Transdisciplinary educational design: creating a structured space for critical reflection on e-learning assessment practices

Many academic staff are experiencing the multiple challenges and pressures of increased teaching loads, e-learning design and developments, ongoing research including the scholarship of teaching, as well as fiscal accountability. No wonder most lecturers have little time or energy left for the long-valued processes of critical reflection. This paper describes an educational design initiative of three cycles involving academic staff from a range of disciplines who came together with reference librarians and technical support staff in a series of meetings to reflect in a structured action learning process on their practices of designing assessment for e-learning. Creating a structured space proved to be a catalyst for staff to critically reflect on their practices and engage in transdisciplinary discussion. Where they are not hindered by postgraduate study in their discipline area, academic staff are likely to publish about their research into teaching. based on their critical reflection on practice.