Developing criteria to assess graduate attributes in students' work for their disciplines

Authors

  • Kate Chanock La Trobe University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.v0i6.197

Keywords:

graduate attributes, generic skills, integrated, assessment, criteria, standards

Abstract

After two decades, efforts to integrate the development and assessment of ââ¬Ëgraduate attributesââ¬â¢ into discipline curricula remain slow, uneven, and fraught with difficulties.à Scholars have identified political, cultural and practical reasons for academicsââ¬â¢ resistance to this requirement, including ââ¬Ëlack of ownership and shared understanding of how to teach and assess graduate attributesââ¬â¢ (Radloff et al., 2008). Along with Barrie (2007) and de la Harpe and David (2010), Radloff et al. (2008) have argued that ââ¬Ëacademic staff beliefs are critical and fundamental to any attempts at developing studentsââ¬â¢ graduate attributesââ¬â¢.

This article suggests that, rather than trying to change these beliefs via top-down mandates to adopt institutional attributes, it may make sense instead to start from academicsââ¬â¢ beliefs and see what attributes they suggest are actually integral to their cultures of enquiry. I reflect on such a process in the context of developing criteria and standards for assessing graduate ââ¬Ëcapabilitiesââ¬â¢ across the three years of a BA degree, in which a Faculty working party tried to tease out what we meant by ââ¬Ëgood writingââ¬â¢ into easily applicable criteria with authentic meaning(s) across our varied disciplines.

Author Biography

Kate Chanock, La Trobe University

Biographical note: Associate Professor Kate Chanock works in the Academic Language and Learning Unit of La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, with responsibility for supporting the work of students and staff in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

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Published

09-12-2013

How to Cite

Chanock, K. (2013) “Developing criteria to assess graduate attributes in students’ work for their disciplines”, Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, (6). doi: 10.47408/jldhe.v0i6.197.

Issue

No. 6 (2013)

Section

Papers

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