Structure of the Guide

The guide is structured around how we can ensure that we have both the right ‘what’ and the right ‘how’ of effective change leadership and implementation when seeking to assure the achievement standards and quality of assessment in our universities and colleges. It will, said participants, be the effective combination of both the right ‘what’ and right ‘how’ in this area that will be most telling if we are to ensure that our institutions of higher education remain relevant to the needs of the coming decades.

The key themes derived from 40 years’ research and experience in effective change management in post-secondary and higher education that underpin how the guide was developed and is structured are, therefore:

Good ideas with no ideas on how to implement them are wasted ideas
and
Change doesn’t just happen but must be led, and deftly

With these themes in mind the guide gives particular attention to helping local Learning and Teaching leaders and program teams ensure that both what we assess in our higher education programs is going to produce graduates who are ‘work ready plus’ (link) and also how this agenda can be successfully led into practice consistently, effectively, scalably and sustainably (link).

First there is a section on how to use the six ‘rights’ strategy for assuring achievement standards and assessment and ‘flipping’ the curriculum development and review process (link). This section addresses the what of change in this area and the key question “How do we ensure that we achieve high quality achievement standards and powerful assessment?”

Second there is a section on how best to make sure any developments in this area are successfully, consistently and sustainably put into practice. This section addresses the how of change and the key question “What do we do on Monday?” about the above agenda.

Below are the overall tips from Fellowship participants on how to get prepared for and how to use the guide. They suggest you read through and discuss this section before moving on to access the two major sections that make up the site.