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Card-deck companion to the slide deck, generated from the same data — 18 things we believe about learning, in four families. Complex, transdisciplinary problems need multiple perspectives and can be solved in different ways — so how do you assess work fairly when there is no correct solution to compare it against? These principles are our answer. Each card carries one of them: the theme on the front, and on the back the claim we make to students, the assumption it rests on — stated plainly so it can be argued with — and how we explain it. Turn one over.

18 cards
How we work with learners We meet students where they are at
We're assuming
The right time to take the course differs for every student. Learners arrive with very different change-making experience from different disciplines.
For example
A first-year student may already be leading change, while a final-year student may never have considered it. The course accommodates both rather than assuming a fixed starting point.
By design
  • Open to every year level through AATD1001, AATD2001 and AATD3001, with LAWS4001 and VCPG6001 variants and not-for-credit pathways
  • Offered every session — Semester 1, Semester 2 and intensives
How we work with learners We trust students to do their best work
We're assuming
Students with clear intrinsic motivation can be trusted to do great work without the pressure of marks.
For example
In practice, this means we don't police attendance, demand evidence for an extension, or make you earn the benefit of the doubt. We take your word and your work in good faith, and that trust is almost always repaid.
By design
  • A self-designed pathway and flexible submission windows — communication matters more than the deadline
How we work with learners Students design their own journey
We're assuming
Students learn best when they shape their own path toward their own goals.
For example
Rather than following a fixed syllabus, students choose the KNoTs and project hours that fit their aspirations — and their plans are allowed to evolve along the way.
By design
  • Skills, Project and Flexible pathways
  • The Course Pathway Plan tailors the journey to each student
  • “Plans are made to be broken”
How we work with learners Students set their own pace and goals
We're assuming
Students work better toward milestones they set themselves than deadlines imposed on them. Course deadlines exist for coordination, not for learning.
For example
Deadlines in SoCIETIE are coordination points, not tests of compliance — you plan your own milestones around your project and your semester. And when your pace changes, telling us what's going on is a skill we teach, not a failure we punish.
By design
  • Submission windows rather than hard deadlines
  • Milestones are planned in the Course Pathway Plan, and re-planned as the semester moves
How we work with learners We grow learners — we don't judge them
We're assuming
Learning is developmental, and it is best supported by feedback. A single number can't capture the outcomes of transdisciplinary work.
For example
We assess the whole, not the sum: your final grade is not simply one assignment added to the next. Feedback and revision are what develop your thinking.
By design
  • Qualitative indicators — Complete without Revision, Complete with Revision, Revise and Resubmit, Not Complete
  • Completion is holistic, not additive, and resubmission is built in
How we learn together We learn in relationship, not in isolation
We're assuming
Knowledge is co-constructed. Ideas matter, and they are valued in relationship with others.
For example
Learning happens with peers, educators and the real world. Ideas are built between people, not handed down or worked out alone.
By design
  • Interactive KNoT workshops and collaborative projects
  • Peer discussion of plans and artefacts is encouraged
How we learn together We celebrate collaboration, not competition
We're assuming
Sharing and celebrating work motivates and validates students in a professional context, rather than scoring and ranking.
For example
The Show and Share celebrates learning rather than staging a contest. Students share their experiences rather than compete for grades.
By design
  • All projects are collaborative in nature
  • A public-facing Shareable Artefact is the final task
How we learn together We work across difference, not just alongside it
We're assuming
Difference is a resource, not an obstacle, when people take the time to understand each other.
For example
We intentionally design environments where people with different points of view, knowledge bases and expertise build genuine understanding of each other. That is different from multidisciplinary co-location, where people are simply put in a room together and left to chance.
By design
  • KNoTs draw students from across the university into one room
  • Partners bring non-academic expertise into the conversation
How we learn together The course has multiple custodians and stakeholders
We're assuming
Students belong to the whole learning community, not to individual academics.
For example
Teaching is distributed: many experts each contribute their topic and share responsibility for the cohort. No one academic “owns” a class of their students — the tent is wide enough for many voices.
By design
  • Many experts each contribute to the design and delivery rather than one academic teaching everything
  • Fellows share feedback and support across the whole cohort
The nature of the work There are no single right answers
We're assuming
Complex transdisciplinary problems have many valid solutions, so assessing work against a single “correct” answer is invalid.
For example
Wicked problems need multiple perspectives. We assess how you think and work with ideas, not whether you matched an answer key.
By design
  • A valuation structure built on the “no right answers” philosophy
  • Qualitative descriptors from Satisfactory to Exceptional, based on the SOLO and Bloom taxonomies
The nature of the work We learn by doing real work that matters
We're assuming
Applying skills to make real-world impact deepens learning more than any simulated task could.
For example
The Project applies the skills you build in KNoTs to create real impact on campus and in the community.
By design
  • A required Project with a Partner or Community
  • Typically, 40 to 80-plus hours of project work
The nature of the work Risk-taking and “failure” are part of learning
We're assuming
Exploration requires the safety to try uncertain approaches without penalty.
For example
If we scored and ranked your work immediately, it would discourage exploration. We want you to take risks.
By design
  • Revise-and-resubmit, with no marks during the semester
  • The safe-space principle
The nature of the work We make work for real audiences
We're assuming
Work made for a real audience — a partner, the public — calls out more care than work made only for an assessor. And students rise to a clear, high standard when they are supported to reach it.
For example
Project outcomes go to community partners, the Showcase is open, and work lives on the website beyond the semester. That's why the bar is high: “Course Requirements Satisfied” isn't a pass at 50 per cent — we expect work at Distinction level and above, and we help you get there through feedback, not gatekeeping.
By design
  • Course Requirements Satisfied is set at Distinction level, with transparent descriptors and verbs from the SOLO and Bloom taxonomies
  • Hurdle tasks, revise-and-resubmit to the standard, and feedback from Fellows
  • Project outcomes are delivered to partners, and work is published on the website
The nature of the work Reflection turns experience into learning
We're assuming
Metacognition — thinking about thinking — is where durable learning consolidates.
For example
Reflection draws a thread through the whole course and, at the end, ties the knot. We build it on Kolb's learning cycle: think, do, feel and watch.
By design
  • Reflection in the KNoT Completion Evidence — 250 to 500 words per KNoT, plus holistic and journey reflections
  • Kolb's cycle frames the reflection
  • A rationale accompanies the Shareable Artefact
Scaling the institute We build the skills to make change happen
We're assuming
Making change is a learnable, transferable craft that crosses disciplines — not an innate talent, and not the property of any one field.
For example
Every KNoT names the skills it develops — systems thinking, facilitation, theory of change — and the Project is where you combine them. They go with you into any discipline, workplace or cause.
By design
  • Every KNoT names the skills it develops, from a shared vocabulary of 29 terms
  • Skills appear on KNoT and class pages, so a pathway can be planned skill-first
  • The Project is where the skills combine
Scaling the institute The whole university is a place of learning
We're assuming
Universities serve to make students think. Valuable learning exists everywhere across the university and its partners, not just in one course's classes.
For example
Students carry an all-access pass to the whole university. KNoTs are flexible building blocks that you assemble by interest.
By design
  • Campus KNoTs alongside SoCIETIE KNoTs — up to one in every four
  • KNoTs can be combined or split
  • Learning from across the whole university counts
Scaling the institute We build many-sided partnerships
We're assuming
Partnerships work best when they run in more than one direction; a partner that only receives student work is a client, not a collaborator.
For example
The same partner might teach into a KNoT, host a Project, bring a problem to the Showcase and hire a graduate — each connection strengthens the others, and the Institute is where they meet.
By design
  • Partners host Projects, teach into KNoTs and bring real problems
  • The Showcase puts partners and students in the same room
  • The same organisation can appear in several roles at once
Scaling the institute We grow at a human scale
We're assuming
Genuine understanding between educator and student needs small numbers. Scale comes from repeating small formats and offering different pathways, not from letting classes grow.
For example
Classes stay small enough to hear from every student, understand their point of view and get to know them. We scale by multiplying human-scale contexts: many experts each teaching small, rather than one class growing large.
By design
  • Classes stay small enough to hear from everyone
  • KNoTs are repeated across sessions rather than enlarged
  • Many experts each teach small groups, rather than one class growing large
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Author: Chris.Browne@anu.edu.au Last updated: 03-Sep-2026

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