How can you collaborate with external partners to enhance assessment leadership in Higher Education?

1 Identify your goals and needs

Before you reach out to external partners, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with your assessment leadership, and what kind of support or input you need from them. For example, you may want to align your assessment with the expectations and standards of your discipline or profession, or you may want to create more engaging and relevant assessment tasks that reflect real-world scenarios and challenges. You may also want to seek feedback from external partners on your existing assessment practices, or invite them to participate in the assessment process as mentors, reviewers, or co-creators. Whatever your goals and needs are, you should articulate them clearly and communicate them to potential partners in a way that highlights the mutual benefits of collaboration.

2 Find and approach suitable partners

The next step is to find and approach external partners who share your vision and values, and who have the expertise, experience, or resources that can enhance your assessment leadership. You may already have some existing contacts or networks that you can tap into, such as alumni, employers, industry associations, or community groups. Alternatively, you may need to do some research or outreach to identify and connect with potential partners who are interested in collaborating with higher education institutions. When you approach external partners, you should be respectful, professional, and transparent about your goals, needs, expectations, and constraints. You should also be open to learning from them, and to adapting your assessment leadership to suit their context and perspective.

3 Establish and maintain a collaborative relationship

Once you have found and approached suitable external partners, you need to establish and maintain a collaborative relationship with them throughout the assessment leadership process. This means that you should communicate regularly and effectively, using appropriate channels and tools, and that you should respect and value their input and feedback. You should also establish clear roles and responsibilities for each partner, and agree on the scope, timeline, and outcomes of the collaboration. You should also monitor and evaluate the progress and impact of the collaboration, and address any issues or challenges that may arise along the way. Finally, you should acknowledge and celebrate the contributions and achievements of each partner, and seek to sustain and strengthen the relationship for future collaborations.

4 Integrate external partners into your assessment leadership

The final step is to integrate external partners into your assessment leadership, and to ensure that their involvement enhances the quality and effectiveness of your assessment practices. This means that you should use their insights, feedback, and opportunities to inform your assessment design, implementation, and evaluation, and to align your assessment with the needs and expectations of your students, your discipline, and your profession. You should also involve external partners in the assessment process, either as co-creators, mentors, reviewers, or assessors, depending on the nature and purpose of the assessment. You should also provide external partners with clear and constructive feedback on their participation, and on the outcomes and impact of the assessment. By integrating external partners into your assessment leadership, you can create more authentic, relevant, and engaging assessment experiences for your students, and for yourself.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?