Effective Assessment Designs

Designing and carrying out effective assessment

Masterclass, AHE conference

Birmingham June 24, 2015

David Carless

University of Hong Kong

The University of Hong Kong

Overview

1. Two assessment task designs

2. Your views on good assessment design

3. Elaboration of key principles

4. Implications



HISTORY CASE STUDY

Making History course

• Foundation level, year 1, 110 students


Making History LOs

Critical engagement with representations of past; interpret connections between past & present;


History Assessment

Fieldwork report (30%): Museum visit

Individual project (40%): draft 10%, final 30%

Participation (30%):

tutorial participation 15%

short weekly written responses 15%


Museum report

1000 words or podcast

Issues: key messages; use of space; coverage and omissions


Sample Project (1)

Relationship between film & history


Sample Project (2)

Walking tour of sites of Hong Kong identity


Project stages

• Topic brief

• Draft (10%)

• Final version (30%): 3000 words



LAW CASE STUDY

Tort Law

• Core 1st year course: 180+ students


Tort Law LOs

• Explain common torts and their functions

• Think critically about legal issues

• Analyse tort issues


Tort Law Assessment

Reflective Media Diary (20%)

1st sem test (20%) or test 10% + photo essay 10%

Final Exam (60%)

or 40% + 20% research essay


RMD

• identify tort law-related events in local media; track developments; provide legal analysis;

• portfolio-like: collecting, selecting, editing and analyzing material over time.


RMD features

Steady student engagement

Promotes reading habits

Incomplete, authentic problems

Workload friendly for teachers


Photo essay

Students photo tort law situations

Write a short legal analysis


Photo essay features

Student-identified legal issues

Creative …. Iterative

Not easy to grade reliably

Minor option so might be ignored


Use of exemplars

Sharing of samples to illustrate expectations


Same-day exam feedback

Discussion immediately after exam


Same-day exam feedback

Supplemented by online discussion

Novel angles may be added to marking scheme


SHARING

What do you see as the key features of good assessment task design?


Learning-oriented assessment

A major priority in all assessment should be to promote effective student learning processes (Carless, 2014)



Productive assessment task design

Student self-evaluative capacities

Student engagement with feedback

Learning-oriented assessment framework

TASK DESIGN PRINCIPLES


(1) Integrated with instruction and ILOs


Constructive alignment

(2) Spreading student effort/sustained engagement


(3) Mirroring real-life uses of the discipline


(4) Integrated and coherent


(5) Incorporates feedback dialogues


(6) Supports student in understanding quality


(7) Flexibility & choice


(8) Encourage deep approaches to learning


Programme-based approaches

Cumulative … integrated … coherent


Issues & Challenges


Student response

Students interpret assessment tasks based on their own preferences, experiences and motivations


Double duty

Competing priorities in

assessment

Reliability, Fairness,

Workload, QA etc


Lack of autonomy

Many teachers lack individual autonomy: pulled in different directions by competing assessment priorities (James, 2014)


Limited incentives

Good assessment design: difficult, needing effort but may not be rewarded (Norton et al., 2013)


Teacher X factor

Teacher will & determination to overcome barriers and strive for

… learning-oriented assessment


Trust in teachers Innovative assessment thrives when teachers are trusted (Carless, 2009)


Assessment literacy

Need for development in assessment (for learning) literacy of university teachers (cf. Price et al., 2012)


Final words

“Being a good teacher is very much about being a good designer of tasks” (Knight, 2002)


THANK YOU


Education

Effective Assessment Designs