Smarter Learning: Improving student

engagement and outcomes

Professor Hamish Coateshamishc@unimelb.edu.au

Growing momentu

m

Case study large-scale

surveysGeneralisable

assessment model

Planning consideratio

ns

What is the best university in the the country?

How do you know?

Plan

Act

Evaluate

Improve

Hunch

95%

75%

Shaping rationales

Rapid increases in scale

Ensuring quality outcomes

New robotic teaching

Institutional competitive positioning

Blended forms of learning

Faster, better, cheaper management

New generation faculty

Institutional competitive positioning

Simplistic rankings constraining growth

Need for multidimensional perspectives

Cost and pricing pressures

Hybrid business models and providersDiversification and stratification

Pervasive internationalisation

Big data analytic opportunities

Nuanced quality parameters

Learner expectations and segments

Little data

UniversalElite Mass

Effectiveness data

Happiness data

Institution inputs

Teaching inputs and processes

Student processes

and outcomes

Growing momentu

m

Case study large-scale

surveysGeneralisable

assessment model

Planning consideratio

ns

Quality and productivity frontiers

As getting-in gets easier, getting-out gets harder (or it should)

Engineering an engaged experience

Assessing learning outcomes

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Academic Challenge Active Learning Student and Staff Interactions

Enriching Educational Experiences

Supportive Learning Environment

Scor

e

Australian University First year

Australian University Later year

New Zealand University First year

New Zealand University Later year

Canadian University First year

Canadian University Later year

United States University First year

United States University Later year

0102030405060708090

100

50 150 250 350 450 550 650 750 850 950

Stud

ents

(cum

ulat

ive p

er ce

nt)

Generic Skills Score

This institution Mean of all institutions All institutions

Growing momentu

m

Case study large-scale

surveysGeneralisable

assessment model

Planning consideratio

ns

Stage 1: Establish assessment partnerships

Stage 2: Define and produce assessment specifications and tasks

Stage 3: Develop shared processes

Stage 4: Reporting and benchmarking

Assessment collaborations

Stage 1: What sort of partnerships can you establish, and with who?

Stage 2: What work is required to define learning outcomes, and collaborate on the production of assessment tasks?

Using this model to improve

assessment?

Best single change to make?

What’s required to make change work?

Stage 3: How might any assessment processes be shared?

Stage 4: What improvements could be made to reporting? What benchmarking options are available?

Administer items

Build frameworks

Find colleagues

Don’t wait

Analyse and report

Share definitions

Review and improve

Benchmark and interpret

Capture/produce itemsDoctors

EconomistsCivil/mechanical engineers

Biomedical scientists

“Generic skills”

Historians?Psychologists

?

Accountants? IT?

Engagement

Growing momentu

m

Case study large-scale

surveysGeneralisable

assessment model

Planning consideratio

ns

Who owns data?

International?

Transparent?

Relevance?

Verifiability?

Population?Validity?

Meaningful reports?

Reliability?

Quality assured?

Implementation?

Consequences?

Governance, funding and ownershipLeadership, management and advisory architectures

Competitive relativities for institutions and ‘research’

Building institutional and professional capacity

System, institution, faculty, student and stakeholder engagement

Varying participation rationales and expectations

(Technical and operational matters)

Imposed, collaborative or bottom-up model/ethos

Generalisability and contextuality

Monitoring, improvement or enhancement rationales

Smarter Learning: Improving student

engagement and outcomes

Professor Hamish Coateshamishc@unimelb.edu.au