Setting Appropriate Assessment and Grading Criteria

1. Setting Appropriate Assessment and Grading Criteria

2. Setting of Assessment Criteria What do we assessment our students?

3. Reflecting on your current practice, discuss and share your experience within the group 1. What steps do you take to decide on what to assess your students? 2. How do you communicate the assessment criteria to the students and your colleagues (in case of team teaching)?

4. Setting Assessment Criteria . Based on explicitly set learning objectives . Consider both content and depth . Assessment criteria in-use in alignment with espoused objectives . Clear to students and teacher(s) involved

5. To effectively define the learning outcomes, objectives should include both the breadth and depth of the expected outcomes Content areas What Objectives Level of cognitive Processing How well

6. Setting Grading Criteria Student’s performance should be assessed against the objectives – criterion-referenced The grading criteria should clearly define the standards and quality of the students’ performance expected of each grade Based on the evidence presented in the students’ work, grading should be given to reflect how well the objectives have been achieved in terms of content covered quality of the learning implicated in the work

7. The SOLO Taxonomy Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome (Biggs & Collis, 1982) Prestructural Unistructural Multistructural Relational Extended Abstract Biggs, J. B. & Collis, K.F. (1982). Evaluating the quality of learning: the SOLO taxonomy. New York: Academic Press

8. The SOLO Taxonomy . Prestructural The task is engaged, but the work is irrelevant to the objectives to be achieved . Unistructural Focuses on one or a few points; items unoriginal, say essentially the same thing . Multistructural Covers several points; collection of a varied but isolated items; no particular thrust

9. The SOLO Taxonomy . Relational The points are inter-related; portfolio presents a coherent view of the student’s learning . Extended Abstract The case is embedded in a higher level theory; generalization made to a new domain; evidence of reflection, application, creativity and originality

10. Application of SOLO Taxonomy Individual reflection Reflect on one of the subjects you are teaching, try to identify the criteria for the different grades A, B, C, and E using the SOLO Taxonomy Group sharing Share your grading criteria with your partner

11. Reflecting on your current practice, discuss and share your experience within the group How can you help your students understand the assessment and grading criteria?

12. Help your students know the assessment and grading criteria . Remind students of the learning objectives, both content and depth . Explain to students the assessment methods and the expectations of each method . Let students practise developing a set of assessment criteria fora part of the subject that they have learned . Illustrate with past papers How the grading criteria have been applied How grades have been awarded How a better grade could have been achieved