Re-assessing assessment

Re-assessing assessmentAnn WilsonSenior Academic DeveloperLearning and Teaching at Navitas

What will we be talking about?What makes good assessment?

What are some principles of a sound assessment strategy, and why?

Some new ways forward what will you do differently?

Why assess?What is the purpose of assessment?

Two types or timing of assessmentFormative assessment When?- duringthe results of which are used for feedback.Students and teachers both need to know how learning is proceedingSummative assessment When? - at the endthe results of which are used to grade students at the end of a course, or to accredit at the end of a program

Assessment is the curriculumStudents can escape bad teaching but they cannot escape bad assessment

David Boud

They learn what they think they will be assessed on

Paul Ramsden

Students focus on assessment

How assessment supports learning

1. Sufficient assessed tasks are provided for students to capture sufficient study time (time on task)

2. These tasks are engaged with by students, orienting them to allocate appropriate amounts of time and effort to the most important aspects of the course.

3. Tackling the assessed task engages students in productive learning activity of an appropriate kind

Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, Issue 1, 2004 Conditions Under Which Assessment Supports Students Learning GRAHAM GIBBS & CLAIRE SIMPSON

What are some principles of a sound assessment strategy?

Assessment ManifestoAssessment1. should be based on an understanding of how students learn2. should accommodate individual differences in students3. purposes and expectations need to be clearly explained4. needs to be valid (measure outcomes)5. needs to be reliable and consistent6. should allow students to receive feedback7. should provide staff and students with opportunities to reflect8. should be an integral component of course design9. should be of an appropriate amount10. criteria need to be understandable, explicit and public11. should be sustainable

Brown, Race and Smith, 2010; Boud and Falchikov, 2007

1. should be based on an understanding of how students learnA Model of LearningBe introduced to it

Get to know it

Try it out

Get feedback

Reflect and adjust

Use it!

This can start at any point in the cycleTry model of learning to ride a bikeLearning to readLearning to make a cup of tea?? Lydia and a cup of tea on Mothers day13

2. should accommodate individual differences in students

3. purposes and expectations need to be clearly explained

4. needs to be valid (measure outcomes)

Biggs, 2012

Teaching/Learning ActivitiesDesigned to elicit acts indicated by the verbs.

Activities may be: teacher-controlled peer-controlled self-controlled

as best suits the context.

Curriculum Objectivesexpressed as verbs students have to enact

AThe very best understanding that could bereasonably expected:might contain verbs such as hypothesise, apply to far, domains

BHighly satisfactory understanding:Might contain verbs such as explain, solve, analyse, compare

CQuite Satisfactory learning, withunderstanding at a declarative level:verbs such as elaborate, classify, cover topics a to n

DUnderstanding at a level that would warranta pass:low-level verbs, also inadequate but salvageable higher-level attempts

Assessment TasksEvaluate how well the target acts indicated by the verbs are deployed in the context.

The highest level response to be clearly manifested becomes the final grade A, B, C, etc.)

Learning Outcomes

Learning Activities

To get alignment in your teachingDescribe intended outcomes of learning in terms of what the students are supposed to be able to perform after the teaching, incorporating the standards or criteria that students are to attain.

Engage students in learning activities that are likely to bring about the intended outcomes.

Judge if and how well students performances meet the criteria.

But what about students constructing meaning.18

Blooms taxonomy

SOLO Taxonomy (Biggs 2010)Structure of the Observed Learning Outcomes

Misses pointPrestructural Unistructural Multistructural Relational Extended Abstract Quantitative phaseQualitative phase

IdentifyDo simple procedureEnumerateDescribe, ListCombine, Do algorithmCompare/ContrastExplain, Analyse, Relate, ApplyTheorise, Generalise, Hypothesise, Reflect

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5. needs to be reliable and consistent

6. should allow students to receive feedback

7. should provide staff and students with opportunities to reflect

8. should be an integral component of course design

9. should be of an appropriate amount

10. criteria need to be understandable, explicit and public

11. Should be sustainableRethinking models of feedback for learning: the challenge ofDesign by David Boud* and Elizabeth Molloy

Student feedback is a contentious and confusing issue throughout higher education institutions. This paper develops and analyses two models of feedback: the first is based on the origins of the term in the disciplines of engineering andbiology. It positions teachers as the drivers of feedback. The second draws onideas of sustainable assessment. This positions learners as having a key role indriving learning, and thus generating and soliciting their own feedback. It suggests that the second model equips students beyond the immediate task and does not lead to false expectations that courses cannot deliver. It identifies the importance of curriculum design in creating opportunities for students to develop the capabilities to operate as judges of their own learning.

Assessment ManifestoAssessment1. should be based on an understanding of how students learn2. should accommodate individual differences in students3. purposes and expectations need to be clearly explained4. needs to be valid (measure outcomes)5. needs to be reliable and consistent6. should allow students to receive feedback7. should provide staff and students with opportunities to reflect8. should be an integral component of course design9. should be of an appropriate amount10. criteria need to be understandable, explicit and public11. should be sustainable

Brown, Race and Smith, 1996; Boud and Falchikov, 2007

Some new ways forward What are you thinking about?What will you do differently?