Integrated assessment to guide student understanding

Discipline Area

Management (Business)

Key assessment issue addressed

Assessment that develops competencies as well as understanding

The initiative

In an online MBA course in "Managing Organisational Behaviour" all the assessment is designed to be formative as well as summative. There are four components: online discussion, two case studies and a behavioural self-analysis. The case studies require students to post online a brief description of a 'real world' problem from their own organisational experience. This contrasts with the Harvard-style case approach which relies on lecturer-generated cases. The students are assigned to online discussion groups of 4-5 members (with different groups for the two cases to encourage diversity). Each student has to provide critical comment on each of the cases in their group and respond to the comments on their own case. The asynchronous online discussion encourages considered responses rather than the more spontaneous comments made in a face-to-face situation. After the 2-week discussion period, students write up their own case taking account of the comments received. This is designed to foster reflective analysis. The behavioural self-analysis requires students to apply their study each week to their own managerial behaviour using the conceptual frameworks provided in the course. They assess the effectiveness of their current behaviour and identify specific strategies for improving their managerial competence. At the end of semester they present a report addressing three behavioural dimensions they have analysed in this manner. A survey of students: (n=12 of 16 who completed the course) indicated that while 30% reported finding it difficult to interact in the online environment, all felt the assessment helped them develop their managerial competence, all reported that the case study method enabled them to relate the course to their own experience and all agreed that the behavioural self-analysis provided them with insights into their own managerial style.

The reason for the initiative's effectiveness

This approach seems to be successful because it exploits the interactivity of an online environment and emphasises the use of conceptual frameworks to analyse actual cases from students' own experience and to improve their managerial competence.

Further details

Professor Andy Hede
University of the Sunshine Coast
Ph: +61 7 5430 1220
hede@usc.edu.au