Guidance on forms of evidence of impact

The following may be useful for a variety of applications, including educational awards (VC, AAUT, Faculty), promotion applications, and Advance HE Fellowship applications. It is intended as a source of ideas rather than a definitive set of possible forms of evidence.

If you have suggestions for improving this guidance, please contact mea@monash.edu.

The nature of evidencing educational impact

Effective evidence demonstrates that your work has made a meaningful difference to student learning, colleagues’ practice, curriculum, institutional strategy, or broader communities. However, evidence is not self-explanatory. Strong applications weave evidence into a coherent narrative that shows:

• What did you do? (the initiative, intervention, or approach)
• Why did you do it that way? (the rationale behind your approach, context, needs, or problem address)
• What changed as a result? (the outcomes or impact)
• How do you know it made a difference? (the evidence)

Quality of evidence typically matters more than quantity. Consider relevance, specificity, credibility, and alignment with your claims. For example, a shift in student pass rates is powerful only if it’s clearly linked to your actions and contextualised within the teaching and learning environment.

Think about the audience and purpose of your application. Use your evidence to advance your overall argument and showcase the distinctiveness, effectiveness, and/or influence of your educational practice.

Sampling, Using Excerpts, and Adding Interpretation

Applications often have tight word limits and require synthesising complex work. Therefore, evidence should be curated and interpreted—not simply listed or included in full.

• Sampling: Select a few powerful examples rather than attempting to be exhaustive. Choose those that best support your narrative.
• Excerpts: For feedback, student comments, peer reviews or testimonials, use short excerpts that convey key points.
• Interpretation: Don’t assume the evidence speaks for itself. Add some brief interpretation to make it clear how the excerpt relates to your main claims and arguments. Briefly explain what the sample of evidence shows and why it matters. For example: “This unsolicited email from a former student illustrates the long-term impact of my capstone unit on graduate confidence and career readiness.”

When presenting quantitative data (e.g., student survey results or grade distributions), use visual representations sparingly and interpret the trends succinctly. Highlight patterns or shifts that are clearly linked to your teaching or leadership practice.

Be aware of how different schemes evaluate evidence. For example:

• Advance HE Fellowship requires evidence aligned with the PSF dimensions.
• Promotions typically require evidence of sustained and high-level impact aligned with the Education Performance Standards Framework.
• Awards often look for both innovation and measurable improvement.

Thoughtful integration of evidence can be the difference between a compelling application and a generic one:

• Align evidence with the relevant criteria and clearly articulate your individual contribution.
• Tailor your selection and interpretation of evidence to the scheme or application.
• Use evidence to demonstrate a pattern or story of impact, not just one-off successes.

Anonymity and De-identification

Respecting the privacy of students and colleagues is essential:

• Deidentify all student work and feedback.
• Remove names, identifiers, and other potentially sensitive details.
• For testimonials or quotes, avoid using identifying information unless explicit consent has been obtained.

For artefacts such as student work samples, ensure you have permission to share or include a general statement that permissions have been obtained. When in doubt, err on the side of caution.

Examples of evidence