Collaborative approaches to moderation of assessment in transnational education

Transnational education (TNE) teaching and professional teams conduct assessment work across organisational, national and cultural boundaries. Achieving a shared set of principles and understandings, and through that, fair assessment processes within and across programs, is a complex task that requires ongoing dialogue and collaboration between all members of the teaching team. Collaborative approaches facilitate development of a community of practice in transnational programs with input of all staff involved in the teaching team. Our research, from a two-year study into moderation of assessment in TNE, has revealed a number of challenges to collaboration amongst transnational teaching teams undertaking moderation of assessment including issues of trust and control, communication and cultural differences. Our research has also identified many examples of good practice in developing a community of practice and aspirations in working towards developing and maintaining collegial relationships and sharing power.