Authentic Assessment as a Change Catalyst in Curriculum Development. In: The impact of accredited professional development in learning and teaching on assessment in Irish HE.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION TO CHAPTER: My early experience as educational developer within an institution was that, although the role was welcomed and applauded, there was little appetite at school and faculty level to engage with initiatives. Professional development within the context of teaching in higher education was not widely accepted or valued by the lecturer on the ground. Their emphasis was on being discipline current and well prepared for teaching. Support initiatives that were well-received tended to be light-touch and more directed at social events with dissemination of college-wide information. Events that were more focused on professional development were not well attended, despite the fact that the lecturers themselves informed and requested the sessions. After two years of trying to hit the right note for lecturers we eventually asked them why the initiatives being organized were not attended. Their insight was simple. They wanted a value added take-away and recognition. So began the Special Purpose Award in Training and Education that was validated in 2008. The title was deliberate by way of building capacity and engagement as many of our educators are professionals within their own industry and as such found accreditation within the training space as attractive as education. The first decade of this century was a time of flux for curriculum development in higher education and so professional development to support the paradigm shift was of key importance. Modularization, constructive alignment and learning outcomes were the buzz terms and these represented a significant change in curriculum development approach and process, underpinning effective teaching and learning strategies to ensure successful achievement of learning outcomes was central. Thus the 20 ECTS credit Special Purpose Award (SPA) was designed with the objective of tooling up the professional higher education teacher in the nuts and bolts of programme design, assessment, pedagogy and reflective practice. The case study being presented in this chapter focuses on one 10 ECTS credit module of the professional development SPA, namely Assessment and Programme Design (APD). In particular, attention is on how the authentic assessment strategy used in this module, acts as a change catalyst for programme design (curriculum development.