The Impact of CRADLE on Higher Education – CRADLE Seminar Series 2021

16 April 2021

An enthusiastic audience recently joined us for our first CRADLE seminar series of 2021.This reflective seminar, chaired by Dr Trina Jorre De St Jorre, discussed the achievements of CRADLE in its first five years, and was presented by the centre’s core academics: Alfred Deakin Professor David Boud, Professor Phillip Dawson, Professor Margaret Bearman, Associate Professor Rola Ajjawi and Dr Joanna Tai. Below, CRADLE doctoral student Tegan Miller presents a summary of the session.

The 2021 CRADLE Seminar series started with a bang, as Alfred Deakin Professor and CRADLE director David Boud, alongside his colleagues, discussed the immense contributions of the research centre in higher education. Arguably the most impressive achievement of CRADLE since its creation in 2015 is the wide scope and reach of publications, with a total of 163 papers included in Q1 journals, 59 scholarly book chapters, and 7 books. A second achievement, detailed by David Boud, is CRADLE’s focus on collaboration. He mentioned that single author publications in the center are rare, such is the collaborative nature.

CRADLE has spearheaded some exciting key ideas. David Boud commented that ideas are not ‘owned’ by anybody in education, but rather should be considered a collective identity that can be shared and pushed along. The 6 key areas CRADLE has influenced are listed below:

  1. Transforming feedback thinking and developing feedback literacy
  2. Developing evaluative judgement
  3. Rethinking self and peer assessment
  4. Authentic assessment for work
  5. The educational challenge of the digital
  6. Challenging assumptions in academic integrity and assessment security

David Boud developed a succinct definition and explanation of areas A and B, including the implications and research outputs of both ideas.

Shortly after, Joanna Tai took the reins to discuss point C. Notably, she touched on the idea that evaluative judgement must be developed, so that students can continue to make sound judgements beyond higher education, where educators and course structure are not present. Next, Rola Ajjawi took to the stage to detail point D. She explained that although authentic assessment could be designed, it was important to think of authenticity ‘in the eye of the beholder’ and focus on what authentic assessment meant to students. Up next was Margaret Bearman to elaborate point E. She touched on the digital as being about conceptualising learning, working, and teaching in a digital world, rather than perceiving technology as a tool or to ‘get stuff done’. Notably, she gave a ‘shout-out’ to CRADLE PhD Doctorate Dr Sarah Lambert, who has published work on inclusive assessment in a digital world. Next up was Phillip Dawson to talk about all things cheating. He touched on details of the program of work he has been conducting, giving a ‘shout-out’ to Wendy Sutherland-Smith, and explaining his new book: ‘Defending Assessment in a Digital World’.

The final stage of the seminar explained the 7 current CRADLE strategic themes, to ascertain the future directions of the research centre. David Boud emphasised the renewed energy that would be bolstered into the themes of digital world, inclusion and belonging, and representation in and beyond assessment. He summarised the session with some take-home messages, such as the importance of collaboration and active networks, the emphasis on research making an educational difference, and the support (rather than direct intervention) by management.

The session finished with a lively Q & A chaired by Trina Jorre De St Jorre.

David Boud valiantly answered some tough questions, such as the big challenges for higher education in the coming years. Through an excellent prompt, he also touched on the CRADLE suggest series, which you can check out here. Phillip Dawson then snagged some questions – notably, he compared frank and honest conversations surrounding the dark side of recreational drugs to be akin with the dark side of contract cheating. Rola Ajjawi touched on the confound of time, describing a previous project where herself and her team reduced the volume of assessments in a unit, and dedicated that time gained into feedback processes that made a difference. Lastly, Joanna Tai explained her current work with NIKERI and inclusive assessment, maintaining her hope that more will be reported in this space. The session finished with a light question surrounding David Boud’s mysterious absence from twitter, which briefly trended the hashtag #getdavidboudontwitter. Overall, the seminar was an engaging and thought-provoking summary of CRADLE’s achievements, as well as presenting a promising view of the way forward.

 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQNfmVsto9U&w=579&h=362]

 

For more of the panel’s research, you can follow them on Twitter: Phillip Dawson, Joanna Tai, Margaret Bearman, and Rola Ajjawi. You can also follow Tegan Miller.  





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