How the assessment landscape is changing in the short and medium term

Peter Taylor

The importance of assessment

• The function of any University is to teach and award degrees

• Assessment is at the heart of both these processes– Assessment for learning– Assessment of learning

The importance of Staff Development and scholarship in Assessment

• About 50% of academic teaching time is spent on module presentation much of which is associated with the development of assessment materials and marking etc.

• Feedback from assessment is probably the most important individual tuition our students get.

• The design of appropriate assessment for learning is an important aid to students student learning

What do our students think about our assessment/teaching

• The criteria used in marking have been clear in advance. 86%• Assessment arrangements and marking have been fair. 88%• Feedback on my work has been prompt. 87%• I have received detailed comments on my work. 92%• Feedback on my work has helped me clarify things I did not

understand. 83%

• For all individual items within the scale, satisfaction for the OU is much higher in comparison to the sector, ranging from +10% points to +21% points higher.

• We are doing a good job but we could do better

Ways in which we can improve our assessment

• The move to qualification registration means we must ensure we look at how our assessment strategy meets the learning outcomes of the award not the individual modules.

• The qualification assessment strategy must match a coherent progression of skills and knowledge and assessment types.

• How many of us understand the range and coherence of the assessment activities we ask our students to undertake over the lifetime of their qualification?

Scholarship and Staff development• Since assessment is key to what we do we need to;

– Invest in the scholarship of assessment. We have creative academic staff who have the knowledge and experience to contribute to the scholarship of assessment not just in the OU but also nationally and internationally

– The most important resource of any University is the creativity and skill set of the academic staff. We need to invest in their training to ensure they are prepared for teaching in the new world

– We need leaders to make all this happen

Some recent developments within the University

• Study Experience Programme - New models of assessment and tuition ;– Assessment mentors in each Faculty– Creating an Assessment Hub – exemplars– Scholarship funding– Staff development

New models for delivering student outcomes

The Assessment project in Learning and teaching

• Assessment policy• A white paper on assessment• Staff development• Sustainability plan and programme management

• Business Performance Improvement Review• Analytics• HEA Grade Point Average review

Some new developments

• New Moodle quiz tools• Turnitin4students and how we use text

matching software within a programme

• Peer assessment – the workshop tool• Online examinations

The Workshop application• Setup phase

– Upload questions, exemplar answers and markscheme– Set up grading/feedback strategy– Set cut off dates for submission and assessment activities

• Submission phase– Release question to students – submit online before cut off date

• Assessment phase– Students receive mark scheme– Students may receive exemplars for marking and moderation exercise.– Students receive randomly allocated scripts (1-20) and using the mark

scheme give feedback and grades

The Workshop application

• Evaluation phase– Workshop calculates final grade for submission and assessment

activity– Tutor can overide grades– Tutor can provide feedback on assessment process

• Closed– Final grades can be pushed into the gradebook and thus the OU

assessment system (if required)

To quote one student “I thought it was a brilliant idea and hope it is used in my last two modules of my degree”

• Online Learning Systems Guide (staff): http://learn3.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=38923

• OU Computing Guide (tutor/student): http://learn1.open.ac.uk/admin/tool/redirector/redirect.php/workshop

Authenticity and the need for balance

Reputation

Security of assessment

• QAA needs• EMAs versus exams - A balance across the

qualification• Nobody writes for three hours any more – use

of laptops in exam halls • Online exams and invigilation

• Thank you for your attention