Embedding Innovative Assessment Practices to Develop Critical Appraisal Skills in a Third Year Social Science Unit

There is a growing imperative in tertiary education (nationally and internationally) to enable lifelong learning as a graduate outcome (Bologna Process, 2010: Boud & Falchikov, 2006; Oliver, 2011). At ECU our new undergraduate curriculum framework titled Curriculum 2012: enabling the learning journey promotes lifelong learning and assessment for learning. Lifelong learning implies developing both the capacity to learn and the ability to direct learning. In order to successfully direct their own learning beyond university students need to be able to identify the standard of performance to which they should aspire as a result of that learning, accurately locate where they are in relation to the standard, and then develop pathways to bridge the gap. In other words they need to engage in formative assessment. This paper reveals how one lecturer introduced innovative practices in teaching and assessment in order to enhance her students’ ability to direct their own learning, to increase the value students place on their feedback, to ensure their active engagement with feedback, and ultimately to develop students’ ability to calibrate their own judgement about their learning. The innovation was designed to increase student understanding of what constitutes academic rigour within the discipline as well as the standards required for success in real world endeavours. Australian Journal of Teacher Education Vol 4, November 2012 51 Embedding Innovative Assessment Practices to Develop Critical Appraisal Skills in a Third Year Social Science Unit Susan Teather s.teather@ecu.edu. au Catherine Moore c.moore@ecu.edu. au Abstract: There is a growing imperative in tertiary education (nationally and internationally) to enable lifelong learning as a graduate outcome (Bologna Process, 2010: Boud & Falchikov, 2006; Oliver, 2011). At ECU our new undergraduate curriculum framework titled Curriculum 2012: enabling the learning journey promotes lifelong learning and assessment for learning. Lifelong learning implies developing both the capacity to learn and the ability to direct learning. In order to successfully direct their own learning beyond university students need to be able to identify the standard of performance to which they should aspire as a result of that learning, accurately locate where they are in relation to the standard, and then develop pathways to bridge the gap. In other words they need to engage in formative assessment. This paper reveals how one lecturer introduced innovative practices in teaching and assessment in order to enhance her students’ ability to direct their own learning, to increase the value students place on their feedback, to ensure their active engagement with feedback, and ultimately to develop students’ ability to calibrate their own judgement about their learning. The innovation was designed to increase student understanding of what constitutes academic rigour within the discipline as well as the standards required for success in real world endeavours. There is a growing imperative in tertiary education (nationally and internationally) to enable lifelong learning as a graduate outcome (Bologna Process, 2010: Boud & Falchikov, 2006; Oliver, 2011). At ECU our new undergraduate curriculum framework titled Curriculum 2012: enabling the learning journey promotes lifelong learning and assessment for learning. Lifelong learning implies developing both the capacity to learn and the ability to direct learning. In order to successfully direct their own learning beyond university students need to be able to identify the standard of performance to which they should aspire as a result of that learning, accurately locate where they are in relation to the standard, and then develop pathways to bridge the gap. In other words they need to engage in formative assessment. This paper reveals how one lecturer introduced innovative practices in teaching and assessment in order to enhance her students’ ability to direct their own learning, to increase the value students place on their feedback, to ensure their active engagement with feedback, and ultimately to develop students’ ability to calibrate their own judgement about their learning. The innovation was designed to increase student understanding of what constitutes academic rigour within the discipline as well as the standards required for success in real world endeavours.