Assessment – what is it good for?

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