Research Features

Jane Stewart

Teaching Matters - Innovative Strategies for Assessment

Jane Stewart, a principal academic staff member at Wintec since 2005, was brought in as a research member on a team tasked with investigating ways in which to enhance the effectiveness of tertiary teaching and learning through assessment. The Ministry of Education (MoE) contracted Wintec to complete this project for the Teaching Matters Forum over one year.

The study documents innovative and effective assessment strategies of 39 tertiary teachers from three different New Zealand tertiary education sectors. Ten teachers were interviewed from the three sectors - University, Institutes of Technology and Polytechnic (ITP) and Private Training Establishments (PTE). An additional group of nine tertiary teachers who identified as Māori or Pasifika from the ITP sector were also interviewed. The data was gathered in one to two hour audio taped interviews.

Case studies were completed for each sector and major changes and trends were identified.

"We were interested in providing specific examples that would be useful to fellow teachers," Jane said.

In the University sector, several teachers were shifting away from traditional assessments such as tests, essays and exams, with some giving greater recognition to oral communication and making tasks more authentic and relevant to the students' lives.

The most notable trend identified in the ITP sector was a more integrated approach to assessment, where it is an essential part of the teaching and learning process.

In the PTE sector, several teachers mentioned they were using strategies to overcome perceived negative aspects of unit standards assessment.

Jane found that each sector had their own way of changing the face of assessment in their particular field. "We found that teachers tended to informally adapt their ways within a formal framework and eventually the framework changed as a result of changes in practice," she said.

During a workshop held to develop appropriate dissemination strategies to fit the requirements of the different institutional contexts, the project team identified the need for further research. In their report to the MoE, they recommended that a whole new project be undertaken to investigate effective methods of dissemination of assessment practices for tertiary teachers to be implemented in the future.