Reflections on Designing and Implementing Assessment for the Development of Graduate Attributes

Nin (Georgiana) Kirkham

The research project that I undertook as part of the Internship for 2004 was a reflective analysis of my involvement in the design and implementation of a new set of assessments in a cross-disciplinary unit called Environmental Law and Policy.

I drew on Periera's understanding and implementation of the concept of reflective practice, to inform a partial process of action research – in this case action research focused on the design and implementation of assessment. I wanted to investigate whether the assessment practices we were employing reflected the standards espoused in the current academic literature. The action research question ‘how effective is this assessment structure?’ – was examined in the context of two different critical ‘frames’. The assessment structure was evaluated, firstly, in terms of whether it exemplified aspects of best practice and, secondly, in terms of whether it promoted the development of graduate attributes (or generic graduate skills).

Research into assessment tells us that ‘there is often a gap between what we require of students in assessment tasks and what occurs in the world of work, whether it be in the public sector, commerce or industry, or academia’ (Boud 1990). In a unit that is a core unit for two primarily vocational courses (Natural Resource Management and Environmental Science), the principal concern was to design assessment activities that would equip the students with the sorts of skills that would be needed in the kinds of workplaces in which they might find themselves on graduating. The resultant assessment design was two in-class assessments per student, to represent the two related halves of the course, in addition to a final exam. The first assessment was to be an in-class debate and the second, a five minute ministerial-style briefing on an environmental issue of the students’ choice, to be delivered to the tutorial class. Class discussion would follow both. Each task would be assessed on both the presentation and a short written summary revised in the light of the class discussion. The briefing, and the process it involved (i.e. condensing a large amount of information into a short summary and highlighting the important aspects) was a skill that many graduates may need in the workplace. In fact, the briefing task was modelled on the likely experience of a new graduate working in a government department. Getting the students to do both a debate and a briefing was intended to develop the students’ ability to both argue for a certain position and to analyse issues in a balanced fashion. The debate gave the students the opportunity to present a one-sided or biased view on a topic; that is, to argue for a position. The briefing, on the other hand, was intended to be a balanced analysis of the issues pertaining to a certain environmental problem. Both tasks were designed to give the students a chance to practise and perfect their public speaking skills, in front of a sympathetic audience comprised of their peers.

On the student feedback forms I included a question which asked the students whether they thought the assessment helped them acquire any skills that would be of use in the workplace, and if so, what skills. 63% of students said ‘Yes’, 27% did not respond and 9% said ‘No’. Of the positive responses, 86% of students named oral communication, presentation or public speaking skills. These results support the claim that the assessment did, in fact, help the students to develop generic skills that will be useful in their future workplaces. Finally, the assessment tasks were examined and evaluated as to whether they encouraged the development of any of the generic graduate skills that the University has highlighted.

References

• Boud, D. (1990). Assessment and the Promotion of Academic Values. Studies in Higher Education, 15:1, p. 101.