The Assessment of Learning Outcomes in Australia: Finding the Holy Grail

Abstract

Since 2009 there has been increased interest in Australian universities’ ability to demonstrate that their students have acquired knowledge and skills as specified by them in the form of graduate attributes or institutional learning outcomes. This paper describes research undertaken in Australia to identify a comprehensive set of generalized learning outcomes for undergraduate study and a set of criterion-based standards to assist in grading of achievement of those outcomes. It was discovered that although Australian universities document institutional- and course-based learning outcomes for their programs, they generally do not assess students at this level. Instead, the majority of assessm..