How the assessment landscape is
changing in the short and medium
term
Peter Taylor
The importance of assessment
• The function of any University is to teach and
award degrees
• Assessment is at the heart of both these
processes
– Assessment for learning
– Assessment of learning
The importance of Staff Development
and scholarship in Assessment
• About 50% of academic teaching time is spent on
module presentation much of which is associated
with the development of assessment materials
and marking etc.
• Feedback from assessment is probably the most
important individual tuition our students get.
• The design of appropriate assessment for
learning is an important aid to students student
learning
What do our students think about our
assessment/teaching
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The criteria used in marking have been clear in advance.
Assessment arrangements and marking have been fair.
Feedback on my work has been prompt.
I have received detailed comments on my work.
Feedback on my work has helped me clarify things I did not
understand.
86%
88%
87%
92%
83%
• For all individual items within the scale, satisfaction for the OU is
much higher in comparison to the sector, ranging from +10% points
to +21% points higher.
• We are doing a good job but we could do better
Ways in which we can improve our
assessment
• The move to qualification registration means we must
ensure we look at how our assessment strategy meets
the learning outcomes of the award not the individual
modules.
• The qualification assessment strategy must match a
coherent progression of skills and knowledge and
assessment types.
• How many of us understand the range and coherence
of the assessment activities we ask our students to
undertake over the lifetime of their qualification?
Scholarship and Staff development
• Since assessment is key to what we do we need to;
– Invest in the scholarship of assessment. We have creative
academic staff who have the knowledge and experience to
contribute to the scholarship of assessment not just in the
OU but also nationally and internationally
– The most important resource of any University is the
creativity and skill set of the academic staff. We need to
invest in their training to ensure they are prepared for
teaching in the new world
– We need leaders to make all this happen
Some recent developments within the
University
• Study Experience Programme - New models of
assessment and tuition ;
– Assessment mentors in each Faculty
– Creating an Assessment Hub – exemplars
– Scholarship funding
– Staff development
New models for delivering student outcomes
The Assessment project in Learning
and teaching
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Assessment policy
A white paper on assessment
Staff development
Sustainability plan and programme management
• Business Performance Improvement Review
• Analytics
• HEA Grade Point Average review
Some new developments
• New Moodle quiz tools
• Turnitin4students and how we use text
matching software within a programme
• Peer assessment – the workshop tool
• Online examinations
The Workshop application
• Setup phase
– Upload questions, exemplar answers and markscheme
– Set up grading/feedback strategy
– Set cut off dates for submission and assessment activities
• Submission phase
– Release question to students – submit online before cut off date
• Assessment phase
– Students receive mark scheme
– Students may receive exemplars for marking and moderation exercise.
– Students receive randomly allocated scripts (1-20) and using the mark
scheme give feedback and grades
The Workshop application
• Evaluation phase
– Workshop calculates final grade for submission and assessment
activity
– Tutor can overide grades
– Tutor can provide feedback on assessment process
• Closed
– Final grades can be pushed into the gradebook and thus the OU
assessment system (if required)
To quote one student “I thought it was
a brilliant idea and hope it is used in
my last two modules of my degree”
• Online Learning Systems Guide (staff):
http://learn3.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?i
d=38923
• OU Computing Guide (tutor/student):
http://learn1.open.ac.uk/admin/tool/redirector/redi
rect.php/workshop
Authenticity and the need for balance
Reputation
Security of assessment
• QAA needs
• EMAs versus exams - A balance across the
qualification
• Nobody writes for three hours any more – use
of laptops in exam halls
• Online exams and invigilation
• Thank you for your attention