Access to HEConferenceMonday 2nd July 2015

Workshop Session

Validity in Assessment

Julia ChestersGateway Qualifications

Overview• Opportunities to make Access courses simpler to assess

• Review of unit content and assessment practice to underscore focus on validity

• Aim is to reduce workload in ensuring assessments are clear, so reducing resits, explanations for moderators etc.

• Activities also support tutors new to teaching or new to Access in addressing teacher training criteria in assessment of teaching and learning

Session schedule: 2 activities1) Small groups to devise assessment activities to cover a fictitious

Politics unit so that an AUI is developed. Comments on unit content are invited.

2) Groups reconfigure to compare two of the suggested assessments and test which would be better at producing the outcomes you wish to assess. What are the strengths and areas for development in the assessments devised?

Activity 1Sorting out an AUI for a Unit

Activity 1• You have been given a new (fictitious) Politics unit which needs an

Additional Unit Information plan (AUI) to show how it will be assessed

• Work in small teams of 3/4 to suggest assessment methods to cover this unit & prepare an AUI for the unit. How would you allocate the grade descriptors?

• What issues are raised in organising assessments for this unit?

Review of Activity 1

• What rationale was used for devising the assessments?

• Were any issues identified with the unit itself?

Activity 2Checking the validity of an

assessment

Activity 2: Team swap & assessment review• Swap half of your current team with half of another team, so that

you can share ideas between groups

• You will now compare two of the assessments suggested in Activity 1

• Consider each of the assessments against the VACSR guidance. Would you change anything in the assessments?

VACSR testing

• Valid: What is the most appropriate method to evidence the learning outcome – can it reasonably be assessed in an essay? A presentation? Interpretive dance?

• Authentic: Will the assessment stimulate the student to produce original work i.e. not cut and paste. Does it prove ‘ownership’ of content?

VACSR testing continued• Current: Does the assignment ensure that the student will use the

most up to date information about the topic?

• Sufficient: If students complete the assignment, will they address elements all of the assessment criteria/learning outcomes?

• Reliable: Has the assignment been constructed so that the students will know what is expected of them & all will produce the same format as evidence?

Activity 2 - Feedback• Do you have consensus as to how you would have assessed

the unit?

• What did you find when you applied the VACSR test to the suggested assessments- are your assessments the best they could possibly be?

Recap

Key questions on assessment validity• Is unit content appropriate? This covers relationship between

learning outcomes within the unit and also the broader relevance to the students’ HEI destination requirements

• Does the assignment promote achievement by being clear to students and staff regarding indicative content & format, appropriate to the learning outcome?

• Is the grading descriptor appropriately matched to the overarching tasks carried out in the assignments?

Any questions?

Access to HEConferenceMonday 2nd July 2015