The Assessment Research Centre (ARC) focuses on improving assessment and reporting through a four-step process of research, publications, development and teaching. These steps provide the framework for the ARC's strategic planning, and guide the Centre's core business as well as its link to the University of Melbourne's mission.
Research that leads to change, strategically affects change, or sets up the basis for change and improvement in assessment, forms the focus of the ARC's work.
CONSULTANCY SERVICES
Education measurement
Assessment tools and resources
Student achievement
21st century skills
Partners
Director
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Associate Professor Sandra Milligan
03 9035 7801
s.milligan@unimelb.edu.au
Dr Sandra Milligan is Director and Principal Fellow of the Assessment Research Centre at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne. Sandra’s current research interests focus on assessment, micro-credentialing and warranting of hard-to-assess learning.
Her most recent research examined how ‘big data’ and developmental assessment approaches can be used on digital learning platforms, to support assessment of higher-order learning skills such as ‘21st Century skills’, or learning skills. Originally trained as a teacher of science and mathematics, she is also a former Director of Curriculum in an Australian state education department, and has held senior research, management and governance positions in a range of educational organisations, including government agencies, not-for-profits, small start-up businesses and large, listed, international corporations. She was co-founder of The Good Universities Guide series, and has a background in technology commercialisation in education. She is the Convenor of a Melbourne University MOOC targeting professional learning for teachers in the area of assessment and teaching of 21C skills, which has to date has enrolled over 30,000 teachers worldwide.
Research Partners
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Emeritus Professor Patrick Griffin
p.griffin@unimelb.edu.au
Patrick is the founding director of the Assessment Research Centre. He has published widely on assessment topics that include the development and calibration of instruments to measure collaborative problem solving and other 21st century skills as well as literacy, numeracy and problem solving proficiency, through online interactive assessment and calibration.
Staff
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Dr. BM Monjurul Alom
03 9035 7880
monjurul.alom@unimelb.edu.auProgrammer
BM Monjurul Alom is presently a Programmer at the Assessment Research Centre, University of Melbourne, Australia. Monjurul works on software development specifically for the assessment of 21st century skills, including collaborative problem solving. He programs online assessment tasks and scoring algorithms. Monjurul has proficiency in web programming (game development, database application) and server administration.
He has developed ARC online testing system, registration portal system, multiplayer collaborative games and scoring engine to assess the ability of students, which is being used in schools in Australia and Internationally. His research also includes data mining and management for large scale databases.
He completed a PhD (Computer Science) in 2011 at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He was an Assistant Professor at Dhaka University of Engineering & Technology from 2000–2007.
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Nafisa Awwal
03 9035 4001
n.awwal@unimelb.edu.auResearch Fellow
Nafisa specialises in the design, development and implementation of web-based educational assessments, reporting and other data collection tools.
She manages system integration and architecture for traditional and innovative, individual and collaborative assessments for students in multiple languages. She is also involved in data management, analysis and item writing.
Her research interests are focused on the assessment and measurement of 21st century skills, including application of novel technologies in delivering automated tests and reporting to teachers and students.
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Daniel Jimenez Barrios
03 8344 0488
daniel.jimenez@unimelb.edu.auProgrammer
Daniel Jimenez is currently holding one of the Programmer positions of the Assessment Research Centre. He specialises in the development of a wide spectrum of enterprise level solutions, which include web, client/server and desktop applications.
His expertise encompass the development of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) modules, Control Systems, Decision Support Systems (DSS) and Business Intelligence/Analytics (BI) within a rich variety of business contexts such as car manufacturing, utilities, health and education.
He has a sound career in database management, data modeling, data extraction, data consolidation and data transformation for the most successful relational database management systems. He is also skilled in forecasting, simulation and optimisation. Daniel’s interests focus on SDLC best practices.
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Dr Bruce Beswick
03 9035 8718
bruceab@unimelb.edu.auResearch Fellow & Publications Officer
In his role as Research Fellow, Bruce works across a range of projects developing assessment materials and exploring challenges in assessment practice.
His most recent work has focused on the assessment of general capabilities and the arts. Bruce’s main interest is in the exploration of differences in evaluation and judgement and he completed a PhD on aesthetic judgement in 2012.
In his role as Publications Officer, Bruce is responsible for writing and editing research output, including academic volumes, book chapters, journal articles and web copy.
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Megan Collins
03 8344 6857
megan.collins@unimelb.edu.auLecturer
Megan has worked across a variety of international educational contexts employed as an educator and administrator.
Her work involves teaching in the Assessment for Teaching program, Clinical Teaching and Learning and Leading Assessment. She has a special interest in assessment in an international context.
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Dr Matthew Courtney
03 8344 6554
matthew.courtney@unimelb.edu.au
Research Fellow
Matthew's skills and expertise lie in the fields of educational measurement, statistics, quantitative research designs in education, and the social sciences.
He has multiple peer-reviewed journal publications, several book chapters, and experience as a masters and doctoral supervisor.
Matthew’s area of interest is quite broad having taken part in projects related to the quantitative modelling of child and adult learning and development across Australasia and Africa.
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Narelle English
03 9035 5748
narelle.english@unimelb.edu.auResearch fellow
Narelle English is a Research Fellow, Lecturer in assessment and Doctoral candidate at the Assessment Research Centre, University of Melbourne.
Her research projects are assessment related and she works on projects relating to developmental learning and the design and development of data collection tools and assessments. She has designed and implemented assessment for teaching programs in the Master of Teaching, Master of Education, the Network of Schools project within the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, and the Department of Education’s Bastow Institute.
She is currently working on projects with the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) in formative assessment and the Bastow Institute of Educational Leadership on a principal assessment.
Narelle has also taught and held leadership positions in department schools in Victoria, and overseas in the US state system and Japan.
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Dr Eeqbal Hassim
03 9035 7707
eeqbal.hassim@unimelb.edu.auSenior Research Fellow
Eeqbal is Senior Research Fellow at the Assessment Research Centre, based at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of Melbourne. His work focuses on intercultural education and education in international contexts, in particular the intersection of learning, teaching and assessment.
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Dr Rebekah Luo
03 8344 8432
rebekah.luo@unimelb.edu.au
Research fellow
Rebekah’s research interests lie in children’s learning and academic achievement, particularly in the areas of literacy and mathematics.
She completed her PhD in Paediatrics and Psychology in 2014 at the University of Otago, New Zealand.
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Emeritus Professor Barry McGaw
03 9388 0083
barry.mcgaw@unimelb.edu.au
Barry McGaw is currently serving as Interim Director of the Assessment Research Centre on a 0.4 appointment. He is an Honorary Professorial Fellow in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education and an Emeritus Professor of Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia.
He had earlier been Director for Education at the OECD in Paris, Executive Director of the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and Professor of Education at Murdoch University. He began his professional career as a secondary school science teacher in Queensland, Australia. He was the foundation Chair of the Board of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA).
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Dr Cuc Nguyen
03 8344 9540
cuc.nguyen@unimelb.edu.auSenior research fellow
Cuc has extensive experience in large-scale survey design (sampling design, instrument development, data management and data analysis).
Her strengths are in development and validation of instruments for measuring competencies, application of Item Response Theory, Structural Equation Modelling and Multi-level Modelling.
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Dr Jason Pietzner
03 8344 8699
jason.pietzner@unimelb.edu.auLecturer
Jason has worked in primary and secondary schools where he has held a variety of leadership positions including staff professional development and year level coordination. He currently teaches a range of subjects in the MGSE in the area of assessment, pedagogy, and philosophy of education.
Jason completed a PhD that examined the development of philosophical thinking in secondary students in 2014.
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Masa Pavlovic
03 8344 9543
m.pavlovic@unimelb.edu.au
Research fellow
Masa has international experience conducting large scale surveys of learning achievement.
Her expertise involves conducting and managing data collections including developing protocols and quality assurance. She is also skilled in instrument development and analyses. She has been an invited consultant on large scale studies in Southern Africa and South East Asia.
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Pam Robertson
03 8344 9537
p.robertson@unimelb.edu.au
Research fellow
Pam works on projects relating to developmental learning and the use of assessment data to inform teaching.
She also teaches courses in the areas of assessment and professional learning teams.
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Dr Claire Scoular
03 9035 9879
claire.scoular@unimelb.edu.au
Research fellow
Claire's work focuses on the improvement of measurement practices in education. Her expertise is embedded in the application and statistical analysis of psychological measurement.
Recent investigations have centered around measurement methodology and application for 21st century skills, including traditional and automated test delivery systems.
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Hilary Slater
03 9035 4425
h.slaterr@unimelb.edu.au
Project Manager
Hilary’s work includes coordination and support of research and teaching projects.
She provides Project Manager coordination of the centre’s large scale projects.
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Jane Strickland
03 8344 9536
jane.strickland@unimelb.edu.auLecturer
Jane lectures across post-graduate programs and has a background in special education. Her interest lies in supporting teachers' instruction of all learners through development and interpretation of high-quality assessment and learning progressions.
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Professor Mark Wilson
03 8344 8840
wilson.m@unimelb.edu.au
Professor of Assessment
Mark's interests focus on measurement and applied statistics.
His work spans a range of issues in measurement and assessment from the development of new statistical models for analysing measurement data, to the development of new assessments in subject matter areas such as science education, patient-reported outcomes and child development, to policy issues in the use of assessment data in accountability systems.
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Dr Kerry Woods
8344 9535
k.woods@unimelb.edu.au
Research fellow
Kerry’s research has focused on the design and validation of assessment and reporting practices that support teachers’ delivery of personalised learning programs for their students with additional needs.
She leads research programs and conducts teaching in the area of assessment for students with additional learning needs.
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Dr Zhonghua Zhang
03 9035 8597
zhonghua.zhang@unimelb.edu.au
Research fellow
Zhonghua’s expertise lies in the area of educational measurement and statistics.
He works on the application of advanced quantitative methods in educational and psychological studies. His studies have been published in refereed journals, book chapters,and international academic conferences.
The Assessment Research Centre is involved in a wide range of teaching activities focused on educational measurement and assessment. Teaching is a vital method of dissemination and used to inform practices of teaching and learning.
The study of assessment with the staff of the ARC reflects the latest theoretical understanding, research methodology and analytical tools available in the field. Skills gained are cross-disciplinary and by their very nature are applicable to diverse fields of work.
Courses
The Assessment Research Centre offers subjects in the following Melbourne Graduate School of Education courses:
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Master of Clinical Teaching
Use the latest evidence-based teaching methods to increase your impact on student outcomes.
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Master of Education
Gain a strong foundation in education practice and theory with our Master of Education degree. Delve into contemporary education issues, connect with the latest developments in the field, and garner the expertise to move beyond the classroom.
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Master of Instructional Leadership
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Master of Teaching (Primary)
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Master of Teaching (Secondary)
Research Subjects
Subjects which are taught or co-taught by Assessment Research Centre staff include:
- Becoming a Clinical Practitioner (Early Childhood)
- Becoming a Clinical Practitioner (Primary)
- Becoming a Clinical Practitioner (Secondary)
- Clinical Teaching and Learning
- Evidence Based Learning and Teaching 1
- Evidence Based Learning and Teaching 2
- Integrating Clinical Practice (Primary)
- Integrating Language and Clinical Practice (Secondary)
- Leading Assessment
- Learning from Evidence
- The Student as Learner
- Using Data to Build Learning Pathways
The Assessment Research Centre is involved in a wide range of graduate research activities focused on promoting educational measurement and assessment.
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Research Projects
The Assessment Research Centre involves is involved in a range of research development and teaching projects that focus on psychometrics, test development, performance and competency assessment in schools, higher education and workplaces.
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Research Supervision
The Assessment Research Centre welcomes students who wish to complete post graduate study at the Assessment Research Centre.
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Current Research Students
Learn about the innovative research being undertaken by research students based at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education's Assessment Research Centre.
The Assessment Research Centre publishes a wide range of written material including books, book chapters, journal articles and project-based reports. Certain publications may be available upon request. Please email: education-arc-info@unimelb.edu.au, stating the title(s) you are interested in.
Contact us
Email: education-arc-info@unimelb.edu.au
Postal address
Assessment Research Centre
Melbourne Graduate School of Education
The University of Melbourne
Victoria 3010