Peter Grainger

An alternative grading tool for enhancing assessment practice and quality assurance in higher education

Assessing student learning in university courses is commonly done using a rubric that arranges the assessment criteria and standards descriptors in a matrix style or grid format. This paper introduces an alternative style of grading tool known as the continua model of a guide to making judgements, which arranges assessment criteria based on a continuum of quality to look for in student work. The research participants attended focused professional development workshops then revised their criteria sheets based on the continua model and implemented them in teacher education classes. Interviews were conducted so that participants could reflect upon their experiences implementing the continua model and provide information about the design and efficacy of this new grading tool. The data suggests that the continua model has significant advantages over the traditional, matrix-style criteria sheet. These include being easier to identify and describe different standards, simplifying the grading process and streamlining moderation procedures.

Measuring pre-service teachers’ Asia literacy and their preparedness to teach Asia

Asia literacy is a growing concern of the Federal Government in relation to the development of an Asia literate workforce. Despite 30 years of funded initiatives, the thought of teaching about Asia is a daunting one for pre-service teachers. This is due to the lack of Asia foci in university pre-service courses and complicated by the definition of Asia literacy. This study sought to identify the Asia literacy needs of 54 undergraduate pre-service students in a teacher education programme of study at a regional university. Results of this study indicated that few respondents considered themselves to be Asia literate and most did not believe they were ready to teach about Asia. However, the majority of respondents wanted to know more about Asia prior to graduation. The results indicate that much needs to be done to support students and universities in preparing students to teach about Asia.

How do pre-service teacher education students respond to assessment feedback?

Giving effective feedback is an elusive process that continues to receive conflicting reactions from both students and assessors. Despite the feedback loop being acknowledged as essential to effective learning, there is no single process that has been identified as positively impacting on student achievement. Additionally, there is a lack of research in the context of pre-service teacher education in regards to how students are inducted into the process of giving feedback, which can be regarded as ‘core business’ for any teacher. This article reports on the results of an exploratory study, based on an ‘intervention’, to determine pre-service teacher student responses to new feedback processes in an initial teacher education course. The results indicated that responses to feedback varied considerably, ranging from those students who preferred more regular feedback mechanisms (such as criteria sheets and annotations on student scripts), to those who preferred a different approach that de-emphasised the role of assessor feedback, and encouraged critical self-reflection and ownership of the learning process in order to promote the development of tacit assessment knowledge. The conclusions are that there is no one feedback mechanism that works best for all students, and that feedback processes are most effective when customised to individual students.

Improving the quality of assessment by using a community of practice to explore the optimal construction of assessment rubrics

Abstract A focus on quality assurance of assessment processes in tertiary education within Australia and throughout the world has resulted in a changing landscape of assessment types and grading schemes over the last decade. The use of criteria and standards-based assessment systems are now very commonplace in tertiary education. There are a variety of models now used, but typically they include a criteria sheet and a levelled rubric. An alternative to the traditional matrix-style rubric is the Continua Model of a Guide to Making Judgments (GTMJ). In this paper, we analyse available assessment models and their capacity to guide the marking, grading and moderation of student assessment tasks. We specifically address standards descriptors used to identify the quality expected at each standard. The research was undertaken through a community of practice within the School of Education at a tertiary institution where the collective goal of enhancing assessment grading tools to improve student outcomes was approached through a process of peer review. In our results section, we analyse the efficacy of an internal peer-review model as part of a community of practice and the professional learning about grading tools that occurs.

Peer review of teaching (PRoT) in higher education – a practitioner’s reflection

Abstract Peer review of teaching (PRoT) is recommended to both develop and assure the quality of teaching practices in Higher Education. An institutional implementation of a peer review process can be viewed as a genuine desire to improve teaching quality or as an instrument of accountability and performativity. There are many approaches to the peer review of teaching operating. This article documents the impact, advantages and disadvantages of direct participation in three peer review of teaching processes.

Attracting Preservice Teachers to Remote Locations

Teaching in rural/remote regions poses many challenges to teachers and is identified as a priority research area by the state government. Despite initiatives by the Queensland state government and university providers to solve the issue through various incentives designed to attract teachers, the problem remains significant. This research describes and analyses the impact of a regional university initiative to attract teachers to rural and remote locations in Queensland. The data was gathered through analysis of responses from preservice teachers completing education degrees at a regional university in Queensland. The data revealed that the opportunity to experience rural and remote schools and communities resulted in positive attitudinal changes towards applying for rural and remote school placements upon graduation. The results are significant and suggest that universities have a major role to play in work force planning for graduate teachers.

Are Assessment Exemplars Perceived to Support Self-Regulated Learning in Teacher Education?

Assessment exemplars are a tool to guide students to what is valued by assessors in a specific assessment task, in short, as examples which illustrate, typically, dimensions of quality. Often high quality exemplars are provided. We were interested in researching the perceived efficacy and impact of a variety of assessment exemplars, ranging from low to high quality, in teacher education courses at a regional university. We surveyed 72 students and found that students accessed exemplars regularly and found them useful in providing detailed guidance that went beyond the descriptions of assessment tasks found in course outlines and assessment rubrics. They valued various types of exemplars, a range of quality, and the inclusion of annotated and un-annotated versions of exemplars.

Evaluating the efficacy of Masters coursework criteria sheets using a 10 question framework

Abstract This paper builds on an earlier study that developed a 10 question framework for improving the quality of criteria sheets (also known as rubrics) used in Master of Education programmes. To test that framework 15 rubrics were independently evaluated by seven teachers using the above mentioned framework. Raw data from the evaluations were collated and coded and then further analysed in three sequential, substantive conversation sessions, in order to investigate the inter-connectedness of three assessment concepts, namely, grading, moderation and feedback. The study revealed that the key to criteria sheet effectiveness is the explicitness of the standards descriptors. The research also identified three broad questions that can help teachers evaluate the quality of their criteria sheets. These questions focus on the clarity of the task description and ways of improving the criteria and standards by which student responses are to be judged. The revised questions provide an effective framework for assuring the quality of these three aspects of assessment within units (also known as courses) in postgraduate programmes.

Assuring the quality of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment across satellite campuses

Abstract Assuring the quality of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment is an increasingly significant issue in higher education. This article explores the potential benefit of ‘consensus planning’, an ongoing curriculum development, maintenance and monitoring strategy, to achieve consistency of academic standards for student learning and assessment across multiple campuses. This article specifically reports on a ‘consensus planning’ audit undertaken within the School of Education at a regional university in Queensland that engaged full-time academic staff across two campuses. Results suggest that the success of consensus planning is contingent on the personalities of academics; attitudes towards reaching consensus and top-down policy measures; and geographical proximity of the campuses. To ameliorate some of the barriers to consensus planning it is recommended that higher education institutions build the capacity of academics, supporting them to create curriculum where ‘equivalence’ is as accepted as ‘sameness’, and where debate and bottom-up practice and policy recommendation is valued.

Preparing preservice teachers to be data literate: a Queensland case study

ABSTRACT Data driven pedagogy has been introduced into Australian schools over the last decade to improve student learning outcomes, but are teacher educators preparing preservice teachers to be data literate? We used a survey to investigate ready-to-graduate preservice teachers’ beliefs regarding their knowledge and skills in data literacy. Before entering a course on data literacy their belief responses indicated that they had basic data interpretation knowledge, but they were unsure of how to translate that knowledge into the classroom to improve student outcomes. The survey was administered again after a data literacy course, which included a five-week supervised professional experience task of observing data being used in schools to drive pedagogy. The post-course survey responses showed students increased confidence in their ability to interpret and use data, suggesting that a data literacy course linked to the professional experience task improves teachers’ sense of preparedness to use data in the classroom. Keywords: Data literacy; professional learning.