Building capacity for assessment leadership via professional

development and mentoring of course coordinators

Merrilyn Goos

Core Values and Principles

• Assessment is what matters most to students.• Implementing good assessment is a challenge for

university teachers.• There are different but equally valuable ways to implement

good assessment practices that align with university policies.

• Local teaching cultures and disciplinary contexts matter when planning and implementing assessment.

Aims

• Build the capacity of course coordinators to understand and implement good assessment practice

• Develop course coordinators’ capacity to exercise assessment leadership

Intended Outcomes

Processes

Profile of current assessment issues

and practices

Model of professional learning

and mentoring

Evidence to inform assessment policy

and practice

Phase 1:Mapping the

territory

Phase 2: Building a communityof assessment practice

Phase 3:Embedding good

assessment practice

Teaching/Consultancy/Management

Research/Scholarship

Policy advice/

Advocacy

Phase 1: Mapping the territory• Conduct literature review• Interview senior university managers for views on

current assessment policies• Survey course coordinators to identify assessment

needs• Analyse existing evaluation data to capture student

perspectives on assessment

Phase 3: Embedding good assessment practice• Conduct staff capacity building workshops• Write and present conference papers• Synthesise evaluation data• Make recommendations for university assessment

policies and staff development practices

Phase 2: Building a community of assessment practice• Design and deliver professional development programs and resources for

seven pairs of course coordinators• Mentor course coordinators in discipline-specific action research projects• Establish a UQ Assessment Network

Building capacity for assessment leadership via professional

development and mentoring of course coordinators

Phase 1: Course Coordinator Survey

• Administered online via electronic course profile system

• Response rate 33% (308/930) from all schools and faculties

• Demographic information (gender, academic level), years teaching (at UQ and elsewhere), years as course coordinator, number of courses coordinated, class size

Course Coordinator Confidence

Course coordinators were least confident in:• Knowledge of policies & use of instruments to evaluate assessment

practice;• Combining tasks into an assessment plan;• Wording course learning objectives;• Planning ways of giving feedback;• Managing moderation processes;• Making judgments consistent with judgments of other academics• Dealing with plagiarism;• Locating responsive people to assist with assessment issues;• Addressing needs of students from diverse backgrounds.

Course Coordinator Assessment Influences

• What factors influence course coordinators’ assessment practice?

• What sources of influence do course coordinators find most helpful in carrying out their assessment roles?

Sources of influence on course coordinator assessment practice

self

students

school (colleagues, examples, policies)

university (resources, policies,professional development)

external (other resources and professional development, professional associations/industry)

Phase 2: Carrick Assessment Community

and UQ Assessment Network (UQAN)

Coming up in the next session …