Meet the new CRADLE Fellows
21 June 2023
The objectives of the CRADLE Fellowship Scheme are to attract Deakin academics to foster the development of relevant research expertise and support excellent practice in assessment and digital learning at Deakin. Fellows are given access to our facilities and researchers, and are financially supported to develop both their individual and faculty’s research profile. The benefits of being a CRADLE fellow include gaining worldwide recognition as being part of an international research centre in assessment in higher education and interacting with eminent researchers from overseas, with opportunities for collective research partnerships.
We are pleased to announce three new CRADLE Fellows, Associate Professor Kerrie Bridson, Dr Tim Chambers and Dr Danielle Hitch.
Associate Professor Kerrie Bridson
Kerrie Bridson is an Associate Professor of Marketing in Deakin Business School. She has recently stepped aside from Associate Dean roles within the Faculty of Business and Law after a 5-year contribution. As Associate Dean of Quality Standards and Accreditation (ADQSA) and Associate Dean Teaching and Learning (ADTL) she has led various initiatives aligned to school, faculty, university and global higher education standards, policies, procedures and governance.
Kerrie‘s research background is in social purpose marketing and qualitative researcher, where she has been partnering with cultural and creative art institutions and regional communities to develop successful branding and marketing strategies built on understanding and engaging stakeholders to deliver impact.
During the Fellowship, Kerrie will explore professional accreditation bodies’ role in shaping assessment design and practice of Australian business schools. The dual perspective informs this work of accrediting bodies and academics within business schools. The study will build on previous research in contemporary assessment, including work completed by CRADLE researchers. The study will commence with a scoping analysis of secondary literature, content analysis of accreditation standards, and qualitative interviews with representatives of professional accreditation bodies and business school leaders.
Dr Tim Chambers
Dr Tim Chambers is a Lecturer in the School of Psychology at Deakin University. Dr Chambers is a Senior Fellow with Advance HE and teaches health psychology into undergraduate courses at Deakin. Since receiving his PhD from the University of Western Australia, Tim spent several years working across various applied sport psychology and athlete career assistance roles within Australia’s high-performance sporting industry. Tim’s experiences in elite sport highlighted how organisational and systemic factors can influence both an athlete’s career and their wellbeing.
For this reason, Tim uses qualitative methodologies to speak with these individuals directly to better understand the operational constraints and support systems that need to be implemented. In parallel, Tim examines the benefits of nature exposure to improve wellbeing at a broader population level, including the efficacy of nature-based programs to mitigate the effects of workload and stress exposure.
The broad aim of Tim’s project will be to investigate student experiences of authentic assessments and how these tasks may relate to their psychological wellbeing. At present, we know of the relationship between more traditional forms of assessment and subjective wellbeing (e.g., happiness), but little is known about if and how authentic assessment practices are related to students’ psychological wellbeing (e.g., sense of autonomy, purpose in life, ability to form good relationships with others).
Critical to this work will be unpacking what is authenticity in this context, as early research adopted a post-positivist approach that views authenticity as comprising of reductionist elements or criteria. Current thinking suggests that we need to reframe our conceptualisation of authentic assessment tasks to consider the meaningfulness of the task for students, and how such tasks can help students connect better with society.
Therefore, the intent is to frame the research from a relativist perspective that envisions individuals as constructing their own meaning of authentic tasks, which enables their development as citizens of the modern world. It is anticipated that adopting this approach may uncover associations between these assessment tasks and the experience of various psychological wellbeing dimensions.
Dr Dani Hitch
Dr Dani Hitch is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Health and Social Development at Deakin University and the Allied Health Research and Translation Lead at Western Health. Dani qualified as an occupational therapist from LaTrobe University in 1998, and has worked in both Australia and the United Kingdom. Since then she gained her PhD in 2014 and a Master of Health Economics in 2021, Dani has published extensively in relation to health care models and primary care in a variety of top journals.
Her current research interests include assessment practices, social justice, occupation-based practice, and knowledge translation. Her project with CRADLE builds on the limited evidence on assessment fairness in allied health clinical placements from an equity perspective by comparing the perceptions and experiences of participants from occupational therapy and social work.
During her Fellowship, Dani will be asking what is assessment fairness and why does it matter to allied health students experiencing disadvantage? Previous research suggests disadvantaged students (i.e., those from equity groups) experience additional challenges in higher education. In allied health education, assessment occurs within both university and workplace settings during clinical placements. Representation by health professionals from equity groups is vital because these clinicians offer authentic insights about their communities, which can enable improved patient outcomes. This project aims to understand the perspectives and experiences of disadvantaged allied health students and their clinical educators regarding assessment fairness during clinical placement.
After an integrative review of the literature, the Dani’s team will interview students experiencing disadvantage, academic educators, and clinical educators from the disciplines of Occupational Therapy and Social Work. These interviews will focus on defining assessment fairness from multiple perspectives, and understanding how it is experienced by key stakeholders. Focus groups with representatives from all stakeholder groups will then co-design resources and tools to support allied health educators to reflect upon the fairness of their assessments and make improvements where necessary. Opportunities for trial implementation of these tools will then be sought for a future project on this topic.
Want to be a CRADLE Fellow?
Fellowship applications are currently closed, but subscribe to our blog to stay up to date with our Fellowship scheme.
CRADLE welcomes applications from postdoctoral researchers at every career stage, from early career to senior scholars. Applicants must be a current Deakin staff member and be on a continuing or fixed-term position at Deakin as an academic staff member with more than two years remaining on their contract.
