External Examining in Practice: Discussion & Scenarios€¦ · Academic Quality Development Unit Centre for Learning & Teachingedgehill.ac.uk External Examining in Practice: Discussion

edgehill.ac.ukAcademic Quality Development Unit Centre for Learning & Teaching

External Examining in Practice: Discussion & Scenarios:

Dr Chris Beaumont

Quality & Enhancement Lead: Faculty of Education

National Teaching Fellow


Activity 1: Question 1

“A critical aspect of the External Examiner's role

should be to act as a ‘process-checker’ to

ensure assessment procedures and practices have

been carried out fairly and according to

regulations".

Considering your current view of the role of the

External Examiner, please state to what extent you

agree with the following statement:

Your Answer:

• Strongly Agree: 50%

• Agree: 42%

• Disagree 4%

“consistency and transparency”


National picture: Role and process checking

• 45% of examiners think the role has

been reduced to ‘process checking’

• 35% of examiners think there is too

much variability in the role

HEAcademy, 2017



“The most important aspect of the External

Examiner's role should be to ensure

comparability of assessment standardsbetween universities"




Your Answer:


• Agree: 42%

• Neither A/D 25%

• Strongly Disagree 4%



"The External Examiner has made a positive

contribution to the quality of the

programmes I teach"




Your Answer:


• Agree: 38%

• Neither A/D 8%

• NA 4%

“I have come across instances where the external

sees themselves as being more critical than friend....

As a team we have been lucky to have externals that are

keen to offer ideas, share their own practice and to take

an real interest in our courses. This has been invaluable

in providing an impetus for development.



• Academic staff contributing to the program

• Head of department (or equivalent)

• Senior management of the institution

• Students

• Employers

• Professional body

• Quality Assurance Agency

• The University

• Other (please define below)

Considering your current view of the role of the External

Examiner, please select to whom you consider the

External Examiner's primary duty?

8%0%4%50%0%0%4%

25%8%


National Picture: Examiners Perception of their Primary Duties towards:

31.7

22.1

16.6

8.6

6.5

6.4

4

2.3

1.8

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Students

Academics teaching programme

The University

QAA

Head of Dept

Professional Body

Senior Mgt

Other

Employers

%



a) An authority in the subjectb) An authority in Quality Assurancec) A Peerd) A Critical Friende) A Nuisancef) Other

How do you think the staff whose courses are

examined perceive an External? Please rank the

following in order of importance, where 1 represents

the highest level of importance

17% 3

13% 4

30% 2

70% 1

0% 6

13% 5

% 1st Rank

The EE does not necessarily

need to be expert in the

subject but should be in

terms of teaching and

learning processes and

quality issues.


National Picture

Examiners believe they are perceived as ( in rank order)

1. Critical Friend

2. Authority on the subject

3. Peer

4. Authority in QA

HEAcademy (2017)


Indicator 2Awarding institutions expect their external examiners to provide informative

comment and recommendations upon whether or not:

• an institution is maintaining the threshold academic standards set for

its awards in accordance with the frameworks for higher education

qualifications and applicable subject benchmark statements

• the assessment process measures student achievement rigorously

and fairly against the intended outcomes of the programme(s) and is

conducted in line with the institution's policies and regulations

• the academic standards and the achievements of students

are comparable with those in other UK higher education institutions of

which the external examiners have experience.


Indicator 3

Degree-awarding bodies expect their external examiners to

provide informative comment and recommendations on:

• good practice and innovation relating to learning, teachi

ng and assessment observed by the external examiners

• opportunities to enhance the quality of the learning

opportunities provided to students.


The Joy of Module Boxes


Activity 2: Scenarios, Q1You are an External Examiner for a UK University franchise BSc in Malaysia. At your site

visit you are reviewing a sample of final year (Level 6) Project/ Dissertation reports (15

reports out of a cohort of 23). The sample spans the marks from 40% to 77%. Marker

reports provide evidence of second marking, though all second markers agree with first

markers to within a couple of marks. Feedback comments from markers comprise 2-3

sentences.

You review a report from each classification band. 2 project reports are graded as 1st class,

which are sound in your view. Unfortunately all the rest appear to be generously marked,

and when you review further reports, your view is confirmed: they appear to be almost a

classification too high.

You ask for the marking rubric, which you have not previously seen. It turns out to

comprise a set of criteria by which to judge performance, but there are no indicators for

each grade band.

The Subject and Award boards are both tomorrow. Any mark amendments have to be

communicated to Registry in the UK university, and new mark sheets run off. This is made

more complex by the 7 hour time difference between UK and Malaysia. Mark changes

could impact awards of degrees.

Briefly outline the action you would take


You have been invited to a meeting at the beginning of your tenure as

external examiner. The Course Leader wants to brief you about the

course, get to know you and establish a working relationship. At the

meeting the Course Leader makes clear that there are no issues around

assessment standards being used as they compare favourably with

what he sees as an external examiner at another institution. He

identifies two areas where he would appreciate your help.

First, he confesses he has concerns about whether two other members

of the course team are really committed using criteria and moderation

processes so he wants you to focus on commenting on assessment

processes.

Second, he has started to prepare for the revalidation of the course due

to take place next academic year and would really appreciate

suggestions from you about how to improve the course

Activity 2: Scenarios: Q2


Activity 2: Scenarios: Q2 - Responses

1. You are aware that all the institution requires from you is a ‘tick box’ report which

you interpret as a lack of interest in your expertise. You see this as an opportunity

to make the job interesting, useful and support for colleagues in this institution and

so agree that you will help.

2. You make very clear that it is up to you how you carry out your role and where you

put your focus and resent the direction from the course manager.

3. Having looked at the course documentation prior to the meeting you can see a

range of ways to improve it and think that if the course can be improved the

academic standards will look after themselves (i.e. better learning processes and

a higher level of challenge will ensure the quality of work improves). So, you plan

in the first instance to focus on improvement of the programme, which will also

support the re validation and after that focus on any modules not reaching high

standards

4. You thank the Course Leader for being honest about possible problems in the

course and you will bear in mind what he has told you.


Activity 3: Assessment

1. How would you define ‘assessment’?

2. What purposes does assessment have?

3. How does this relate to your role as an External

Examiner?

4. what tools and methods you use (and would

recommend as an External examiner) to promote

valid and reliable assessment:


Activity 3: Feedback

5. How do you provide feedback to your students?

6. What do you see as the key issues regarding

feedback, from a student’s perspective,

7. and from teacher’s perspective?

8. What would you consider to be ‘good practice’ in

feedback?


External Examining is valuable for

you and the programme team:

– Standards & equivalence

– Sharing innovative good practice

– Scholarship of assessment &

Feedback

– Networking

Summary


Thanks for your participation!

Any questions?


Guidance and information

UK Quality Code for Higher Education,Chapter B7 External Examining, QAA (2011)http://www.qaa.ac.uk/assuring-standards-and-quality/the-quality-code/quality-code-part-b

‘A Handbook for External Examining’, Higher Education Academy (2012)https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/HE_Academy_External_Examiners_Handbook_2012.pdf

http://www.qaa.ac.uk/assuring-standards-and-quality/the-quality-code/quality-code-part-b

https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/HE_Academy_External_Examiners_Handbook_2012.pdf

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External Examining in Practice: Discussion & Scenarios€¦ · Academic Quality Development Unit Centre for Learning & Teachingedgehill.ac.uk External Examining in Practice: Discussion