effective assessment designs
TRANSCRIPT
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
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The University of Hong Kong
HISTORY CASE STUDY
Making History course
• Foundation level, year 1, 110 students
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Making History LOs
Critical engagement with representations of past; interpret connections between past & present;
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History Assessment
Fieldwork report (30%): Museum visit
Individual project (40%): draft 10%, final 30%
Participation (30%):
tutorial participation 15%
short weekly written responses 15%
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Museum report
1000 words or podcast
Issues: key messages; use of space; coverage and omissions
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Sample Project (1)
Relationship between film & history
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Sample Project (2)
Walking tour of sites of Hong Kong identity
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Project stages
• Topic brief
• Draft (10%)
• Final version (30%): 3000 words
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The University of Hong Kong
LAW CASE STUDY
Tort Law
• Core 1st year course: 180+ students
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Tort Law LOs
• Explain common torts and their functions
• Think critically about legal issues
• Analyse tort issues
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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
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RMD
• identify tort law-related events in local media; track developments; provide legal analysis;
• portfolio-like: collecting, selecting, editing and analyzing material over time.
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RMD features
Steady student engagement
Promotes reading habits
Incomplete, authentic problems
Workload friendly for teachers
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Photo essay
Students photo tort law situations
Write a short legal analysis
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Photo essay features
Student-identified legal issues
Creative …. Iterative
Not easy to grade reliably
Minor option so might be ignored
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Use of exemplars
Sharing of samples to illustrate expectations
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Same-day exam feedback
Discussion immediately after exam
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Same-day exam feedback
Supplemented by online discussion
Novel angles may be added to marking scheme
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SHARING
What do you see as the key features of good assessment task design?
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Learning-oriented assessment
A major priority in all assessment should be to promote effective student learning processes (Carless, 2014)
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The University of Hong Kong
Productive assessment task design
Student self-evaluative capacities
Student engagement with feedback
Learning-oriented assessment framework
TASK DESIGN PRINCIPLES
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(1) Integrated with instruction and ILOs
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Constructive alignment
(2) Spreading student effort/sustained engagement
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(3) Mirroring real-life uses of the discipline
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(4) Integrated and coherent
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(5) Incorporates feedback dialogues
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(6) Supports student in understanding quality
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(7) Flexibility & choice
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(8) Encourage deep approaches to learning
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Programme-based approaches
Cumulative … integrated … coherent
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Issues & Challenges
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Student response
Students interpret assessment tasks based on their own preferences, experiences and motivations
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Double duty
Competing priorities in
assessment
Reliability, Fairness,
Workload, QA etc
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Lack of autonomy
Many teachers lack individual autonomy: pulled in different directions by competing assessment priorities (James, 2014)
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Limited incentives
Good assessment design: difficult, needing effort but may not be rewarded (Norton et al., 2013)
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Teacher X factor
Teacher will & determination to overcome barriers and strive for
… learning-oriented assessment
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Trust in teachers Innovative assessment thrives when teachers are trusted (Carless, 2009)
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Assessment literacy
Need for development in assessment (for learning) literacy of university teachers (cf. Price et al., 2012)
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Final words
“Being a good teacher is very much about being a good designer of tasks” (Knight, 2002)
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THANK YOU
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