The National Graduate Attributes Project - Institute for Teaching and ...

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Final Report – The National GAPAUSTRALIAN LEARNING AND TEACHING COUNCIL3. FOSTERING A COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE3.1. DisseminationThe project adopted the approach of building engagement and collaboration withrelevant stakeholders throughout the project as a key dissemination strategy.In formulating the GAP ALTC proposal, an initial invitation to collaborate was sentto all Australian universities. 22 universities indicated the proposed initiative wasof relevance and interest to them. After the nature of the project was finalised andfunding secured, another invitation to participate was made. 36 of Australia’suniversities made a commitment to engage in the project.The project methodology (see section 2.3) was based on a series of actionresearch loops that sought to build on existing practice and research and then toengage participants as collaborators in creating new knowledge and building fromthis activity a community that continue such cycles through ongoingcollaborations.(Diagram adapted from an action research loop used in Cynthia Mitchell’s ALTC Fellowship)The first formal dissemination activity involved circulating the key features of theemerging GAP framework to the 36 nominated interview respondents with aseries of trigger statements to support their preparation and internal universityconsultation, prior to completing the interview. This marked the first level ofengagement by 36 universities with the GAP framework as a tool to promptreflection on current institutional practice.The next dissemination point was marked by the first National GAP Symposium.The 36 interview respondents were invited to attend, with an accompanyingrepresentative of their Careers centre or another nominated individual. Theseindividuals broadly represented the institutional ‘Graduate Attributes Champions’or leaders and formed the nucleus of the emerging national community of practiceThe National Graduate Attributes Project: Integration and assessment of graduate attributes in curriculum 29
Final Report – The National GAPAUSTRALIAN LEARNING AND TEACHING COUNCILthe GAP initiative sought to foster. 54 participants attended the first symposium.During the symposium, the participants critically engaged with the extended GAPframework and suggested helpful revisions and extensions. During thesymposium, the participants also shared reports of institutional practice whichsupported their own and their colleagues’ critical reflection and engagement withthe GAP framework.The next major dissemination activitywas the second National GAPsymposium. This symposium sought toconnect participants and leaders ofrelevant ALTC project teams with eachother, and with the National GAPresources, and in doing so, to extendthe scholarly community of practicerelated to Graduate Attributes. Thisactivity also supported the GAP teamin learning of recent developments thatshould inform this study. 24 recent andcurrent ALTC Projects were identifiedas potentially relating to efforts torenew curricula to achieve graduateattributes. The projects were selectedon the basis that they were:addressing the challenge of achievingGraduate Attributes in a particulardiscipline context, addressing aparticular aspect of the GAPframework (e.g. assessmentstandards, or staff perceptions) orwere focussing on a strategy orpedagogy of particular relevance toGraduate Attributes, such as e-portfolios or work-integrated learning.Key Dissemination facts36 of Australia’s 39 universitiesparticipated as partners in theNational GAPAll but one of Australia’s 39universities were representedamongst the 300+ participants at theGAP symposia.Over two years, 19 presentationswere made on GAP at national andinternational events, includingkeynote conference presentations,invited research seminars, as well aspeer reviewed conference papers andworkshopsOver 750 copies of the GAP Issuespapers publication distributed for useGAP website has received almost12000 unique visits, with the numberof visits doubling in the past twelvemonthsA list of these projects is available on the GAP website athttp://www.itl.usyd.edu.au/projects/nationalgap/projectbackground/phase3.htm.29 participants, representing 14 projects, attended the symposium. As part oftheir participation in the symposium ALTC project teams were invited to sharetheir work and to identify connections with other attending teams work, using aposter. These posters were provided to attendees to re-use at other disseminationactivities and also hosted as digital posters on the GAP website. There werealready links between the GAP initiative and other ALTC projects which facilitatedengagement by those key stakeholder groups with the GAP findings andresources (See Linkages section below).The fourth formal dissemination activity centred on the third National GAPsymposia, which were held as a series of five state based events. Each event washosted by a local university and showcased local graduate attributes initiatives inthat state. There were 238 participants registered across the five symposia — 46for Queensland, 54 for New South Wales, 55 for South Australia, 35 for WesternAustralia and 48 for Victoria. They represented three international universities,The National Graduate Attributes Project: Integration and assessment of graduate attributes in curriculum 30
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