The robust evaluation of student equity initiatives is now an expected activity in Australian universities. This paper reports on the development of Swinburne's Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program (HEPPP) Evaluation Framework in which the project team adopted a student-centred design approach. The needs of Aboriginal and Torres…

Empowering students with choice when it comes to assessment is shown to have a positive impact on student satisfaction and success, with previous studies finding a more flexible approach to assessment can promote engagement and performance. However, very little is known about why students choose certain types of assessment. Building on previous…

Assessment is a key learning tool to drive deep and sustained learning and develop lifelong learning skills. Individually, continuous assessments and adaptive assessments have demonstrated potential to positively impact learning. An opportunity to combine continuous and adaptive assessment to enhance learning potential within a physiotherapy…

Assessment in higher education requires a high level of accountability and responsibility and is a major influence on student learning but can be a source of stress for staff and students. This project aimed to evaluate first-year students' conceptions of assessment in biomedical science and nursing to determine positive or negative trends and how…

Responding to calls for partnership among students and teachers in feedback and assessment, this study explores the question: "What do students and teaching staff talk about when they talk together about feedback and assessment?" We used reflexive thematic analysis to interpret 15 hours of conversation involving 14 students and 22 staff…

The analysis of exemplars of different quality is a potentially powerful tool in enabling students to understand assessment expectations and appreciate academic standards. Through a systematic review methodology, this paper synthesises exemplar-based research designs, exemplar implementation and the educational effects of exemplars. The review of…

The University English Centres of Australia (UECA) 'Assessment Symposium: Assessment Practice in a Changing World' at Southern Cross University in October 2022 highlighted the growing interest in integrated assessment in Australian university direct entry programs (DEPs) for English as Additional Language (EAL) students. In keynote presentations,…

Student agency in assessment is evident when students make assessment choices, and their voices inform decisions. This paper presents an in-depth case study of a high performing school that sought student voice to reform its assessment culture to enhance student agency. Secondary students in an Australian school were invited to draw a visual…

This study explored perceptions and practices around authentic assessment within a diverse, science-based school at an Australian University. We were motivated to inquire into authentic assessment through a work-readiness lens, with the goal of embedding the assessment of skills that are transferable across a range of STEM roles and graduate roles…

This study argues for the importance of using the different evidence to assess and evaluate a key graduate skill -- collaboration. To do so, it investigates the experience of 356 first-year students in a blended course design and measures their collaborative patterns. Combining research methodologies from student approaches to learning and social…

Assessment is a key driver for engagement and a widely criticised aspect of the tertiary student experience. In regard to assessment, in particular, feedback, rubrics and peer review have been major focuses for researchers in recent years. This research utilised an innovative peer review process in a triad structure to evaluate and improve…

Creativity is an important twenty-first century skill often overlooked in higher education curricula, particularly in the sciences. Students need opportunities to practice and demonstrate their creativity and gain an awareness of the importance of such skills to enhance their graduate capabilities. One way is to embed creativity into course…

University administered Student Evaluation of Teaching surveys, while used primarily by educators and their managers to review and improve the quality of courses and teaching, can also be used by universities' marketing campaigns and websites as a means of stressing their institution's student friendliness and responsiveness to students' needs.…

Despite the vast body of research surrounding collaborative group work (CGW) and its potential to enhance learning and engagement, questions persist in relation to the effectiveness of CGW initiatives in the development of teamwork skills amongst students in higher education. Prior studies have tended to measure the effectiveness of teamwork and…

In this article, we look at three teacher education programs across three countries--Australia, Bhutan, and Canada--to examine how reflection is cultivated in pre-service teachers (also referred to as teacher candidates) through a pedagogy of self-assessment. We begin from the premise that a cornerstone of effective teaching is the capacity of an…