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Boundary crossings

Innovating assessment practices in higher education

Bibliographic Data

ID21720573
AuthorsJordan King (0000-0001-8991-6856, Arizona State University School of Sustainability and College of Global Futures, , Tempe, Arizona, and Honors College, The University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume26
Issue8
Pages1874-1890
Publication date2025-11-24
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1467-6370 • E-ISSN: 1758-6739
PublisherEmerald (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1108/ijshe-02-2024-0157
OpenAlexW4404900908
LanguageEN
References cited37

Purpose Advancing assessment practices represents an underexplored yet integral dimension of further progress for the field of sustainability-related teaching and learning in higher education. This study aims to address this area by seeking to understand the barriers that program leaders and instructors face in advancing assessment practices to identify possible innovations. Design/methodology/approach A conceptual framework centered on boundaries and boundary crossings is used to conceptualize barriers and possibilities in innovating assessment practices. The study then examines how a boundary object, the deliberation of assessment practices among a sustainability education community of practice, can be leveraged to identify boundaries and boundary crossings. Through an exploratory action research approach, data were collected via workshops, interviews and a survey. These were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Findings Six themes were identified as key areas for barriers and possibilities for advancing assessment practices. These themes are: defining sustainability education, practice characteristics, interdisciplinary approaches, transdisciplinary strategies, meeting demands and facilitating innovations. For each theme, status quo practices and potential innovations are described as well as boundary-crossing strategies to enable advances in practice. Originality/value This study considers the conceptual, practical and logistical breakthroughs needed to advance assessment practices across course, program and institutional levels of sustainability-related teaching and learning in higher education. The insights from the study provide considerations for the design and implementation of assessment practices while also suggesting the value of participatory deliberative processes in shaping innovations in practice

Business · Economic growth · Economics · Engineering ethics · Environmental education · Environmental planning · Environmental resource management · Higher education · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Political science · Process management · Public relations · Sociology · Sustainability · Sustainable development · Engineering · Engineering Education and Curriculum Development · Environmental Science · Higher Education and Employability · Higher Education Learning Practices · Mathematics · Psychology · Ecology

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