Presentation Title Example

Author: Simon Haslett 15th October 2009

Post Graduate Certificate: developing professional practice in HE

Chapter 5

Developing Good Practice in Assessment

Chapter 5: Developing Good Practice in Assessment

1. Chapter objectives

2. Who cares about assessment?

3. Purposes of assessment

4. The assessment process

5. Modes of assessment

6. Key issues in assessment

7. Developing assessment for learning

8. Sharing ideas

9. Improving summative assessment

10. Reflective summary

11. Bibliography

1: Chapter objectives

• to identify the multiple purposes of assessment• to describe key terms and concepts in assessment• to evaluate an innovative assessment tool and share

findings with the group• to reflect on and develop own assessment practices

2: Who cares about assessment?

• There are a range of “stakeholders” who have an interest in the assessment process. These may include:

– The students themselves– The university department– Current or future student employers– Anyone else…?

• Reflect on which stakeholders are the most powerful in influencing assessment practices in your own teaching.

3: Purposes of assessment

• Different stakeholders have different areas of interest in assessment.

• Of the groups you have identified, reflect on who is likely to be interested in the following purposes of assessment?

– Diagnosis of individual learning/progress checking– Informing further learning and teaching – Ranking and selection (e.g. for further study or particular

professions)– Organisational quality control– Accreditation and certification

• Look at the simple diagram on slide 4: this suggests differing purposes of assessment at different stages too

4: The assessment process

5: Modes of assessment

• Much assessment in HE nowadays is measured against learning outcomes i.e. it is criterion-referenced. However, there are other modes:– norm-referenced assessment

• results are relative to the cohort e.g. the top 20% get the top grade (regardless of mark)

• pass marks etc. may go up or down year on year, depending on the difficulty of the assessment

– criterion-referenced• students measured against outcomes or criteria i.e. the student

can…• usually transparent (everyone has access to the criteria)

– ipsative• student sets own goals • performance is measured against own previous work

6: Key issues in assessment

• Go to the library room to read Bloxham & Boyd (2007) chapter 3:The conflicting purposes of assessment

• Examine the case studies in Bloxham & Boyd and note the importance of ensuring that our assessment practices are:– Valid– Reliable– Transparent

7: Developing assessment for learning

• Choose one of the following learning tools (it should be one that you could use in your own teaching, though ideally it will be new to you):

– Reflective learning journal– Web page, wiki, discussion forum or other online tool– Poster presentation– Small group collaborative project

• Evaluate its use as an assessment tool:– Strengths and weaknesses (in terms of validity, reliability,

transparency etc.)– Its suitability for peer/self assessment– Where in the assessment process/cycle it might work best

8: Sharing ideas

• Now share your evaluation with another participant and then write a short summary in your e-portfolio

– Note down the name of the learning tool you chose to evaluate– Write a brief evaluation, using the three points on slide 7 as a

starting point– You might also like to comment on how you could use such an

assessment tool in your own practice

• Sharing your evaluation is an important opportunity for peer learning and peer formative assessment too

9: Improving summative assessment

• In chapter 4 you evaluated one of your own modules for “constructive alignment”

• Review the table you worked on then (your version of DOC09) in the light of ideas for assessment activities which have emerged in this chapter

• Reflect on developing your ideas for summative assessment further.

• This might be an area for you to develop in an action research cycle

10: Reflective summary

• Please write a 500 word reflective summary on your experience of this chapter, to include:

– What you have learnt– How you will put this learning into practice in your

teaching• The reflective summary should be put in your e-portfolio

11. Bibliography

• BLOXHAM, S. & BOYD, P. (2007) Developing Effective Assessment in Higher Education Maidenhead, Berkshire. Open University Press

• BOUD, D. & FALCHIKOV, N. (2007) Rethinking Assessment in Higher Education: learning for the longer term London. Routledge

• EAST, R. (2008) Effective Assessment Strategies in Law [on-line] www.ukcle.ac.uk/resources/assessment/effective.html accessed 25 January 2010