Abstract
This paper examines how student participation can contribute to transparent assessment practices in the context of assessing students’ critical thinking skills. Critical reading and writing are key components of assessment in higher education, but the standards are often tacit and implicit. To demystify these learning processes, the academic literacies literature has suggested the integration of academic skills support within university curricula. The paper brings together the literature on assessment transparency, academic literacies and student partnership to answer the question of how student partnership in the context of academic skills development can support transparency in the assessment of critical thinking skills. This study analyses qualitative data from focus groups and student-staff partners’ reflective narratives. The data is situated within a case study that aimed to embed academic skills within the curriculum of a midwifery undergraduate programme at a research-intensive university. We propose that student partnership in the design and delivery of academic skills sessions offers a promising way to enhance students’ view into educators’ expectations and standards, and that vice versa, transparency is also enhanced by educators being better able to understand the ways in which students develop those skills.
Context and implications
Rationale for this study and why the new findings matter: The paper provides a novel articulation of assessment transparency processes that emerge through academic literacies support when provided in partnership with students in Higher Education. With a narrative review and case study, we discuss how academic literacies support can be designed to enable students and educators to make meaning of academic standards together.
Implications for Higher Education practitioners and researchers: For higher education research, the findings showcase an opportunity of connecting separate research strands on assessment transparency, student-staff partnership, and academic literacies. Our study’s results highlight the potential of embedded academic literacies provision as a space for productive dialogue between students and educators, where educators and students enact standards together.
For higher education practitioners, the findings highlight how student-staff partnership projects have a role to play to meet institutional priorities around assessment transparency. Our approach to co-creating video resources can serve as a practical example for educators wishing to enhance transparency of their assessment of critical thinking.