Assessment
COMPASS directions: Leading the integration of a competency based assessment tool in speech pathology learning and teaching
The purpose of this project was to build the capacity of speech pathology academic and clinical education leaders to integrate COMPASS™, a newly developed competency based assessment tool, within their learning, teaching and assessment practices across curriculum. The specific aims of the project were:
- To enhance learning and teaching by leading and supporting the integration of COMPASS™ within the curricula of speech pathology professional education programs nationally.
- To build the capacity of speech pathology leaders to use COMPASS™ to enhance learning and teaching for the development of clinical competence in the discipline.
- To build the leadership capacity of academic and clinical speech pathology educators to develop the research base for future enhancement of learning and teaching.
In summary, the results of the evaluation of the outcomes of the project were that there was evidence at all levels of leadership (professional, academic, clinical, and student) that the Leadership project had achieved its aim of effectively integrating the newly developed tool, COMPASS™, within learning, teaching and assessment practices. Ongoing support for University clinical education coordinators in their use of the tool for benchmarking and research purposes is planned through a range of strategies. Further support for both clinical educators and students is recommended to continue to develop their skills in using the new assessment tool.
Enhancing the assessment of learning in Australian Higher Education: Biological Sciences
The project, Enhancing assessment in the biological sciences, was funded by the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education to develop and strategically disseminate resources designed to enhance the assessment of learning in the biological sciences in Australian universities. The project team conducted fieldwork in eight Australian universities to consult academics, students, recent graduates and employers who work in the biological sciences about: assessment issues; current approaches to assessment; and successful assessment practice. The project team then consulted the wider disciplinary community in the biological sciences in Australian higher education about assessment practices through roundtable discussions and national seminars. They used advice from this community and their own collective experience in Australian higher education to develop a website for sharing assessment resources, www.bioassess.edu.au.
Online Assessment Feedback as an Instument of Reflective Learning Practice in Human Biology
The first aim of this project was to create brief, pertinent, explanatory feedback comments for immediate automatic delivery in online assessments in first year Human Biology. The second was, as an extension of the feedback and to promote active engagement with it, to create a very short, contextualized online reflective practice instrument to be administered in association with each piece of assessment. The project was realized over three phases. The first consisted of a survey of student attributes and understanding of feedback. The second consisted of an analysis of patterns of error in past assessments, construction of a set of operational guidelines and the writing of appropriate feedback comments for fifteen topics in Human Biology. The third consisted of the evaluation of the appeal of the feedback-enriched assessments to students and analysis of summative assessment results for associated benefits to learning. Adjustments were made in the light of feedback and analysis of patterns of use after trial implementation of the whole cycle in relation to single topics at each of three Western Australian universities before implementation was extended to other topics. The approach used in this project is amenable to implementation in other first year courses. The feedback already written has the potential for application to other first year Biology and Human Biology courses.
The PHENC Project: Interactive Video Analysis to Develop Learning and Assessment of University Students' Practical and Communication Skills, Final Report; PHENC: Interactive video analysis to develop learning and assessment of university students’ practice.
The purpose of this project was to evaluate the usefulness of a video analysis software program as a teaching and/or assessment tool for practical and professional skills in five different undergraduate programs. Barnett’s (1989) model of ‘reflective thought through action’ highlights the importance of reflective observation of an event in order to plan and implement positive behavioural changes. Participants in this project included academics (n = 6) and students (n = 306) enrolled in first semester units requiring the learning and assessment of practical skills from Physiotherapy, Health and Physical Education, Education, Nursing and Counselling degrees (hence the project acronym: PHENC). Lecturers for each unit implemented the video analysis software in a way best suited to their needs. In most cases, experimental and control groups were formed based on unit tutorial groups. The experimental group had the opportunity to use the software to support their learning of the practical skill of interest. For example, Health and Physical Education students were videoed while delivering a ten‐minute teaching episode, or the Nursing students were videoed while testing blood sugar levels or applying dry dressings.