Effective assessment practices require thoughtful planning at the course and programme level. Sambell and colleagues (2012) have proposed a model, which includes six core principles to promote effective assessment practices as follows.
Click on each tab below to learn more about each principle.
If students find assessment tasks meaningful, they will be more likely to pour efforts in deep learning that can benefit their work and lives in the long term (Sambell et al., 2012).
Assessments should be planned at the programme level to scaffold students’ learning so that students can build up necessary knowledge and capabilities progressively over the years of study in the university.
For example, the Psychology programme at SUSS has planned out the objectives that assessment practices should be aligned to across levels of study. As shown in the figure below, students are expected to use higher levels of cognitive processes as they progress through their studies.
TLC Workshops & Sharing Sessions
AD161f: Fundamentals of Assessment
AD163: Constructing Multiple-choice Tests
AD261: Developing and Assessing Group Work
Further Reading
“Disciplinary Assessment Case Studies” by King’s College London.
Reference
Sambell, K., McDowell, L., & Montgomery, C. (2012). Assessment for learning in higher education. Routledge.
Assessment practices (graded or ungraded) should be planned out intentionally to foster students’ learning. In particular, such planning should be done not only at the course level but also at programme level.
Why do we need to plan assessments at the programme level?
Scholars and practitioners have argued that assessment practices should be planned at the programme level, rather than merely at the course level. While instructors design assessments for individual courses, students typically juggle assessments across multiple courses. The lack of proper and holistic assessment planning beyond course level can cause various issues (e.g., bunching of assessment deadlines, high cognitive load, etc.), which in turn may foster students’ adoption of surface learning (Tomas & Jessop, 2019).
How can we plan assessments at the programme level?
We can use the following questions to evaluate the adequacy of assessment pattern and make necessary mitigations:
- Are assessments aligned well with all programme outcomes (POs)?
It is useful to tabulate POs and assessments for each course in one table or spreadsheet. This allows us to evaluate the coverage of POs in assessments and identify assessments that are redundant. - Are there bunched assessment deadlines for students?
Submission deadline of each assessment can be mapped out at the programme level. This allows us to identify and mitigate possible pressure points with bunched assessment deadlines.
Use the Psychology programme at SUSS as an example.- The programme provides a recommended study plan to both full-time and part-time students. For example, below is the recommended study plan for Year 1 students.
- Head of Programme (HoP) then maps out assessment deadlines and lecture sessions across courses for each semester. For example, the figure below is the assessment mapping for July semester. While the first column indicates the academic week, each subsequent column shows the schedule of each lecture session (cell in orange) and assessment deadline for a specified course.
- HoP takes various measures to mitigate bunched deadlines (particularly for assessments with higher demands, such as TMA, GBA, ECA, etc.). The mitigation strategies include coordinating assessment deadlines across courses and among instructors, better utilising the 12-week curriculum time, eliminating unhelpful assessments, etc.
- Before course registration, the information of assessment deadlines and course schedules at the programme level is released to students, so that students can plan their studies accordingly (particularly if students wish to take courses outside the recommended study plan).
- The information of assessment deadlines and course schedules is also released to faculty and associate faculty, to assist with better planning (e.g., particularly for management of marking load and timeline).
- The programme provides a recommended study plan to both full-time and part-time students. For example, below is the recommended study plan for Year 1 students.
- Is feedback provided to students in time?
We should also incorporate feedback timeline into the aforementioned assessment mapping, so that students can use the feedback on assessment to inform their learning and improve their performance on the subsequent assessments.
Watch this short video to find out more about assessment planning in the Psychology programme at SUSS.
Further Reading
“Thinking programmatically about your assessment and feedback practices: The programme spring-clean” guide by Heriot-Watt University.
Reference
Tomas, C., & Jessop, T. (2019). Struggling and juggling: A comparison of student assessment loads across research and teaching-intensive universities. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 44(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2018.1463355
Students should be able to try out their learning, practise and improve, building competence and confidence before they are summatively assessed. |
Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs; famously termed by Angelo and Cross in 1993) are a set of specific strategies that educators can use to gauge students’ learning progress. Researchers and practitioners around the world have widely recommended using CATs to improve teaching and learning in the field of tertiary education.
TLC Workshop & Sharing Session
AD169: Using Classroom Assessment Techniques
Further Reading
Refer to this document for a list of CATs and short descriptions.
Reference
Sambell, K., McDowell, L., & Montgomery, C. (2012). Assessment for learning in higher education. Routledge.
As students work together, discuss ideas and methods, and interact with teachers they can test out their own ideas and skills, see how other students go about things and begin to absorb the standards and requirements of their subjects. |
Instructors can provide informal feedback via various opportunities (e.g., ungraded assessment tasks in class), to help students gauge their own learning progress and address misconceptions/difficulties in time.
TLC Workshop & Sharing Session
AD169: Using Classroom Assessment Techniques
Further Reading
“Commenting constructively on assessed work” guide by Heriot-Watt University.
Reference
Sambell, K., McDowell, L., & Montgomery, C. (2012). Assessment for learning in higher education. Routledge.
Assessment feedback should be provided in a constructive and timely fashion, so that students can draw on the feedback to improve their learning and performance on future tasks (Sambell et al., 2012).
TLC Workshops & Sharing Sessions
AD165: Developing Scoring Rubrics
AD167: Giving Effective Assessment Feedback
Further Readings
“Streamlining feedback on summative tasks” guide by Heriot-Watt University.
"Feedback for learning" guide by Columbia University.
Reference
Sambell, K., McDowell, L., & Montgomery, C. (2012). Assessment for learning in higher education. Routledge.
Ultimately, as graduates and professionals, students need to take over for themselves much of the assessment that lecturers currently do for them but be skilled at drawing on the resources of workplace colleagues to support their ongoing development. |
Providing opportunities for students to learn to evaluate their own achievements and identify areas for improvements can foster the development of self-reflection and critical thinking.
Further Reading
“Getting students to self-assess to deepen their learning and develop feedback dialogues” guide by Heriot-Watt University.
Reference
Sambell, K., McDowell, L., & Montgomery, C. (2012). Assessment for learning in higher education. Routledge.
Reference
Sambell, K., McDowell, L., & Montgomery, C. (2012). Assessment for learning in higher education. Routledge.