An assessment for learning approach is foundational for student learning. The necessity to shift teaching and learning online as a response to COVID-19 has propelled digital assessment into the mainstream within higher education institutions. User experience is a common indicator of effectiveness of technologically enhanced initiatives; however,…

Following increasing criticism of the variability in graduate teachers' readiness to enter the profession, the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) introduced a program accreditation requirement that all initial teacher education (ITE) providers must implement a Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA) in the final year of…

Teaching performance assessments (TPA) are a trending feature of initial teacher education. Founded in the United States of America, TPAs have emerged in the Australian context as a capstone assessment of preservice teacher competence. However, the inclusion of the TPA in initial teacher education places additional pressure on tertiary…

Australia has recently implemented Teaching Performance Assessments (TPAs) as a national accreditation requirement to assess final year preservice teachers' classroom readiness. In 2019, an Australian university developed a TPA to meet this requirement, comprising three written components and one oral component. This exploratory study investigated…

The rising use of technology in classrooms has also brought with it a concomitant wave of computer-based assessments. The argument for computer-based testing is often framed in terms of efficiency and data management: computer-based tests facilitate more efficient processing of test data and the rate at which feedback can be leveraged for student…

Educational change in higher education is challenging and complex, requiring engagement with a multitude of perspectives and contextual factors. In this paper, we present a case study based on our experiences of enacting a fundamental educational change in a medical program; namely, the steps taken in the transition to programmatic assessment.…

This research examines the consequences of a mandatory assessment for pre-service teachers in Australia that is completed during their final teaching placement. The Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA) is an analysis of practice that incorporates video of teaching episodes, observation feedback, and analysis of pupils' work samples.…

Research approaches to better engage student learning regarding the determinants of health are somewhat limited. The present study highlights the evolution of an authentic fieldwork assessment and the strategies nursing students used as they navigated the assessment for learning activity outside the classroom, and how these impacted student's…

Examiners' judgements play a critical role in competency-based assessments such as objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs). The standardised nature of OSCEs and their alignment with regulatory accountability assure their wide use as high-stakes assessment in medical education. Research into examiner behaviours has predominantly explored…

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…

There is ongoing interest in developing rigorous and accurate assessment methods in higher education, particularly in the use of assessment rubrics and in providing more useful feedback to students rather than a simple grade. However, there has been little used of reliable assessment rubrics that provide feedback to individual students on their…

This article takes the introduction of a compulsory rubric for assessment across all units taught in an arts and education faculty as an opportunity for the identification and discussion of competing discourses around this process. We identify five discourses that complicate those of quality and efficiency in relation to rubrics: imperatives for…

This paper addresses a major reform driven by the Australian Government requiring initial teacher education providers to implement a validated final year teaching performance assessment, commencing 2019. It is in this context of introducing a new high-stakes, culminating assessment of beginning teacher competence that the concept of assessment…

Authentic assessment has theorised benefits for student outcomes in higher education. More needs to be done, however, to empirically test relationships between the critical elements of authenticity and student outcomes, particularly in online learning environments. In this paper we examine whether an online simulation-based learning and assessment…

Work-integrated learning (WIL) is becoming increasingly important in university education and research demonstrates work experience increases graduate employability. At the University of Newcastle, WIL is a critical component in the journalism major offered in the Communication program and one strategy to increase employability is to embed…