1 / 22

Assessment – what is it good for?

Assessment – what is it good for?. Andy Bates. School of Life Sciences. Questions. How do you think about assessment? What is it for? What is its most important function? Do students understand the assessment process? How much do they know about the standards we are applying?

phong
Download Presentation

Assessment – what is it good for?

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Assessment – what is it good for? Andy Bates School of Life Sciences

  2. Questions • How do you think about assessment? • What is it for? • What is its most important function? • Do students understand the assessment process? • How much do they know about the standards we are applying? • How much do we know about the standards we are applying?

  3. A marked improvement

  4. A marked improvement • Oxford Brookes University • University of Northumbria • Other experts • HEA

  5. A marked improvement • Assessment is not doing its job • NSS – assessment and feedback • Not kept pace with context, aims and structure of higher education • Does not mirror the demands of employment?

  6. Benefits of change • Improved potential for learning • Increased student satisfaction • Improved value for money? • Addresses required skills and attributes • Fairer representation of achievement

  7. The tenets

  8. The tenets

  9. The tenets

  10. The tenets

  11. The tenets

  12. The tenets

  13. Transforming assessment pilot • Initial workshop • Application for Pilot • Kathy Johnson • Andy Bates • Tom Bee • James Gaynor • Janet Strivens • Now wider group… • Emphasis on STEM, but wider applicability

  14. Action plan • University-wide.. • A University Learning, Teaching and Assessment Policy • A code of practice for assessment which separates assessment for learning from the generation of marks for progression and degree classification purposes. • Modified guidelines for the programme approval process • A module to form part of the PGDip which would focus on programme design and the development of progressive assessment techniques within a programme. • Recognition that a key graduate attribute is an ability to assess one own performance and that of others.

  15. Action plan • Assessment for Learning • Focus on Year 1, Semester 1 • Surveys for baseline data • Workshops for feedback methods in large classes • Mentoring partnerships for staff • Aim for greater understanding of the issues, and greater engagement from the students

  16. Project assessment • Crucial part of UG and PG degrees • Lots of subdivisions of assessment • Lots of criteria • Do the students understand? • Is it working? • Do we know what we’re doing?

  17. Supervisor-assessor correlation Equal 10 mark difference

  18. Notes • Based on 199/249 projects with full data • Mean supervisor mark 2.5 % higher than assessor • Variance of assessor marks lower • Mean mark difference – 6 marks • 14 % of projects > 10 mark difference • Agreed mark on average close to mean mark • Descriptors no better (actually worse, but may be confounding issues…)

  19. Think about the tenets Tenet 3: Recognising that assessment lacks precision Tenet 4: Constructing standards in communities Tenet 6: Ensuring professional judgements are reliable

  20. Start from scratch… • Survey how project assessment works now – across the STEM subjects • Discuss with research-active staff – ‘what makes a good research student?’ • Survey project supervisors • What are the most important learning outcomes? • How can we assess these outcomes. What is the evidence we can use?

  21. Outcomes? • Proposals for generic learning outcomes for project assessment • Evidence base for assessment • Discussion with staff and students on standards

  22. Acknowledgements • Kathy, Janet, James, Tom • Susanne and the other members of the wider team • HEA

More Related