Focus on life
Evaluation in action learning as a powerful
force in development towards a learning
organisation:
small beginnings, giant strides and a few
lessons learned
By Alison Jansz-Senn, Rosemary Chang,
Kathleen Gray and Alex Radloff, Dawn De Pew
RMIT University, Faculty of Life Sciences, Office of Program Quality
RMIT Life Sciences
Focus on life
In 2002 and 2003 the Faculty of Life Sciences, RMIT
University sponsored
Strategic Initiatives Projects (SIP’s) as staff
professional development in teaching and learning
SIP’s combines Action Learning and Evaluative practices in
building of staff capability and organisational learning in
the improvement to program performance.
RMIT Life Sciences
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Small Beginnings.
• The SIP projects in 2002 and 2003
Giant Strides
• The improvement of teaching quality and the building of staff and
organisational capabilities
Lessons learned
• What have we gained and how can we do it better
RMIT Life Sciences
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SIP’ s Objectives
• Facilitate innovation with teaching and
learning technologies,
• Develop graduate capabilities through
changed teaching practices,
• Disseminate advances in teaching and
learning in the Life Sciences
• Improve the quality of teaching and
learning in more than one RMIT program.
RMIT Life Sciences
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Evaluation of SIPs in 2003
For what purpose ?
- Achievement of SIP’s project objectives
- Achievement of Individual project objectives
- Organisational learning
RMIT Life Sciences
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Evaluation of Strategic Initiatives Projects (SIPs) 2002 and
2003
We attempted to measure:
• Achievement of Strategic objectives
• Extent of use of action learning and evaluative practice
• Extent of personal, professional and organisational learning
Study Design:
Using both quantative and qualitative data
• Document and Data analysis
• Interview
• Questionnaires
RMIT Life Sciences
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Evaluation Framework
Senge’s Five Disciplines
for the Learning Organisation:
Action Learning
-Personal Mastery
-Mental Models
-Shared Visions
-Team Learning
Evaluative
Practice
-Systems Thinking
RMIT Life Sciences
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Figure 1: THE THEORY OF ACTION
OUTCOMES
ACTION
LEARNING
Critical attitude,
Research,
Accountability, Selfevaluation.
Plan, Act, observe
and Reflect
Evaluative Practice
Building Staff Capability
Evaluative frameworks,
Program Logic,
Questionnaires
Feedback loops
INDICATORS
Knowledge
and skills in
Teaching
and
Learning
Conference
Presentations
Personal
Mastery
Mental
Models
Systems
Thinking
Projects that
cross
departmental
boundaries
Innovative
technologies
Assessment
Educational
Research
Project
Management
Developing
Questionnaires
Focus groups
Scholarship
Organisational Learning
Shared
Visions
Journal Articles
Presentation at
Faculty and
University
Forums
Team
Learning
Projects that
involve the
community or
industry partners
RMIT Life Sciences
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Achievement of Strategic objectives
•
•
•
•
Facilitating innovation with teaching and learning technologies,
Developing graduate capabilities through changed teaching practices,
Disseminating advances in teaching and learning in the life sciences
Improving the quality of teaching and learning in more than one RMIT
program.
Outcomes:
In 2002 an 2003 all four outcomes were achieved
RMIT Life Sciences
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Action Learning and Evaluative Practice
In 2003
10 of the 12 respondents indicated that they had developed their skills as
action researchers
“I am embarrassed to admit that I’m not sure just what an action research is.
However, working through the evaluation process( pre & post tests and focus
groups design) has been valuable and will inform future work of this nature”
“I have a better understanding of this approach in the student-teacher
relationship”
“A grounded practical detail knowledge of making a new form of assessment a
workable entity”
10 of the 12 respondents indicated that they had enhanced their skills and
understanding of evaluation methods
“I have a better understanding of the difficulties involved in using meaningful
evaluation methods”
RMIT Life Sciences
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A few Lessons learned
•Despite the high demands on their time,
the academic staff have found this a very
worthwhile project.
•There has been a building of staff
capability across programs
•The projects have offered the opportunity
for sharing new knowledge and skills
across the organisation.
RMIT Life Sciences
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Building Staff Capability: Personal, Professional and
Organisational Learning
Personal & Professional Learning
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Innovate technology
Scholarship
Assessment
Assessment instruments
educational research
developing questionnaires and using focus groups.
project management
Organisational Learning
•
Formal and informal opportunity to share their learning
through meetings, workshops, forums, conferences, reports,
journals and informal discussions
RMIT Life Sciences
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Conclusion:
Action learning has provided the disciplines of
Personal Mastery, Mental Models, Shared Visions
and Team learning. Evaluative practice has
provided the Systems thinking.
“ These small projects have achieved giant strides
and the time and commitment to supporting the
project teams has been a worthwhile investment in
professional development”.
RMIT Life Sciences
Focus on life
Questions for Discussion:
-How do we ensure that there is
organisational learning and how
important is it anyway?
-”Take the money and run”- How do we
ensure that an Action Research Strategy
will give us the Strategic objectives and
Project objectives that we set out to
achieve?
RMIT Life Sciences