Advancing Innovation in University Teaching: An Academic Development Model to Support Technology-Enhanced Assessment and Feedback Competencies and Practices

Thanks to the new measures adopted by the PNRR (section M4C1.2, Reform 2.2, Investment 2.1), the importance and necessity of enhancing, investing in and strengthening educational development, in order to promote real technological progress in school and university systems, became evident. Section M4C1.3 (Investment 3.1, 3.2 and 3.4) of the above-mentioned measure highlights the importance to care for a development of the competences of students who, welcomed in a stimulating and structured learning environment, can benefit and enhance their growth through a quality teaching and learning process. PNRR Mission 4 is linked to Goal 4 "Quality Education" (sub-goals 4.2, 4.4, 4.7,4.a, 4.b and 4.c) of the 2030 Agenda, which in its complexity aims at "Providing quality, equitable and inclusive education, promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all", through the development of quality education and training pathways, suitable environments and professionals that support effective learning and the development of specific student skills, directly expendable in the world of work and society. In support of these actions there are other important themes such as those promoted by the European Action Plan for Digital Education (2021-2027); the Europe-wide debate on digital competences has led to the development of the DigCompEdu framework, which emphasises the need to support the digital competences of university lecturers. The DigCompEdu (Redecker & Punie, 2017), the fundamental basis of the research project, describes the competences of educators and divides them into six main areas and the corresponding 22 sub-competences. In the context of these six competence areas (1 Professional engagement; 2 Digital resources; 3 Teaching and learning; 4 Assessment; 5 Student empowerment; 6 Facilitation of students' digital competence); the focus of the present research is on exploring the area of assessment to understand how university teachers implement the use of technology in their assessment and feedback practices and to scaffold them in improving these practices. In particular, the doctoral research investigates the framework of Technology Enhanced Assessment (TEA), intended as a general term that includes the different methods by which technology can be used to support the management and implementation of assessment in educational settings; it enables teachers to conduct assessment with an innovative approach and it permits to students to apply relevant skills and knowledge, rather than just reproduce facts that they have remembered and apply standardised problem-solving procedures (Devedzic & Devedzic, 2019). Price and Kirkwood (2014) highlights that “the use of technology often replicates existing assessment practices rather than embracing transformative practices. […] In fact, there is little evidence that technology has improved tertiary level student learning or, if so, to what extent (Price & Kirkwood, 2014; Sweeney et al., 2017). At the same time, literature underlines the increasing interest in TEA practices in the higher education field: TEA is seen like a set of strategies that enables peer-, self-and teacher-assessment and can support the assessment challenges such as distance and flexible learning and large student enrollments (Oldfield et al., 2012; Whitelock &Watt, 2008) also developing the possibility of generating “constructive, timely and ‘easy to understand’ feedback” (Whitelock, Gilbert,& Gale, 2011, p. 2; Sweeney et al., 2017). Starting from this theoretical background, this research investigates the use of Technology Enhanced Assessment (TEA) and feedback practices in Italian universities, while also examining international Academic Development (AD) models that leverage digital tools for assessment and feedback. The final goal is to design and validate an AD model at the University of Trento (Unitn) that supports academics in their professional growth, scaffolding the integration of TEA tools to enrich student learning experiences. In general, the study aims to analyse existing TEA practices, identifying faculty training needs to tailor professional development initiatives and foster educational innovation. It aims to enhance university teachers’ digital competencies in assessment and feedback, ensuring a more structured integration of technology within these processes. Furthermore, it aspires to contribute to the advancement of higher education quality while strengthening international research in the field of reference. After the identification of the theoretical framework, a systematic literature review about the existing Academic Development model connected to supporting TEA adoption and related competencies, was developed: the analysis underlines the presence of technology use in the field of assessment and feedback in the higher education context, but it seems to be a gap about the evidence connected to specific training models dedicated to university teachers in order to scaffold them on the development of specific digital assessment and feedback competencies. The research aims to deepen this literature gap, in order to produce evidence and try to create the basis for a faculty development model in connection with the specific field of Technology Enhanced Assessment and Feedback practices and related digital competencies in the Italian context. The thesis is organised as described below. Starting from an introduction focused on the topic of Academic Development, the element of Digital Competencies of educators is explored, with particular reference to the academics’ skills related to the area of assessment and the theme of Technology Enhanced Assessment (TEA) practices, approaches and tools, useful to improve the earning experiences of university students. The emergent area of Artificial Intelligence in Education is also explored and reported in the theoretical framework section. A systematic literature review is also presented: the results are crucial to theoretically put the basis for the creation of an Academic Development model focused on sustaining the professional growth of university teachers in terms of digital assessment competencies, final output of the research. The creation of the model is based on three studies: Study 1: analysis of the national syllabi sample (n°3008) in order to determine the state of art of TEA use of the italian university teachers. The national overview is enriched thanks to a local focus dedicated to the exploration of University of Trento academics’, whose TEA practices are collected through the use of a specific survey, aimed also at inquiring their training needs. Study 2: this part of the research is based on a cross cultural study which aims to compare the UK and the Italian university contexts, from the perspectives of experts in the field of Academic Development and TEA approaches, practices and related competencies. 42 professionals in the field of Higher Education were interviewed and thanks to these results, six key principles were identified in order to support and create the basis of the Academic Development model for digital assessment competencies. Study 3: in the light of the key principles, a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) was developed to sustain a self-paced learning environment to scaffold the assessment and feedback digital competencies of participants. The course in this first edition was delivered through a closed platform (University of Trento - Unitn Moodle): we still use the term “MOOC”, however, because we aim at opening it to the whole university community in the future. The impact of the MOOC was analysed in order to understand its results on academics digital assessment skills and on the teaching, learning and assessment processes, following the Kirkpatrick model. Chapter 3 finally presents and describes the model created, its relation to the studies developed. To sum up, the final Chapter 4 offers general conclusions, limitations of the research and future research perspectives.