate attributes. Barrie, S., Hughes, C. & Smith, C. 2009, The National Graduate Attributes Project: integration and assessment of graduate attributes in curriculum |
| Facilitating staff and student engagement with graduate attribute development, assessment and standards in Business faculties | Business academics are more likely to fully engage in graduate attribute development and assessment if the process is clearly linked to professional development and is presented as an appropriate and legitimate method for advancing individual staff immersion in cutting edge pedagogical thinking. P31 | Taylor, T., Thompson, D., Clements, L., Simpson, L., Paltridge, A., Fletcher, M., Freeman, M., Treleaven, L., Lawson, R. & Rohde, F. 2009, Facilitating staff and student engagement with graduate attribute development, assessment and standards in Business faculties. |
| Learning and Teaching in the Discipline of Law: Achieving and sustaining excellence in a changed and changing environment | Other considerations assisting to enhance the effectiveness of assessment included using assessment to help teachers to teach (assessment for learning, as distinguished from assessment of learning); providing students with opportunities to obtain formative (as opposed to summative) feedback; managing the student assessment workload; and sensitivity to the need for ethical approaches to assessment that are consistent with equal opportunity mandates. P59Sharing of implementation strategies and work-shopping various assessment examples in relation to Group work, Reflection, Ethics, and Role using collaborative processes provided support for the learning of attendees and for more ongoing dissemination across law schools through collegial interaction at the local level after the workshop and round tables. P25 | Owen, S., Davis, G., Coper, M., Ford, W. & McKeough, J. 2009, Learning and Teaching in the discipline of Law: Achieving and sustaining excellence in a changed and changing environment. |
| Business as usual: A collaborative and inclusive investigation of existing resources, strengths, gaps and challenges to be addressed for sustainability in teaching and learning in Australian university business faculties. | Curriculum mapping for staff, faculty and university leadership is highly valuable, both for monitoring course diversity and overlap and as a strategic opportunity for reflection resulting in alignment of graduate attributes, course objectives and assessment (Biggs, 2003). Additionally, for staff involved it encourages discourse and provides an opportunity for reflection (Sumsion and Goodfellow, 2004). p15 | Freeman, M., Hancock, P., Lyn Simpson & Sykes, C. 2008, Business as usual: A collaborative investigation of existing resources, strengths, gaps and challenges to be addressed for sustainability in teaching and learning in Australian university business faculties |
| Accounting for the future: more than numbers | Barrie (2004) identifies the absence of a conceptual framework and theoretical underpinning for ‘graduate attributes’ and generic (non-technical) skills, which encourages different understandings of the ‘teaching and learning processes’ necessary to enable the skills to be developed. The absence of a conceptual framework also contributes to lack of enthusiasm among academics for initiatives to develop such skills. p14 | Hancock, P., Howieson, B., Kavanagh, M., Kent, J., Tempone, I. & Segal, N. 2009, Accounting for the future: more than numbers. A collaborative investigation into the changing skill set for professional accounting graduates over the next ten years and strategies for embedding such skills into professional accounting programs. |
| The national graduate attributes project: integration and assessment of graduate attributes in curriculum | Staff Development: the way a university enables and engages staff in efforts to foster graduate attributes contributes to implementation effectiveness | Barrie, S., Hughes, C. & Smith, C. 2009, The National Graduate Attributes Project: integration and assessment of graduate attributes in curriculum. |
| The b-factor Project – understanding academic staff beliefs about graduate attributes | If universities attempt to drive the development of graduate attributes as part of a quality agenda focused on compliance and external accountability or meeting the needs of industry or professional bodies, whilst ignoring the beliefs, and confidence and willingness of academics who are entrusted with the primary work of teaching and assessing graduate attributes, the agenda will not succeed since academic beliefs and levels of confidence and willingness are likely to obstruct such initiatives. p.ixAcademic staff do not have much confidence to teach and assess graduate attributes. p.60Obstacles Skill in teaching and assessing… Lack of knowledge or skill and personal interest were obstacles to teaching and assessing graduate attributes. Time and resources… Work overload, time constraints, competing organisational demands and limited and inadequate resources were also identified as key obstacles.Enablers Professional development… Professional development support in teaching and assessment was identified by academic staff as important to help$ integrate and contextualise graduate attributes. p.56 |
Radloff, A., de la Harpe, B., Scoufis, M., Dalton, H., Thomas, J., Lawson, A., David, C. & Girardi, A. 2009, The B factor project: understanding academic staff beliefs about graduate attributes. |
”Student
| Project | Statement | References |
|---|---|---|
| Enhancing Communication and Life Skills in Veterinary Students: Curriculum Development and Assessment of Methods | This paper finds that experiential tasks helped students identify the importance of the GA in focus. Client simulations were used. These simulations were scaffolded into the program at various places.Simulations were used to assist experiential learning.E-portfolio’s were used by students. Lots of online info has been made available for students about GA’s | Mills, J., Baguley, J., Coleman, G. & Meehan, M. 2009, Enhancing Communication and Life Skills in Veterinary Students: Curriculum Development and Assessment of Methods. |
| Facilitating staff and student engagement with graduate attribute development, assessment and standards in Business faculties | Graduate attributes need to be specifically related to student learning to be valued and recognised. This can be achieved by aligning the attributes with the curriculum when discussing assessment requirements in the unit or by incorporating the business employer perspectives in relation to the graduate attributes. p31 | Taylor, T., Thompson, D., Clements, L., Simpson, L., Paltridge, A., Fletcher, M., Freeman, M., Treleaven, L., Lawson, R. & Rohde, F. 2009, Facilitating staff and student engagement with graduate attribute development, assessment and standards in Business faculties. |
| Extending teaching and learning initiatives in the cross-disciplinary field of biotechnology | The pilot graduate attribute mapping suggests that interdisciplinary approaches have been adopted in undergraduate professional biotechnology subjects (see appendices). Anecdotal evidence based on formal course evaluations suggests that such an interdisciplinary approach is well received by students. P11 | Hine, D., Barnard, R., Rifkin, W., Bridge, W., Franco, C., Schmidt, L. & MacKinnon, P. 2008, Extending Teaching and Learning initiatives in the cross-disciplinary field of Biotechnology. |
| The national graduate attributes project: integration and assessment of graduate attributes in curriculum | Student-Centred: no matter how much effort universities put into teaching graduate attributes, the strategy has not worked unless it is perceived by students to have actively engaged them in developing worthwhile attributes. p.1 | Barrie, S., Hughes, C. & Smith, C. 2009, The National Graduate Attributes Project: integration and assessment of graduate attributes in curriculum. |
| The b-factor Project – understanding academic staff beliefs about graduate attributes | Enablers Student support and engagement… Engaging students early in their university experience, contextualising attributes so that they were relevant, providing mentoring programs and spending more time with students, were all seen as critical to developing graduate attributes. p.57 |
Radloff, A., de la Harpe, B., Scoufis, M., Dalton, H., Thomas, J., Lawson, A., David, C. & Girardi, A. 2009, The B factor project: understanding academic staff beliefs about graduate attributes. |
Assessment
| Project | Statement | References |
|---|---|---|
| Supporting student peer assessment and review in large groupwork projects | With group work a common component of most subjects, this (Team Contribution Tracking – TeCTra) “addresses the well known difficulties in how to allocate individual marks for group work outcomes.” p4 | Raban, R., Litchfield, A., Willey, K., Hermans, A., Murray, S., Davis, D., Dreher, H., Harris, N. & Wenham, K. 2009, Supporting student peer assessment and review in large groupwork projects. |
| Benchmarking Partnerships for Graduate Employability | Each unit in the course has learning outcomes, indicating what successful students know or can do as a result of experiences in that unit. In the CCMap, each unit learning outcome is aligned to at least one assessment task; each outcome is coded to up to three of Curtin’s graduate attributes to show what is assessed. Pp19The use of rubrics for self- and peer-assessment (formative as well as summative) is key: capability requires “the ability of a student to assess his or her performances and development” (Yorke, 1998).pp25 | Oliver, B. 2010, Teaching Fellowship: Benchmarking Partnerships for Graduate Employability. |
| Learning and teaching the discipline of law: achieving and sustaining excellence in a changed and changing environment | This (curriclumum re-invigoration) usually involves general overview mapping within individual subjects or broader topical or level-of-study areas, providing scaffolded learning opportunities for students and ensuring transparency of assessment tasks and criteria related to outcomes. p20Sharing of implementation strategies and work-shopping various assessment examples in relation to Group work, Refl ection, Ethics, and Role using collaborative processes provided support for the learning of attendees and for more ongoing dissemination across law schools through collegial interaction at the local level after the workshop and round tables. Production of assessment tasks within an accessible pamphlet format has also provided some models of tasks linked to broad and transparent outcomes within a Graduate Attributes framework p25Key success factors highlighted the importance of having an overall assessment strategy to allow students to demonstrate learning in different ways; encouraging a range of learning; and creating a systematic and comprehensive assessment package. Other success factors relating to individual assessment items pointed to tasks being authentic, valid, reliable, unambiguous and supportive of student learning; and provision of feedback being timely and constructive. Other considerations assisting to enhance the effectiveness of assessment included using assessment to help teachers to teach (assessment for learning, as distinguished from assessment of learning); providing students with opportunities to obtain formative (as opposed to summative) feedback; managing the student assessment workload; and sensitivity to the need for ethical approaches to assessment that are consistent with equal opportunity mandates. p59Another Assessment workshop group focused on Role. Assessment within Role links to experiential placements and the connections between Graduate Attributes related to knowledge, skills and professional attitudes and opportunities for simulated professional action and actual workplace experiences (Flinders University, 2003). Pp65Production of assessment tasks within an accessible pamphlet format has also provided some models of tasks linked to broad and transparent outcomes within a Graduate Attributes framework. P25 |
Owen, S., Davis, G., Coper, M., Ford, W. & McKeough, J. 2009, Learning and Teaching in the discipline of Law: Achieving and sustaining excellence in a changed and changing environment. |
| Assessing Students Unfamiliar with Assessment Practices in Australian Universities | James et al (2002) specify three objectives for higher education assessment as follows:
The way in which assessment is designed and written and the way lecturers convey their expectations about how the assessment will be undertaken is crucial to how students from various countries including Australia perform in that assessment. Pp8 By acknowledging that assessment defines the curriculum, there is a need to develop a strategic approach to integrating the development of these skills across the whole accounting program. p18 |
Jackson, M., Watty, K., Yu, L. & Lowe, L. 2006, Assessing Students Unfamiliar with Assessment Practices in Australian Universities (Accounting). |
| Business as usual: A collaborative and inclusive investigation of existing resources, strengths, gaps and challenges to be addressed for sustainability in teaching and learning in Australian university business faculties. | Curriculum mapping for staff, faculty and university leadership is highly valuable, both for monitoring course diversity and overlap and as a strategic opportunity for reflection resulting in alignment of graduate attributes, course objectives and assessment (Biggs, 2003).Assessment and Assurance of Learning In order to assess the development of such generic skills during a course of study, it may be necessary to move beyond orthodox methods of assessment for example by engaging industry within the assessment process of some subjects. A number of studies have identified the merits of including such areas and methods in assessment of business higher education (Boud and Falchikov, 2005; Cummings, 1998; Fallows and Steven, 2000; Jackson, Watty, Yu and Lowe, 2006). p15 |
Freeman, M., Hancock, P., Lyn Simpson & Sykes, C. 2008, Business as usual: A collaborative investigation of existing resources, strengths, gaps and challenges to be addressed for sustainability in teaching and learning in Australian university business faculties. |
| Developing Primary Teacher Education Students’ Professional Capacities for Children’s Diverse Mathematics Achievement and Learning Needs | Authentic Assessment Authentic activities and related assessment “involve ‘ill-structured’ challenges and roles that help students rehearse for the complex ambiguities of the ‘game’ of adult and professional life” (Wiggens, 1990, p. 3).A move towards authentic assessment can enhance learning and teaching by providing both students and teachers with a purpose and clarity for engagement in and mastery of complex tasks. p11 |
Frid, S., Sparrow, L., Hurst, C., Pelliccione, L., Beltman, S. & Straalen, D.V. 2010, Developing primary teacher education students’ professional capacities for children’s diverse mathematics achievement and learning needs. |
| The national graduate attributes project: integration and assessment of graduate attributes in curriculum | Assessment: the explicit embedding of graduate attributes in assessment is essential for policy implementation;Quality Assurance: the way a higher education system, university or discipline monitors and assures the development of graduate attributes is one of the most influential drivers of effective implementation | Barrie, S., Hughes, C. & Smith, C. 2009, The National Graduate Attributes Project: integration and assessment of graduate attributes in curriculum. |
| The b-factor Project – understanding academic staff beliefs about graduate attributes | Obstacles Skill in teaching and assessing… Lack of knowledge or skill and personal interest were obstacles to teaching and assessing graduate attributes.Enablers Assessment… Clarity and support regarding assessment of graduate attributes, in terms of both the ‘what’ and the ‘how’, and greater management support in taking a whole of program approach were identified as important enablers:p.58 |
Radloff, A., de la Harpe, B., Scoufis, M., Dalton, H., Thomas, J., Lawson, A., David, C. & Girardi, A. 2009, The B factor project: understanding academic staff beliefs about graduate attributes. |
Data Collection Methods/tools
| Project | Statement | References |
|---|---|---|
| Enhancing Communication and Life Skills in Veterinary Students: Curriculum Development and Assessment of Methods | Assessment rubrics included the use of Calgary-Cambridge Guides (modified) and Global Ratings scale to assist competency training in consultation skills | Mills, J., Baguley, J., Coleman, G. & Meehan, M. 2009, Enhancing Communication and Life Skills in Veterinary Students: Curriculum Development and Assessment of Methods. |
| Supporting student peer assessment and review in large groupwork projects | With group work a common component of most subjects, this (Team Contribution Tracking – TeCTra) “addresses the well known difficulties in how to allocate individual marks for group work outcomes.” p4 | Raban, R., Litchfield, A., Willey, K., Hermans, A., Murray, S., Davis, D., Dreher, H., Harris, N. & Wenham, K. 2009, Supporting student peer assessment and review in large groupwork projects. |
| Benchmarking Partnerships for Graduate Employability | Each unit in the course has learning outcomes, indicating what successful students know or can do as a result of experiences in that unit. In the CCMap, each unit learning outcome is aligned to at least one assessment task; each outcome is coded to up to three of Curtin’s graduate attributes to show what is assessed. Pp19The use of rubrics for self- and peer-assessment (formative as well as summative) is key: capability requires “the ability of a student to assess his or her performances and development” (Yorke, 1998).pp25Curriculum mapping can be a matrix approach whereby teachers indicate where attributes are taught, practiced and assessed (Oliver, Jones, & Ferns, 2008; Oliver & Tucker, 2004; Sumsion & Goodfellow, 2004). p.18 | Oliver, B. 2010, Teaching Fellowship: Benchmarking Partnerships for Graduate Employability. |
”Reporting”
| Project | Statement | References |
|---|---|---|
| The national graduate attributes project: integration and assessment of graduate attributes in curriculum | Quality Assurance: the way a higher education system, university or discipline monitors and assures the development of graduate attributes is one of the most influential drivers of effective implementation. | Barrie, S., Hughes, C. & Smith, C. 2009, The National Graduate Attributes Project: integration and assessment of graduate attributes in curriculum. |
Benchmarking
| Project | Statement | References |
|---|---|---|
| Ensuring quality graduates of pharmacology | Pharmacology course content, assessment and teaching methodologies are determined at university level and, currently, no benchmarking process exists for pharmacology courses taught across Australia. | Babey, A.-M., Bullock, S., Davis, E., Favaloro, J., Fernandes, L., Hinton, T., Lloyd, H., Musgrave, I. & Ziogas, J. 2010, Ensuring quality graduates of pharmacology: Final Investigation Report. |
Enablers
| Project | Statement | References |
|---|---|---|
| Benchmarking Partnerships for Graduate Employability | Three major considerations for effective practice emerge from the literature: (1) the tool – an instrument, document or package which allows aggregation and visualisation of a course; (2) a process – the way in which the tool is used with and by teaching and support staff; and (3) the purpose for which curriculum mapping is adopted. p18 | Oliver, B. 2010, Teaching Fellowship: Benchmarking Partnerships for Graduate Employability |
| Facilitating staff and student engagement with graduate attribute development, assessment and standards in Business faculties | Graduate attributes need to be specifically related to student learning to be valued and recognised. This can be achieved by aligning the attributes with the curriculum alignment when discussing assessment requirements in the unit or by incorporating the business employer perspectives in relation to the graduate attributes. p31 | Taylor, T., Thompson, D., Clements, L., Simpson, L., Paltridge, A., Fletcher, M., Freeman, M., Treleaven, L., Lawson, R. & Rohde, F. 2009, Facilitating staff and student engagement with graduate attribute development, assessment and standards in Business faculties. |
| Learning and teaching in the discipline of law: achieving and sustaining excellence in a changed and changing environment | This paper finds that… Successful Graduate Attributes processes have been shown to be able to arise either from top-down or bottom-up orientations, with the former more commonly utilised. However, effectiveness will depend upon matters such as availability of suffi cient resources; supported committee structures and processes; use of champions and energetic drivers; institutional high level backing; and an emphasis upon cooperation and collective responsibility within a corporate framework. Alignment templates tend to be essential to successful implementation and embedding. p25Key success factors highlighted the importance of having an overall assessment strategy to allow students to demonstrate learning in different ways; encouraging a range of learning; and creating a systematic and comprehensive assessment package. Other success factors relating to individual assessment items pointed to tasks being authentic, valid, reliable, unambiguous and supportive of student learning; and provision of feedback being timely and constructive. Other considerations assisting to enhance the effectiveness of assessment included using assessment to help teachers to teach (assessment for learning, as distinguished from assessment of learning); providing students with opportunities to obtain formative (as opposed to summative) feedback; managing the student assessment workload; and sensitivity to the need for ethical approaches to assessment that are consistent with equal opportunity mandates. p59Another Assessment workshop group focused on Role. Assessment within Role links to experiential placements and the connections between Graduate Attributes related to knowledge, skills and professional attitudes and opportunities for simulated professional action and actual workplace experiences (Flinders University, 2003). Pp65 |
Owen, S., Davis, G., Coper, M., Ford, W. & McKeough, J. 2009, Learning and Teaching in the discipline of Law: Achieving and sustaining excellence in a changed and changing environment. |
| Assessing Students Unfamiliar with Assessment Practices in Australian Universities | Equivalency of learning will only be assured where generic skill development is mapped across every course in a program. Pp8 | Jackson, M., Watty, K., Yu, L. & Lowe, L. 2006, Assessing Students Unfamiliar with Assessment Practices in Australian Universities (Accounting). |
| The national graduate attributes project: integration and assessment of graduate attributes in curriculum | Key findings The project identified a GAP framework of eight interacting elements, which affect an institution’s efforts to foster curriculum renewal to achieve graduate attributes. The importance of underlying conceptions already identified in previous research was acknowledged in the framework. The elements of the framework included:
|
Barrie, S., Hughes, C. & Smith, C. 2009, The National Graduate Attributes Project: integration and assessment of graduate attributes in curriculum. |
| The b-factor Project – understanding academic staff beliefs about graduate attributes | Academic staff suggested a broad range of strategies which they believed would counter the obstacles outlined above and facilitate their work with graduate attributes. Organisational culture… Creating a cultural shift whereby graduate attributes were seen as integral to teaching and learning, where teaching was highly valued and where academic staff identity was more closely aligned with the teaching role, was regarded as critical to enabling graduate attribute integration across the curriculum. Central to such a culture would be strategic, focused and supportive leadership and management teams, and open lines of communication. Professional development… Professional development support in teaching and assessment was identified by academic staff as important to help$ integrate and contextualise graduate attributes. Resources… More time and resources for designing and teaching curricula which effectively integrated and developed graduate attributes were mentioned as enablers. There were also comments regarding the support that specialist staff might offer in the teaching and assessment of certain attributes. p.56 Curriculum design… Greater alignment within the curriculum, adopting a whole of program approach, greater team co-operation and more time spent on design and, an improved process for mapping graduate attribute development, were all seen to be strategic and important enablers. Student support and engagement… Engaging students early in their university experience, contextualising attributes so that they were relevant, providing mentoring programs and spending more time with students, were all seen as critical to developing graduate attributes. p.57 Assessment… Clarity and support regarding assessment of graduate attributes, in terms of both the ‘what’ and the ‘how’, and greater management support in taking a whole of program approach were identified as important enablers:p.58 |
Radloff, A., de la Harpe, B., Scoufis, M., Dalton, H., Thomas, J., Lawson, A., David, C. & Girardi, A. 2009, The B factor project: understanding academic staff beliefs about graduate attributes. |
Impediments/challenges
| Project | Statement | References |
|---|---|---|
| Enhancing Communication and Life Skills in Veterinary Students: Curriculum Development and Assessment of Methods | The support of Deans and curriculum conveners are critical factors in the success of implementing program changes. Workloads by involved staff need to be taken into account and given appropriate support and consideration p.14“Attitudes of some staff to the new focus on communication and its emotional aspects were eased through staff development programs introducing positive psychology and a perspective on the new curriculum.” p14 | Mills, J., Baguley, J., Coleman, G. & Meehan, M. 2009, Enhancing Communication and Life Skills in Veterinary Students: Curriculum Development and Assessment of Methods |
| Supporting student peer assessment and review in large groupwork projects. | With group work a common component of most subjects, this (Team Contribution Tracking – TeCTra) “addresses the well known difficulties in how to allocate individual marks for group work outcomes.” p4 | Raban, R., Litchfield, A., Willey, K., Hermans, A., Murray, S., Davis, D., Dreher, H., Harris, N. & Wenham, K. 2009, Supporting student peer assessment and review in large groupwork projects. |
| Benchmarking Partnerships for Graduate Employability | Sound university education cannot be easily reduced to a ‘tick list’ of skills or competences, many of which are often ill-defined, overlapping, and difficult to measure (Hager, 2006).pp15The limitations of the process of mapping the curriculum must also be borne in mind: mapping the curriculum is almost always focused on mapping the ‘intended’ curriculum – or the teacher’s plan in a particular unit (subject or module). The ‘intended’ curriculum does not always mirror the ‘enacted curriculum’ (what actually happens in the classroom), nor does it necessarily mirror the ‘experienced curriculum’ from the student’s point of view (Porter, 2004). Pp18 | Oliver, B. 2010, Teaching Fellowship: Benchmarking Partnerships for Graduate Employability. |
| Facilitating staff and student engagement with graduate attribute development, assessment and standards in Business faculties | Graduate attributes are often mentioned in curriculum documentation but the effective integration of these into developmental approaches in the classroom has proven to be somewhat elusive. Pp8Institutional support for the acquisition and assessment of graduate attributes has been inconsistent and not without its problems (Hoban et al. 2004). Pp14 | Taylor, T., Thompson, D., Clements, L., Simpson, L., Paltridge, A., Fletcher, M., Freeman, M., Treleaven, L., Lawson, R. & Rohde, F. 2009, Facilitating staff and student engagement with graduate attribute development, assessment and standards in Business faculties. |
| Teaching & assessment of meta-attributes in Engineering: identifying, developing and disseminating good practice (EMAP) | Engineering faculties across Australia are experiencing substantial pressure from industry, the professional body and their home higher education institutions to contextualise and embed graduate attributes in undergraduate degree programs. Responding to this pressure is proving challenging with three inter-related problems evident in the Australian engineering education literature:
|
Carew, A., Therese, S., Barrie, S., Bradley, A., Cooper, P., Currie, J., Hadgraft, R., McCarthy, T., Nightingale, S. & Radcliffe, D. 2009, Teaching and Assessing Meta-attributes in Engineering: identifying, developing and disseminating good practice. |
| Accounting for the future: more than numbers | Barrie (2004) identifies the absence of a conceptual framework and theoreticalunderpinning for ‘graduate attributes’ and generic (non-technical) skills, which encourages different understandings of the ‘teaching and learning processes’ necessary to enable the skills to be developed. The absence of a conceptual framework also contributes to lack of enthusiasm among academics for initiatives to develop such skills. p14 | Hancock, P., Howieson, B., Kavanagh, M., Kent, J., Tempone, I. & Segal, N. 2009, Accounting for the future: more than numbers. A collaborative investigation into the changing skill set for professional accounting graduates over the next ten years and strategies for embedding such skills into professional accounting programs. |
| The b-factor Project – understanding academic staff beliefs about graduate attributes | Academic staff beliefs about graduate attributes and their low levels of confidence and willingness to teach and assess them must be acknowledged if universities are to progress in ensuring that graduates are equipped for the world of work. p.viiiAcademic staff do not have much confidence to teach and assess graduate attributes. p.60Obstacles Skill in teaching and assessing…….. Lack of knowledge or skill and personal interest were obstacles to teaching and assessing graduate attributes. Time and resources……… Work overload, time constraints, competing organisational demands and limited and inadequate resources were also identified as key obstacles. Curriculum relevance …….. Lack of alignment with discipline/curriculum objectives presented obstacles to the teaching and assessment of graduate attributes. Intrinsic to this was the challenge, for many academic staff, of understanding how to contextualise graduate attributes within their discipline.Lack of support and bureaucracy………. Issues relating to lack of management support and consultation, program design, excessive bureaucracy and lack of rewards were also seen as obstacles.p.55 |
Radloff, A., de la Harpe, B., Scoufis, M., Dalton, H., Thomas, J., Lawson, A., David, C. & Girardi, A. 2009, The B factor project: understanding academic staff beliefs about graduate attributes. |
Best Practice
| Project | Statement | References |
|---|---|---|
| Enhancing Communication and Life Skills in Veterinary Students: Curriculum Development and Assessment of Methods | This paper finds that experiential tasks helped students identify the importance of the GA in focus. Client simulations were used. These simulations were scaffolded into the program at various places.The support of Deans and curriculum conveners are critical factors in the success of implementing program changes. Workloads by involved staff need to be taken into account and given appropriate support and consideration p.14 “Attitudes of some staff to the new focus on communication and its emotional aspects were eased through staff development programs introducing positive psychology and a perspective on the new curriculum.” p14“The use of a binary check list and performance assessment using a global ratings scales are also useful in skills training to consider not only what was done but how it was done (Hodges et al 2002).” p8 |
Mills, J., Baguley, J., Coleman, G. & Meehan, M. 2009, Enhancing Communication and Life Skills in Veterinary Students: Curriculum Development and Assessment of Methods. |
| Supporting student peer assessment and review in large groupwork projects. | With group work a common component of most subjects, this (Team Contribution Tracking – TeCTra) “addresses the well known difficulties in how to allocate individual marks for group work outcomes.” p4 | Raban, R., Litchfield, A., Willey, K., Hermans, A., Murray, S., Davis, D., Dreher, H., Harris, N. & Wenham, K. 2009, Supporting student peer assessment and review in large groupwork projects. |
| Benchmarking Partnerships for Graduate Employability | Each unit in the course has learning outcomes, indicating what successful students know or can do as a result of experiences in that unit. In the CCMap, each unit learning outcome is aligned to at least one assessment task; each outcome is coded to up to three of Curtin’s graduate attributes to show what is assessed. Pp19 The use of rubrics for self- and peer-assessment (formative as well as summative) is key: capability requires “the ability of a student to assess his or her performances and development” (Yorke, 1998).pp25“In Australia, the ALTC ‘B Factor’ report found that “academic staff were more likely to believe the most effective method for developing graduate attributes was by integrating them in the curriculum and being taught by the discipline teacher and a specialist with skill in the relevant attribute, followed by being taught by the discipline teacher alone and/or through work-integrated experiences” (Radloff et al., 2009)” pp10“It is generally agreed that embedding employability as part of the graduate skill set (or learning outcomes) through curriculum design, course content and delivery is a promising start: curriculum mapping (also known as auditing) offers a way of testing how and where employability-related learning is incorporated into a course curriculum, and that this is far more effective than focusing on what occurs in individual units (subjects or modules) (Yorke & Knight, 2006).” pp10Three major considerations for effective practice emerge from the literature: (1) the tool – an instrument, document or package which allows aggregation and visualisation of a course; (2) a process – the way in which the tool is used with and by teaching and support staff; and (3) the purpose for which curriculum mapping is adopted. P.18 |
Oliver, B. 2010, Teaching Fellowship: Benchmarking Partnerships for Graduate Employability. |
| Learning and teaching in the discipline of law: achieving and sustaining excellence in a changed and changing environment | This paper finds that…
Key success factors highlighted the importance of having an overall assessment strategy to allow students to demonstrate learning in different ways; encouraging a range of learning; and creating a systematic and comprehensive assessment package. Other success factors relating to individual assessment items pointed to tasks being authentic, valid, reliable, unambiguous and supportive of student learning; and provision of feedback being timely and constructive. Other considerations assisting to enhance the effectiveness of assessment included using assessment to help teachers to teach (assessment for learning, as distinguished from assessment of learning); providing students with opportunities to obtain formative (as opposed to summative) feedback; managing the student assessment workload; and sensitivity to the need for ethical approaches to assessment that are consistent with equal opportunity mandates. p59 Another Assessment workshop group focused on Role. Assessment within Role links to experiential placements and the connections between Graduate Attributes related to knowledge, skills and professional attitudes and opportunities for simulated professional action and actual workplace experiences (Flinders University, 2003). Pp65 |
Owen, S., Davis, G., Coper, M., Ford, W. & McKeough, J. 2009, Learning and Teaching in the discipline of Law: Achieving and sustaining excellence in a changed and changing environment. |
| Assessing Students Unfamiliar with Assessment Practices in Australian Universities | Equivalency of learning will only be assured where generic skill development is mapped across every course in a program. Pp8The way in which assessment is designed and written and the way lecturers convey their expectations about how the assessment will be undertaken is crucial to how students from various countries including Australia perform in that assessment. Pp8James et al (2002) specify three objectives for higher education assessment as follows:
|
Jackson, M., Watty, K., Yu, L. & Lowe, L. 2006, Assessing Students Unfamiliar with Assessment Practices in Australian Universities (Accounting). |
| Business as usual: A collaborative and inclusive investigation of existing resources, strengths, gaps and challenges to be addressed for sustainability in teaching and learning in Australian university business faculties. | Curriculum mapping for staff, faculty and university leadership is highly valuable, both for monitoring course diversity and overlap and as a strategic opportunity for reflection resulting in alignment of graduate attributes, course objectives and assessment (Biggs, 2003). Additionally, for staff involved it encourages discourse and provides an opportunity for reflection (Sumsion and Goodfellow, 2004). p15 | Freeman, M., Hancock, P., Lyn Simpson & Sykes, C. 2008, Business as usual: A collaborative investigation of existing resources, strengths, gaps and challenges to be addressed for sustainability in teaching and learning in Australian university business faculties. |
| Extending teaching and learning initiatives in the cross-disciplinary field of biotechnology | If graduate attribute mapping is to be adopted as an ongoing tool, given the resource and information access requirements for a comprehensive survey of attribute development, mapping should be conducted by the teaching organization rather than externally. Results could be reviewed externally to assist universities in improving their biotechnology education programs. Such review could be one of the future functions of the AusBiotech education committee as it seeks to establish education benchmarks. P33 | Hine, D., Barnard, R., Rifkin, W., Bridge, W., Franco, C., Schmidt, L. & MacKinnon, P. 2008, Extending Teaching and Learning initiatives in the cross-disciplinary field of Biotechnology. |
Resources/Tools
| Project | Statement | References |
|---|---|---|
| Enhancing Communication and Life Skills in Veterinary Students: Curriculum Development and Assessment of Methods | This paper finds that experiential tasks helped students identify the importance of the GA in focus. Client simulations were used. These simulations were scaffolded into the program at various places.Simulations were used to assist experiential learning. E-portfolio’s were used by students. Lots of online info has been made available for students about GA’s.Assessment rubrics included the use of Calgary-Cambridge Guides (modified) and Global Ratings scale to assist competency training in consultation skills“The use of a binary check list and performance assessment using a global ratings scales are also useful in skills training to consider not only what was done but how it was done (Hodges et al 2002).” p8 |
Mills, J., Baguley, J., Coleman, G. & Meehan, M. 2009, Enhancing Communication and Life Skills in Veterinary Students: Curriculum Development and Assessment of Methods. |
| Benchmarking Partnerships for Graduate Employability | 3. Mapping capabilities in the intended curriculum During the fellowship, Curtin’s curriculum mapping tool was enhanced to produce visual analyses of graduate attributes, assessment, learning experiences and resources, curriculum themes, career development learning, and levels of work integrated learning (WIL). It has been shared with 41 adopters from 26 institutions within and beyond Australia. Their feedback will inform the 2011 version of Curtin’s curriculum mapping tool. p.5Each unit in the course has learning outcomes, indicating what successful students know or can do as a result of experiences in that unit. In the CCMap, each unit learning outcome is aligned to at least one assessment task; each outcome is coded to up to three of Curtin’s graduate attributes to show what is assessed. Pp19 |
Oliver, B. 2010, Teaching Fellowship: Benchmarking Partnerships for Graduate Employability. |
| Supporting student peer assessment and review in large groupwork projects | Team Contribution Tracking – TeCTra http://tectra.it.uts.edu.au/Mapping the graduate attribute of self and peer evaluation skills, this online tool (Team Contribution Tracking – TeCTra) can be used wherever ‘large work projects are assigned to students.” P5. | Raban, R., Litchfield, A., Willey, K., Hermans, A., Murray, S., Davis, D., Dreher, H., Harris, N. & Wenham, K. 2009, Supporting student peer assessment and review in large groupwork projects. |
| Benchmarking Partnerships for Graduate Employability | E-portfolios enable student self- and peer-assessment of capabilities across distances and over time. They are also known as personal learning environments, digital portfolios, webfolios, e-folios, performance management tools and personal development records (Hallam et al., 2008).During 2009, as part of Curriculum 2010, Curtin built an e-portfolio system (called iPortfolio) for implementation across the university. Pp28 | Oliver, B. 2010, Teaching Fellowship: Benchmarking Partnerships for Graduate Employability |
| Facilitating staff and student engagement with graduate attribute development, assessment and standards in Business faculties | ReView | Taylor, T., Thompson, D., Clements, L., Simpson, L., Paltridge, A., Fletcher, M., Freeman, M., Treleaven, L., Lawson, R. & Rohde, F. 2009, Facilitating staff and student engagement with graduate attribute development, assessment and standards in Business faculties |
| Learning and teaching in the discipline of law: achieving and sustaining excellence in a changed and changing environment | http://www.cald.asn.au/legal_educ.htmlThis paper finds that using Refl ection and learning chronicles can be of benefitAnother Assessment workshop group focused on Role. Assessment within Role links to experiential placements and the connections between Graduate Attributes related to knowledge, skills and professional attitudes and opportunities for simulated professional action and actual workplace experiences (Flinders University, 2003). Pp65 | Owen, S., Davis, G., Coper, M., Ford, W. & McKeough, J. 2009, Learning and Teaching in the discipline of Law: Achieving and sustaining excellence in a changed and changing environment. |
| Business as usual: A collaborative and inclusive investigation of existing resources, strengths, gaps and challenges to be addressed for sustainability in teaching and learning in Australian university business faculties. | One increasingly popular assessment approach used in the UK and North America is the e-portfolio. This is being effectively integrated both as a means of formal assessment and for personal development (Grant, Jones and Ward, 2004). p15 | Freeman, M., Hancock, P., Lyn Simpson & Sykes, C. 2008, Business as usual: A collaborative investigation of existing resources, strengths, gaps and challenges to be addressed for sustainability in teaching and learning in Australian university business faculties. |
| SOS | ||
| SPARK |