Changing assessment practices in higher education: assessment literacy, culture and significant social interactions

Beskrivning

Purpose
This thesis examined assessment change in higher education through a sociocultural lens. The need for improvements to assessment was underwritten by collective international movements targeting the clarification of skills, attributes and behaviours desirable for university graduates. While higher education courses and programs commonly articulate learning outcomes, academics still struggle to achieve valid, reliable, criterion-based assessments of those skills, attributes and behaviours. This thesis hypothesised that assessment change could be enabled through relationships built on trust and shared experience, with significant interactions encouraging academics to overcome potential barriers and improve assessment practice.
Methods
Episodic narrative interviews utilising graphical network representations were conducted with 35 academic staff from higher education institutions in Australia, Canada and Sweden. The narratives were thematically analysed to explore thresholds for change and methods for supporting changes toward outcomes-based teaching and assessment. Analysis of thegraphical representations, combined with the narratives, established the value of significant interactions within social networks for supporting criterion-based assessment improvement activities.
Findings
Synthesis of findings from this research, published in four attached articles, led to the development of an assessment change framework. The four interrelated findings in the framework were (1) assessment culture influences teaching and assessment practices and the behaviour of change leaders; (2) assessment thresholds, such as constructive alignment and differentiation of standards, are bound by attitudes and experience and underscore the capacity of academic staff to make quality changes to assessment; (3) significant social interactions support individuals in trailing new assessment strategies, gaining experience and reframing attitudes; (4) change mechanisms require institutional leadership and support to reach a collectively derived vision for change.
Significance
This thesis adds a new dimension to the literature on building assessment literacy in higher education and the empirical demonstration of assessment microcultures. The thesis also contributes significantly to the extant literature for facilitating change in higher education, with a focus on assessment, support for communities of practice and significant interactions as change mechanisms.

Period	2022 dec. 12
Examinerad/handledd person	Natalie Simper
Examination/handledning vid	Monash University
Omfattning	Internationell