Using the College’s marking schemes

1. Using the College’s marking schemes Adrian Boswood

2. Agenda • Why are you here? • Background – some of the “why” • Detail of the scheme – the “how” • Conclusions/comments

3. Creativity, original thought Bloom’s Taxonomy • A useful, if not perfect, way of thinking about different levels of cognitive achievement

4. Assessment strategy • To use methods of assessment that are appropriate to assess the characteristic of interest.

5. Which of the following is the “best” method for assessing knowledge? • MCQ • EMQ (extended matching questions) • Short answer questions • Essays (problem solving etc.) • Extended reports (RP2, BSc project)

6. Which of the following is the “best” method for assessing a student’s analytical skills? • MCQ • EMQ (extended matching questions) • Short answer questions • Essays (problem solving etc.) • Extended reports (RP2, BSc project)

7. Which of the following is the “best” method for assessing creativity and original thought? • MCQ • EMQ (extended matching questions) • Short answer questions • Essays (problem solving etc.) • Extended reports (RP2, BSc project)

8. Which of the following methods of assessment is most demanding on academic staff time? • MCQ • EMQ • Short answer questions • Essays • Extended reports

9. Assessment strategy • To use methods of assessment that are appropriate to assess the characteristic of interest. • If we want to assess cognitive skills higher than knowledge and understanding we need to use essays and extended reports.

10. Conclusions • Essays and extended reports are used to assess students’ abilities in areas more complex than simply knowledge. • The way in which we mark these should therefore take account of things like understanding, analysis, critical skills and where possible originality.

11. Why do we need common marking schemes? • Previous marking schemes tended to have developed “organically” for specific pieces of work. • This led to inconsistent marking and a lack of comparability between different assessments. • Such differences are difficult to justify when undergoing internal and external QA audits. • We therefore felt the need to develop a single grading scheme that could be used on all projects and long-answer questions.

12. What schemes do we have? • 10 point marking scheme • Designed to be used for short answer questions where the majority of the marks will relate to specific factual details of the answer and relatively little contribution to the marks is a consequence of structured argument, demonstration of understanding or problem solving. • “Short answer and problem solving questions that require lists, short phrase responses or calculations continue to use the 0 – 10 marking scheme.”

14. 10 point scheme only used when - • “students have already been issued with published Award & Assessment Regulations that incorporate the former 10-point scheme.” • Thus the assumption is that the CGS will be used unless otherwise stated.

15. Common Grading Scheme The CGS applies to: • long answer (essay style) and “descriptive style” short answer questions; • problem solving questions that require an essay style answer; and • project reports (library and research).

18. Finer discrimination in the range within which the majority of the answers fall

19. CGS quiz!

20. Evidence of how the scheme performs when used • BVetMed 4 exam • BSc Enemy Without module

24. Broad band marking?

25. Mode Median (If different to mode)

27. How does it behave with the BSc?

30. What do you need to know before you can apply the scheme? • The expectation of the question setter • “In writing examination questions and key-word answers, question-setters must provide a brief explanation of the philosophy behind their question and what they are expecting in the answer”

31. What do you need to know before you can apply the scheme? • The “level” of the examination

32. Why do you need to know the level? • If the marking was independent of the level of the piece of work then students studying for higher level qualifications should, on average, receive higher marks. • The marks are awarded in the light of the level of the qualification that is being studied

33. Foundation Degrees are awarded to students who have demonstrated: • knowledge and critical understanding of the well-established principles of their area(s) of study, and of the way in which those principles have developed • ability to apply underlying concepts and principles outside the context in which they were first studied, including, where appropriate, the application of those principles in an employment context • knowledge of the main methods of enquiry in the subject(s) relevant to the named award, and ability to evaluate critically the appropriateness of different approaches to solving problems in the field of study • an understanding of the limits of their knowledge, and how this influences analyses and interpretations based on that knowledge.

34. Bachelor's degrees with honours are awarded to students who have demonstrated: • a systematic understanding of key aspects of their field of study, including acquisition of coherent and detailed knowledge, at least some of which is at, or informed by, the forefront of defined aspects of a discipline • an ability to deploy accurately established techniques of analysis and enquiry within a discipline • conceptual understanding that enables the student: • to devise and sustain arguments, and/or to solve problems, using ideas and techniques, some of which are at the forefront of a discipline • to describe and comment upon particular aspects of current research, or equivalent advanced scholarship, in the discipline • an appreciation of the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge • the ability to manage their own learning, and to make use of scholarly reviews and primary sources (for example, refereed research articles and/or original materials appropriate to the discipline).

35. Master's degrees are awarded to students who have demonstrated: • a systematic understanding of knowledge, and a critical awareness of current problems and/or new insights, much of which is at, or informed by, the forefront of their academic discipline, field of study or area of professional practice • a comprehensive understanding of techniques applicable to their own research or advanced scholarship • originality in the application of knowledge, together with a practical understanding of how established techniques of research and enquiry are used to create and interpret knowledge in the discipline • conceptual understanding that enables the student: • to evaluate critically current research and advanced scholarship in the discipline • to evaluate methodologies and develop critiques of them and, where appropriate, to propose new hypotheses.