The CRADLE Development Partner Scheme & FAQs

15 February 2021

In 2019, CRADLE started a new initiative to expand our ability to work with academics on implementing new research-based ideas in their educational practice. We called it the Development Partners Scheme, as we saw it as a way to develop both theory and practice (or is that praxis?!), through a process of dialogue and some experimentation. While we had been pleased with how the Fellowship scheme had been progressing, with lots of interesting research being published, we felt we wanted to do something that was a bit more practical, focussed on the development of pedagogy at Deakin.

In the 2019 pilot year, Phill & I worked with Petra Brown, Christine Contessotto, Janine McBurnie and Kelli Nicola-Richmond on practical ways to implement feedback literacy concepts within their courses. We met up several times and corresponded by email quite a bit to figure out what was possible, and the best way to go about it. The partners also submitted ethics applications to be able to collect data for research, presented work at the Deakin Teaching & Learning Conference, and contributed to a book chapter (currently in press for a book on Assessment as Learning). We learnt a fair bit together along the way, and I really enjoyed working together with a motivated group who managed to squeeze in all the extra thinking and doing amongst their already busy lives!

I’m very happy, therefore, that we’re able to continue with the Development Partners scheme at Deakin in 2021. Thanks to the support of the DLF-led HEPPP Inclusive Digital Education Project, we will be able to welcome a new group of four Development Partners (again, one from each faculty at Deakin) focussing on inclusive assessment ideas. This goes beyond the Re-imagining Exams project (which I’ve previously written about), in that we will now hopefully examine and redesign assessments overall rather than just a focus on exams. We are also keen to involve Students as Partners this time, as we’ve found so far in our Re-imagining Exams project that this is really an area where students can really focus the work on what is important.

We have released the call for applications to all Deakin academic staff, and the deadline for applications is 22 February. If you haven’t yet seen the email, let us know via the CRADLE email account and we’ll forward you on a copy. Hopefully in early March I’ll be back with an update announcing the new group of Development Partners! In the meantime, here are some FAQs about the scheme:

• Can we apply as a team?

While we phrased the scheme as inviting one partner from each of the four faculties, we recognise that some units have a team behind them. We have taken the unit of study as the main determining factor since this is where any modifications will be applied – so if you have multiple campus co-ordinators, or team teach, then all the relevant staff would be included in the partnership. Alongside the unit-based academics we will also be including some Deakin Learning Futures and Disability Resource Centre staff in the workshops and we’ll work out who exactly to include once we have the unit partners on board. We do have a finite amount of money to support the scheme, so the funding will remain the same (at $4,000 per unit, one unit from each Faculty) regardless of the number of individuals on board.

• What units are eligible?

Any unit that has assessment in it! It doesn’t matter if they are written assignments, exams, oral presentations, video submissions, creative works, practical tasks – we are keen to explore inclusivity across the range of tasks students might encounter. We also don’t mind what type of program (undergraduate, postgraduate) it contributes to. The unit does need to run in T2 however to ensure you can implement modifications this year since the funding is for 2021.

• What kind of assessment changes do you anticipate?

We can’t tell you exactly what this might be yet, since we will be working together to figure this out – and we can imagine that based on the types of assessments which might be involved, these could vary greatly. However, from the work we’ve done so far as part of the NCSEHE project, we think productive areas include the assessment design (drawing on the Assessment Design Decisions framework) as well as some pragmatic things around timing, explanations, spaces, and places for assessment. It will be up to the partners to determine what is feasible and what might be most appropriate for their context and students.

• I’m really interested in participating, how likely is it that my unit will get chosen?

We’ve had quite a bit of interest so far (hence this FAQ) and as of 15 February we already have a number of applications. After the closing date, the CRADLE team will review the applications and involve the ADTLs and DLF to make some decisions. We anticipate that this is just the beginning, however, and that there will be further opportunities to work together on inclusive assessment into the future.

• Will I have to do research as part of the scheme?

CRADLE will lead research related to the project, and there will be opportunities to participate as a researcher and a participant, but it is not a requirement.