Enhancing the Effectiveness of Tertiary Teaching and Learning through Assessment

The project began in November 2006 to investigate innovative and effective assessment strategies employed in a range of New Zealand tertiary education organisations. The project's purpose was to focus on practices that teachers use to support effective teaching and learning.

Website materials

This website contains materials from the research project "Enhancing the Effectiveness of Tertiary Teaching and Learning through Assessment". These materials will be useful for researchers and teachers who are interested in assessment. It is hoped that in future, these materials will be further developed into a valuable professional development resource for tertiary teachers.

If you have questions or an interest in the project or the website please contact researchers.

The project overview

The project began in November, 2006 to investigate innovative and effective assessment strategies employed in a range of New Zealand tertiary education organisations (TEOs). The project purpose was to focus on practices that teachers use to support effective teaching and learning.

Rather than trying to address a broad range of teaching practices, the project sought to provide more in-depth information on best practice in one area only, that of enhancing teaching and learning through assessment. It aimed to do this by identifying a range of case studies of innovative assessment practices across the New Zealand tertiary sector. Research (Black and Wiliam, 1998) suggests that teachers find ‘living examples of implementation' useful in changing their practice. This point led us to adopt a case study approach to the project and to present each case study as a narrative.

Project objectives and methodologies

The objectives of the project were to:

Identify and document innovative assessment strategies
Develop, implement and document good practices aimed at disseminating the results of (1.)
Provide recommendations on how to further develop and assist staff in New Zealand TEOs to incorporate innovative assessment strategies into their teaching

The project included the following methodologies:

Initial confirmation of project scope and problem statement through consultation with the Ministry of Education
A brief review of relevant literature
Individual interviews with 10 academic staff members in each of 4 TEOs
Analysis of the 40 case studies
A systematic approach to actively disseminating the results of the study

The research participants

Four types of Tertiary Education Organisation (TEO) were invited to take part in the project: The University of Waikato, Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec), a range of private training establishments (PTEs), and Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. The first three organisations agreed to take part in the project while Te Wānanga o Aotearoa declined.

more...

The researchers, their roles, plus links

Details of project team...

The Funding - Wintec, the Ministry of Education, and Ako Aotearoa

The project was funded in November 2006 by the New Zealand Ministry of Education and contracted to Wintec (Waikato Institute of Technology) as part of the Teaching Matters Forum. "The Teaching Matters Forum is working to enhance the effectiveness of tertiary teaching and learning in New Zealand with the aim of achieving better educational outcomes for learners." The projects "focus on gathering examples of good practice, identifying the critical success factors and developing practicable action-oriented suggestions for enhancing effective teaching and learning practices" (Retrieved October 1, 2007 from http://cms.steo.govt.nz/)

Ako Aotearoa, New Zealand’s National Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence, agreed to host a website of the results. "Ako Aotearoa is a national centre dedicated to assisting New Zealand tertiary education organisations and educators to deliver the best possible outcomes for students" (Retrieved October 1, 2007 from http://akoaotearoa.ac.nz/)