Findings from a survey of openness in assessment and accreditation practices in post-secondary institutions

Abstract

This working paper shares the findings and lessons learned from a small-scale survey on perceptions, practices and policies relating to openness in assessment and accreditation in post-secondary institutions. The study was carried out jointly in mid-2012 by Dr Angela Murphy at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ), Australia, as part of the ORION project, and Gabi Witthaus at the University of Leicester as part of the TOUCANS study, which was a project in the SCORE programme in the UK. One of the aims of both projects was to ascertain perceptions of stakeholders in tertiary education towards the Open Educational Resources university (OERu) concept. The OERu is a global consortium of post-secondary institutions collaborating around the assessment and accreditation of learners’ achievements based on the study of OERs, with the aim of providing affordable opportunities on a massive scale for students who lack the financial means to access traditional higher education.