Abstract
Higher education is governed by national quality standards with increasing expectations that teaching staff engage in quality assurance processes, including Assurance of Learning (AoL). AoL recommends a teaching team approach to measure student learning outcomes against specific course goals. Appropriate skills and allocated time are essential to support staff to ensure the curriculum is designed to comprehensively address student learning and develop knowledge, skills and desired graduate capabilities. The 360 Quality Pursuit (360QP) approach to AoL is underpinned by a social constructivist approach to knowledge development, designed by a University of Tasmania Community of Practice that evolved into an interinstitutional action research team. 360QP is a six-segment, semi-formal quality enhancement program that can be applied to any educational activity or level of organisation (e.g. unit, course or college). Using a regulatory compliance lens for AoL can adversely constrain the focus of professional development (PD) and limit staff engagement. This paper combines the findings from our scoping review with data collected from five national workshops. Workshop participants were invited to explore the 360QP segments, share case studies and offer their top PD wish list items. This culminated in the identification of 15 conditions that academics believe are required to support AoL.
Highlights
The higher education sector is under scrutiny from government, industry, and students to ensure a quality product (Billot, 2010; Botham, 2018a, 2018b; Goldingay et al, 2012; Shaw, 2018)
This research is founded on a social constructivist approach to knowledge development (Adams, 2006; Prawat, 1996), designed by a University of Tasmania (UTAS) Community of Practice that later evolved into an inter-institutional action research team
This paper describes how a scoping review, in conjunction with discussion and reflection between the members of a Community of Practice (CoP) and exploration with educators in action workshops, has informed 360 Quality Pursuit (360QP)’s philosophical stance and evolution
Summary
The higher education sector is under scrutiny from government, industry, and students to ensure a quality product (Billot, 2010; Botham, 2018a, 2018b; Goldingay et al, 2012; Shaw, 2018). Assurance of Learning (AoL) provides one of many useful methods for determining if students are receiving a quality, fit for purpose product. AoL is described as the process by which student learning outcomes are measured against specific course goals (Hall & Kro, 2006). In higher education, the term quality enhancement is used in preference to the regulatoryoriented quality assurance. The definition of quality enhancement, taken from Macquarie University's Quality Enhancement Framework Policy, states that quality enhancement is “a systematic, future-directed, continuous cycle of goal setting, planning, managing and reviewing, within an appropriate governance framework... Most academics would like to spend more time focused on their teaching, supporting AoL and quality enhancement strategies, but are often constrained by their workload, time pressures, skills, research commitments, and the weighting of their research performance indicators (Ball & Crawford, 2020; Billot, 2010; Martin‐Sardesai et al, 2017; Nijhuis & Collis, 2005)
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