1. Designing Assessment Methods

2. What our intentions as teachers?
To turn out students who:
Gain knowledge
Can apply their knowledge
Can make sense of their knowledge
Can make sense of all other things they may encounter
Can make sense of themselves
OUR AIM TO IMPROVE LEARNING

3. To improve learning
“Whether we think ourselves, lectures, or teachers, or facilitators of learning, the most important thing we do for our students is to assess their work”.
Phil Race (2003) ‘Designing assessment to improve learning’

4. Assessment
Assessment is a measure of learning, at a given point in time.
Relevant skills, knowledge and/or attributes can be measured towards a subject or qualification.
We need to know how well our students are progressing and to plan for further teaching and assessment.
We could design:
Formal – observations, test, examinations
Informal – oral questioning or quizzes
Assessment planning must be SMART

5. Assessment requires two things: evidence & standards.
for example traditional exams – project based work, worksheets.
Standard:-
Absolute criterion - can this person add 1+2
Performance relative - How does this person compare with others in the group/cohorts
Previous performance. – can this person achieve on this course and do better than when they started.

6. Why , when and what do we assess?
to certificate their achievements
to diagnose their learning needs
initial assessment
summative assessment
WHY?
WHEN
to select them for the next educational stage
formative and plenary assessment
promote deep learning
encourage, motive
develop, measure and evidence
PURPOSE
improve learning
WHAT
key skills
Opportunity for feedback
competence
Evaluation and reflection
underpinning knowledge
enable autonomy

7. Value & Quality of Assessment
Valid, reliable and transparent:
Measuring that which we really intend to measure. What can the student actually do with the knowledge they have gained.
Assessments must be fair and consistent. All work should be assessed at the same standards.
There should be no hidden agendas. The students should know what are the aims and where the goals post are.
External viewers should see clear links between intended outcomes and assessment criteria.

8. WHAT WHY HOW What does a student already know
What knowledge has our student acquired
How does a student apply this knowledge
Can the student put into practise the information and data processed
Has the student worked co operatively with other students
The students innovation and creativity
Has the student develop the oral skills
How well did they interact
How data and information has been processed
How effective was the learning
Determine fitness for entry onto the course
We need to measure and record learning
Promote deep learning
Motivate students
Provide students with opportunity for informed choices
Develop and encourage active learning
Encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning.
To help students to learn from their mistakes or difficulties.
Provide accurate statistics for our organisations
Reflect and evaluate our own teaching
Develop our lessons.
To guide improvement.
Diagnostics
Medium – video / audio
ICT – Presentations
Essays
Feedback
Reviews
1:1 discussions
Q&A
Plenary
Worksheets
Group work
Peer work
Performance assessment
Quiz
Final exams
Mid term papers

9. Bibliography
Gravells A & Simpson S (2010) ‘Planning and enabling learning’
Gray, Griffin & Nasta ( 2000) ‘Training to teach’
Petty G( 2001)‘Teaching Today’
Race P (2003) ‘Designing assessment to improve learning’
Rogers A (2002) ‘Teaching Adults’