Developing Leadership Capacity for Effective Assessment Practices

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Developing Leadership Capacity for Effective
Assessment Practices

• Stephen J. Marshall, PhD
• Director
• Institute for Higher Education Research and
  Development
• Australian Centre for Educational Studies
• Macquarie University

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Developing leadership in assessment How?

• Traditional Training and Development Approach
• Seminars and/or short courses designed and
  delivered by experts around topics deemed to be
  of critical importance to practitioners to assist
  them to develop their knowledge, skills and
  capabilities focus on developing the individual
• Reflective Practice Approach
• May include seminars and/or short courses but
  also personal journaling, mentoring and the like
  to support individuals to reflect upon their
  current practices as leaders of assessment, to
  identify their strengths and weaknesses, and to
  develop and implement plans to improve these
  practices
• Critical Action Learning Approach
• Collaborative, iterative process whereby
  individuals work together to critically reflect
  upon current practices, to identify issues, to
  take deliberate action to address these issues
  and overcome the status quo, to test the
  knowledge and theory underpinning the action, and
  to evaluate the resulting changes through further
  cycles of action and reflection.

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Advantages Disadvantages
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Preferred Approach Critical Action Learning
(CAL)

• Development process is multi-focal (focuses on
  the development of individuals, curriculum,
  teaching and learning practices, organisational
  contexts)
• Development process integrated into everyday
  practice
• Development process recognises the need to
  address
• the subjective, co-constructed nature of human
  understanding and behaviour
• the cultural, political and other influences that
  shape and constrain understanding and practice
• Development process coherent with best practice
  approach to quality assurance and improvement a
  key responsibility of all leaders and managers

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A Framework for Quality Assurance and Improvement
Inputs
Processes
Outputs
Improvement Strategies
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Where to from here?

• The purpose of todays seminar is to provide you
  with the opportunity to
• reflect on your current understandings of, and
  practices in relation to
• Assessment
• Leadership
• compare these with some of the constructs and
  practices found in the literature
• to collectively develop some principles that can
  be used to guide the development of effective
  leadership and assessment practice
• In light of the above, to
• identify some of the current issues associated
  with existing practices in leadership of
  assessment at MQ
• develop priorities and plans for change to
  address these issues and improve current practices

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Assessment

• Assessment processes are integral to curricula
  and good teaching and learning
• Assessment processes can be for (formative) or of
  (summative) student learning
• Assessment processes can be
• Norm referenced
• Criterion referenced
• Standards based
• Assessment decisions (regardless of approach) are
  highly subjective
• Assessment processes are integral to effective
  program, unit and teaching evaluations

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Leadership

• There is no single, widely adopted definition of
  leadership
• The notions of leadership and management are
  often conflated
• Leadership is often understood to
• result in CHANGE
• involve
• establishing a direction for change or
  development
• aligning key stakeholders with the change or
  improvement
• working to assist stakeholders to remain
  motivated and inspired to realise the change or
  development
• Management is often understood to
• result in predictability and order
• involve
• planning and budgeting for change
• organising and staffing to effect change
• monitoring progress towards desired outcomes and
  taking corrective action if problems arise.

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Leadership
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Developing Leadership in Assessment Foci for
development?

• Individuals?
• Knowledge, skill, abilities in leadership and/or
  assessment
• Curriculum processes?
• Goals, learning objectives, instructional
  strategies, assessment tasks, grading and
  feedback strategies
• Organisational context?
• Policy and procedural frameworks for assessment,
  normative beliefs and practices associated with
  assessment
• All of the above?

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Current Issues in Leadership of Assessment

• Based on your experience, what are the critical
  issues that need to be addressed
• at the University level
• at the Division level
• at the Department / program unit levels
• at the Individual level
• to improve the quality and effectiveness of
  assessment practices within the universitys
  academic programs?
• Why are these issues critical?
• What would be the likely consequences of not
  attending to these issues?

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Strategies for Change

• Based upon your understanding and experience of
  the issues identified, what strategies might be
  employed
• at the University level
• at the Division level
• at the Department / program unit levels
• at the Individual level
• to address these issues?
• What principles of assessment and/or leadership
  should inform and/or underpin these strategies?
• As a leader of assessment in the University, what
  role might/should you play in developing and
  implementing strategies to address these issues?