Thesis abstract:

The research project responds to the challenge faced by tertiary education of how to prepare graduates to meet the demands of a rapidly changing and uncertain future. The research is located within the field of the learning sciences and within higher education research and aims to contribute to the development of teaching, learning and assessment practices to effectively support the development of the graduate qualities and have a meaningful impact on student learning.

To build a holistic understanding of how best to support the development and assessment of the graduate qualities, the research project first seeks to understand how academics conceptualise the graduate qualities and how they design for developing and assessing these qualities. Next, the research investigates how learning design is enacted in practice, how students participate in the learning experience and the relationship between conceptualisations and enactment.