Making the intangible, tangible - Assessment design that fosters curiosity, confidence and collaboration during international short-term study tours for Australian students

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Marglet

The study examines how assessment design can make intangible skills visible and actionable during international short-term study tours for Australian adult undergraduate students. Using educational action research, researchers developed assessment modules to prompt awareness of confidence, flexibility, curiosity, resilience, and risk taking, supporting intercultural competence and global perspectives. Feedback from participating staff and students, collected through questionnaires and focus groups, indicates the modules effectively foster learning, personal growth, and cultural sensitivity by enabling students to recognize transferable skills developed while immersed in host-country contexts.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages25

Reading Time1 h 3 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Intangible skills and assessment challenges

Action research approach and assessment module design

Study tours context and implementation

Feedback and findings

Implications for immersive assessment

Australian Journal of Adult Learning Volume 60, Number 1, April 2020 Making the intangible, tangible: Assessment design that fosters curiosity, confidence and collaboration during international short-term study tours for Australian students Mark William Pennings Debra Flanders Cushing Rafael Gomez Clare Dyson Queensland University of Technology A distinctive characteristic of study tours is their immersive nature, and the type of learning developed in such circumstances often relies on instinctive skills related to confidence, flexibility, curiosity, resilience and risk taking. To discover more about these learning experiences for adult undergraduate students studying varying disciplines in the creative industries at an Australian University, the researchers employed educational action research and developed assessment modules to foster student awareness of intangible skills and personal characteristics during short-term international study tours. On the completion of the tours, participating staff and students provided feedback, via a questionnaire and focus group discussions, that assessed the value of these modules in promoting learning and their contribution to personal growth and cultural sensitivity. Findings show that these modules were highly effective at enabling adult 114 Mark William Pennings, Debra Flanders Cushing, Rafael Gomez, Clare Dyson students to become aware of the skills they employed while being actively engaged in international study tours. This study highlights the potential significance ofimmersive assessment modules that provide specific ways for students to engage with their host country and the cultural differences to which they are exposed. Keywords: Study tours, international education, higher education, creative industries, assessment modules, work integrated learning Introduction International short-term study tours can offer valuable learning experiencesand enhance students’personal growth.A recent Australian review of learning abroad outcomes found that a well-designed short-term program could have a significant and lasting impact upon participants (Potts, 2016). In a tertiary academic context, adult students who travel to overseas destinations are generally required to complete conventional assessment tasks such as reflective essays, journals and group presentations that enable tour leaders to determine whether students have gained content knowledge (source anonymised for blind review).Yet, adult students also acquire other skills as they immerse themselves in new environments, often confronting personal challenges when adapting to new places and cultures.These intangible and transferable skills include ‘intercultural competence’and‘global perspectives’that can improve their intellectual development (Potts & Berquist, 2014, pp. 1–4). Other intangible and transferable skills frequently associated with international study include ‘curiosity, initiative, risk taking, suspension of judgment, cognitive flexibility, tolerance of ambiguity, cultural humility, and resourcefulness’(Bennet, 2008, p. 20), which can have beneficial lifelong impacts, includingthe enhancement of future employability (Foundation for Young Australians, 2015). For students within the creative industries disciplines, these skills are particularly important as they navigate the changing landscape of employment opportunities that are often non-traditional and require unique abilities. These intangible and transferable skills may be fundamental to adult student experiences during short-term international study, or study tours, but discerning and assessing them can be a challenge.Research shows the opportunities for guided reflection and interaction with locals throughout Making the intangible, tangible 115 the time abroad can lead to the development of intercultural sensitivity (Campbell & Walta, 2015). These opportunities can also form part of the assessment tasks used within study tours.And similar to

FAQs

What problem does the study address about international study tours?

It addresses the difficulty of discerning and assessing intangible, transferable skills that adult students develop during short-term international study tours.

How were the assessment modules developed and evaluated?

Educational action research was used to design assessment modules, and their value was evaluated using staff and student feedback via questionnaires and focus group discussions.

What skills does the assessment focus on during the tours?

The modules target intangible skills such as confidence, flexibility, curiosity, resilience, risk taking, and related outcomes like intercultural competence and global perspectives.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Marglet