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

Final Report – The National GAPAUSTRALIAN LEARNING AND TEACHING COUNCILhow they could make connections and build on current activities. 90 peopleresponded to the team’s invitation to express an interest in developing future nationaland international collaborations.Use of the materials disseminated through the project website (hosted by TheUniversity of Sydney) was monitored. Over the documented period, 16 July 2008–28September 2009, visits to the National GAP website doubled, going from an averageof 600 unique views per month to over 1,200. During this period, the National GAPwebsite has handled almost 12,000 unique visits. Most visitors to the website land onthe home page (over 2,000 unique visits), then navigate towards a more specific areawithin the website. After the home page, the three pages registering the most hits arenetwork events (1,217 unique visits), resources (467 unique visits) and GAP IssuesPapers and publications (418 unique visits).Towards the end of the project, an external evaluator (Dr Margaret Kiley, CEDAM,ANU) was requested to conduct a summative evaluation. This was undertakenthrough:(i)(ii)(iii)a review of project documentation and materials;participation of the evaluator in the third set of symposia; anda face-to-face interview with the project team. (See attached report– Appendix 1).5. CONCLUSION AND FINAL THOUGHTSThe National GAP initiative has highlighted three issues of particular relevance tothe current and future significance of graduate attributes to the Australian highereducation sector.The first of these is a confirmation of the importance of graduate attributes to staffand students alike. This was demonstrated throughout the project in various waysthat included:• the strength of the response to the project team’s invitations to participatein the project and collaborate in the symposia;• the breadth and depth of existing graduate attributes activity – national,institutional, disciplinary, program and course/subject – brought togetherthrough the networking opportunities provided by the project; and• the willingness with which participants — especially students — offeredtheir opinions and perspectives on graduate attributes and the opennesswith which they engaged in open dialogue with colleagues during thesymposia.National and international moves towards ‘standards’ as the basis for the renewaland assurance of the quality of curriculum and teaching will only intensify therelevance of graduate attributes research and development to outcomes-basededucation.The National Graduate Attributes Project: Integration and assessment of graduate attributes in curriculum 40