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Enhance your understanding of assessment principles, factors driving landscapes, and aligning assessment for improved student outcomes. Explore feedback importance and ensure validity and reliability in assessments.
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Levelness in Assessment and Learning/Using Assessment and Feedback to Drive Learning Dominic Bygate Learning and Teaching Innovation Centre University of Hertfordshire D.Bygate@herts.ac.uk
By the end of this session participants should have : • been reminded about the fundamental principles of assessment (validity, reliability and fairness) • an increased awareness of the factors that influence and drive assessment landscapes • Had an opportunity to consider their own practice in light of the above
DESIGNING AN ASSESSMENT LANDSCAPE What are the tensions / competing interests?
The Assessment landscape QAA Subject Benchmark Statements My family love it when I talk about learning outcomes!
Assessment is the engine which drives student learning Cowan, J. (2005) In: Designing assessment to enhance student learning. 'Nothing we do to, or for our students is more important than our assessment of their work and the feedback we give them on it. The results of our assessment influence students for the rest of their lives...' Race, P. Brown, S. and Smith, B. (2005) 500 Tips on assessment: 2nd edition, London: Routledge. Students can, with difficulty, escape from the effects of poor teaching, they cannot (by definition if they want to graduate) escape the effects of poor assessment.‘ David Boud, Presentation to the Conference 'Effective Assessment at University', University of Queensland, 4-5 November 1998
University of Hertfordshire Assessment-for-Learning Principles 2012. These principles suggest that good practice in Assessment-for-Learning: • Engages students with the assessment criteria • Supports personalised learning • Ensures feedback leads to improvement • Focuses on student development • Stimulates dialogue • Considers student and staff effort
What does a bad assessment experience look like? Take a few minutes to discuss
What does a good assessment experience look like? Take a few minutes to discuss
What issues have come up in your Module /Programme about assessment? Take a few minutes to discuss
Level 6 SEEC Level Descriptors Level 5 Level 4
Assessment Equivalence Guidance • When considering a 15 credit point module, the total hours associated with the module is 150hrs. e.g. • Class contact = 44hrs • Independent study = 106 hrs • If the module is weighted 50% exam:50% coursework, then the independent study associated with each component should be divided between the two elements i.e. 53 hrs each. • If the module has 2 assignments worth 20% each and a progress test worth 10%. The time guidance regarding student effort could be 20hrs for each of the assignments and 10 hrs for the test. • Example guidance to Students: e.g. “We would normally expect you to spend approximately 20hourson this assignment in addition to your regular independent study on this module”
Validity andReliabilityof Assessments Validity: an assessment is valid when it is testing precisely what the examiner wants to test. Reliability: as far as possible, markers acting independently of each other but using the same grading criteria/ mark scheme would reach the same judgement on a piece of work.
How do we ensure students’ assessment experience is valid and reliable? Take a few minutes to discuss
What is Assessment for Learning? Assessment for Learning focuses on the opportunities to develop students' ability to evaluate themselves, to make judgements about their own performance and improve upon it. It makes use of authentic assessment methods and offers lots of opportunities for students to develop their skills through formative assessment using summative assessment sparingly.
Some useful principles • The levelness of the grading criteria can be differentiated by weighting e.g. level 4 would have less focus on analysis than level 6. The SEEC level descriptors (2010) is a useful reference tool here. • Criteria can be developed for different assessment formats e.g. Reports, Essay, Presentations, poster… • There should be a description of each sub-criterion at each grade for clarity • Language/adjectives must be consistent with university grade descriptors (e.g. 60-69 = very good) • Ensure the language used is accessible to students and staff • Ensure grids have horizontal and vertical consistency
I have received detailed (helpful) comments on my work/ Feedback on my work has helped me clarify things I did not understand • The importance of ‘feed-forward’ in writing feedback…… • include self- reflection questions and ask i) which part of the feedback on your last assignment helped you most in completing this assignment? ; ii) what feedback would you find particularly helpful on this assignment? Which part of the assignment did you find most difficult? • Do not give the grade at the time the coursework is returned with the comments. Have an in-class exercise of using the grading criteria /marking scheme and the feedback comments to arrive at the student’s own judgement of the grade.
QAA Expectation of Assessment Higher education providers operate equitable, valid and reliable processes of assessment, including for the recognition of prior learning, which enable every student to demonstrate the extent to which they have achieved the intended learning outcomes for the credit or qualification being sought.
Internal Moderation • Internal moderation (UH assessment regulations – UPR AS12) • The moderator should not be a member of the marking team • Reviewing minimum sample size equal to the square root of the total number (but not less than five), selecting work from across the range of marks awarded • Where there is more than one marker, the moderated sample should include a minimum of five (5) items of assessment marked by each of the markers and shall for each marker reflect the range of grades awarded. • Review the feedback • Blind marking
