Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

College

College of Education and International Services

Program

Higher Education Administration PhD

First Advisor

Jay Brand

Second Advisor

Mordekai Ongo

Third Advisor

Glynis Bradfield

Abstract

Although perceived as the ‘gold standard’ strategy for conquering complex problems, collaboration can be ignored by intellectuals who prefer to work independently. This oversight may occur even in the face of challenging problems such as assessment of scholarships, institutional effectiveness, strategizing, and even the crafting of effective rubrics for assessing student learning. The scholarly literature clearly reveals that real difficulties often refuse to respond to routine assignments or common bureaucratic patterns. Additionally, 21st century conflicts may require creative solutions involving interdependence, joining of forces and brains, or vision sharing. Effective assessment of student learning within higher education may reflect just such complexity. Thus, to explore how collaboration may address this challenge, this study investigated how postsecondary faculty members collaborate to create, develop, and fine-tune rubrics for assessing and supporting student learning. It focuses on the intersection of collaboration and rubric development with the view to understanding how faculty deploys collaboration as a tool for solving complex problems facing academia such as rubric development for assessing and supporting student learning.

Using case study with open-ended interviews as a research instrument, this study reveals how collaborative assessment can have an effective impact on learning and faculty assessment decisions, especially for faculty who teach double majors if that collaboration is strategically plotted and executed. Additionally, the study shows how the attitudes of leaders or faculty members in collaborative situations can influence the success or failure of achieving collaborative goals, and how assessment of student learning may continue to lose impetus unless scholars make concerted efforts to remunerate collaborative assessment contributors and provide adequate learning and testing systems to all faculty members, especially faculty who teach science, clinical, or technical courses.

Subject Area

Group work in education; Learning ability; Postsecondary education--California

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