2134/14776
Merrilyn Goos
Merrilyn
Goos
Clair Hughes
Clair
Hughes
An investigation of the confidence levels of course/subject coordinators in undertaking aspects of their assessment responsibilities
Loughborough University
2014
Assessment
Confidence
Course coordinator
2014-06-06 09:21:47
Journal contribution
https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/journal_contribution/An_investigation_of_the_confidence_levels_of_course_subject_coordinators_in_undertaking_aspects_of_their_assessment_responsibilities/9367457
Ongoing and rapid change is having a significant impact on the social and cultural
contexts of assessment in higher education. Change and innovation have been
driven not only by advances in our knowledge of effective practice but also by
government policies, the latter often resulting in uncertainty regarding the
freedoms and responsibilities of the academic role and erosion of professional
confidence. As confidence is considered central to the ability to learn about and
master new practices, understanding and enhancing this significant component of
an assessment culture is therefore a fundamental challenge to institutional efforts
to improve assessment practice. This paper reports the outcomes of an
investigation of academic confidence, a preliminary ‘mapping’ activity
undertaken to inform plans for developing the assessment leadership capacities of
course/subject coordinators. The investigation took the form of an online survey
of all course coordinators. Outcomes include the identification of areas of high and
low confidence and their correlation with demographic data such as length of
experience. Open-ended comments provided rich qualitative data on possible
reasons for high and low confidence.