SAVING THE WORLD ON A SHOESTRING: UTILISING COHORT DIVERSITY AND ENHANCED TECHNOLOGY TO BRIDGE THE HIGHER EDUCATION EXPECTATION GAP

Saving the World on a Shoestring: Utilising Cohort Diversity and Enhanced Technology to Bridge the Higher Education Expectation Gap Introduction. Education is at the heart of global development goals, catalysing advancement towards decreased poverty and inequality. This policy context has led to a heightened demand for higher education (HE), with universities expected to contribute to global productivity, growth and social equality through the development of human capital (OECD, 2018). To achieve these outcomes, and within a context of declining HE government funding, HE institutions must ensure students receive a holistic experience that prepares them for real world employment and achieves outcomes that are greater than the sum of its parts. Curriculum designs and assessment practices are therefore creating tensions between standardisation and measurability, and the development of creative and reflective learners (Biggs and Tang, 2011). Global research also indicates an indifference to student diversity which has intensified to hostility for credential-focused domestic students (Arkoudis et. al. 2018). This research indicates that, while student diversity exists, genuine inclusion does not (Boulton, 2019). Aims. Focused on developing multicultural competence to provide psychologically safe learning environments for all students, the three-staged intervention involved more than 5,700 business/accounting students. Methods. Utilising culturally responsive pedagogies and learning technologies, a cross-discipline and cross-university, targeted intervention (Zhang and Zhou, 2019) was prepared and actioned over a twelve-year period (2008-2019). Results. Utilising anonymous and voluntary survey responses and formal, university reported grading statistics, the intervention outcomes included: a significant reduction in hostility levels between diverse group members; student satisfaction ratings averaging 87% to 100%; a minimum cohort average one-grade increase in pre versus post peer review process assessment outcomes; and low, unit-based, failure rates (PG: 2-3%; UG: 4-8%). Discussion. The data indicates that adoption of a holistic and inclusive focus for intercultural team building and peer review, has achieved a sustainable and potentially ‘exportable’ resource for supporting, influencing, motivating and inspiring heterogeneous student cohorts, and their teachers, to learn together.