Ideas for Delivery
Introducing Assessment Tools
Introducing Assessment Tools
Topic covers:
Introducing Assessment Tools
 What is an Assessment Tool?
 What principles / rules apply to Assessment Tools?
 Designing Assessment Tools
What is an Assessment Tool?
Key discussion points to note about the topic content
Assessment tools contain both:
 the instrument and
 the instructions or procedures for gathering and interpreting evidence.
Assessors must provide more information than the information for the learner – they
must include:
 instructions for the assessor
 sample answers / responses (sometimes called marking guides / ghost markers)
 advice on interpreting the evidence to make the assessment decision (sometimes
called benchmarks for decision making)
This means that another assessor (with the required competencies to assess the unit)
can use the documents comprising the assessment tool and the results of assessment
will be consistent.
Guide participants through selected activities.
PowerPoint slides to support key points
Slide 1 – 2
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106736200
 The State of Queensland (Department of Education and Training), 2009
Ideas for Delivery
Introducing Assessment Tools
Suggested activities to engage participants
1 Group discussion
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Ask – What comprises the documentation for an assessment tool at your RTO?
Pair/share – ask each participant to discuss with a partner
Write Assessment Tool on whiteboard/butcher paper and list the responses
Share and record participant responses – collect full range of terms used
Classify the terms according to the AQTF definition:
o Instrument
 specific questions
 profile of acceptable performance
 decision making rules or guidelines to be used by assessors.
o Procedures
 information or instructions for the leaner
 information and instructions for the assessor
 how the assessment is to be conducted and recorded.
Interactive online activities to support content
There are no interactive online activities developed to support this content.
Page 2 of 7
106736200
 The State of Queensland (Department of Education and Training), 2009
Ideas for Delivery
Introducing Assessment Tools
What principles / rules apply to Assessment Tools?
Key discussion points to note about the topic content
It is in this topic learners will apply the theory of the Principles of Assessment to tool
development and consider the implications of the Rules of Evidence to the evidence
collected by the tool.
The Principles of Assessment apply to the process of developing assessment tools.
In relation to validity - the tools must reflect the requirements of competency at current
industry standards and address:
 the requirements of the unit
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the dimensions of competency
the correct AQF level
language, literacy and numeracy requirements
The tools will demonstrate reliability if they yield consistent results. So the tools must
contain:
 clear instructions for both the learner and the assessor
 sample answers / responses
 advice to assessors to assist them to judge the sufficiency of responses.
Tools must also be trialed prior to use and reviewed following use.
Tools must demonstrate flexibility and fairness. The amount of flexibility possible is
limited to ‘reasonable adjustment’. Reasonable Adjustment usually involves varying:
 the procedures for conducting the assessment (eg allowing additional time, varying
the venue) and /or
 the evidence gathering techniques (eg oral rather than written questioning, use of a
scribe, modifications to equipment)
The Rules of Evidence are the rules by which an assessor justifies his/her judgements.
The rules of validity, authenticity and currency are applied to each particular piece of
evidence. In addition, overall there must be sufficient evidence to allow you as the
assessor to make a judgement of competence and the assessor must be confident that
the participant can perform the competency consistently.
Guide participants through selected activities.
Page 3 of 7
106736200
 The State of Queensland (Department of Education and Training), 2009
Ideas for Delivery
Introducing Assessment Tools
PowerPoint slides to support key points
Slide 3 – 5
Suggested activities to engage participants
1 Principles of Assessment - Worksheet
This worksheet encourages participants to consider the application of the Principles of
Assessment to tool development.
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Individually or in pairs (or as a group activity) ask participants to identify the relevant
Principle of Assessment for each of the statements in the left hand column.
Solutions are provided in Principles of Assessment – Worksheet Solutions
2 Group discussion - debrief the activity - making the point that at times a statement
may refer to more than one principle - ask participants to justify why this might be the
case.
Interactive online activities to support content
There are no interactive online activities developed to support this content.
Page 4 of 7
106736200
 The State of Queensland (Department of Education and Training), 2009
Ideas for Delivery
Introducing Assessment Tools
Designing assessment tools
Key discussion points to note about the topic content
This topic provides an overview of assessment tool design.
1 PLAN – this phase is addressed in the Planning Evidence Collection resource –
refer to this resource to extend this content
2 DEVELOP – the development of specific types of assessment tools is covered in
more detail in the following resources:
 Developing Direct Observation tools
 Developing Structured Activity tools
 Developing Questioning tools
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Developing Third Party Evidence tools
Key considerations at this stage:
 Quality of assessment instructions (for both the learner and the assessor)  Need for trial / review and version control
One of the key challenges when developing assessment tools is ensuring that the
instructions are clear and free of ambiguity. Ensuring instructions are easily understood
by assessors and learners is one of the main reasons for trialling and reviewing
assessment instruments.
Participants may have previous knowledge of Bloom’s Taxonomy – they may not
however have considered the relationship between the AQF Descriptors and the
taxonomy. PowerPoint slide 8 and Suggested Activity 2, below can assist in this
discussion.
Use the Review / Trial slide to summarise the main points covered in the topic.
Guide participants through selected activities.
Page 5 of 7
106736200
 The State of Queensland (Department of Education and Training), 2009
Ideas for Delivery
Introducing Assessment Tools
PowerPoint slides to support key points
Slide 6 – 9
Suggested activities to engage participants
1 Activity
Assessment Instructions – Worksheet
This worksheet highlights the importance of writing instructions that are clear and free of
ambiguity.
 Encourage participants to complete the worksheet individually
The “story” provided appears to be very simple and on first reading most
participants will picture it something like this:
The owner of a store is turning off the lights one evening when a robber appears and demands
money. The owner opens the cash register, at which point the robber takes the money and runs
away and the owner calls the police.
 Stimulate discussion - Ask Is this what the story really states (the facts) or are
the participants making inferences based on their first reading…..(The Assessment
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Instructions Worksheet Solutions document provides some key questions to ask to
stimulate discussion)
Share responses as a group
Debrief the activity - discuss the implications for assessment tool design and the
value of moderation / review / trialing of assessment tools.
2 Group Discussion
Matching Verbs and AQF Levels – Worksheet
Participants may have previous knowledge of Bloom’s Taxonomy – they may not
Page 6 of 7
106736200
 The State of Queensland (Department of Education and Training), 2009
Ideas for Delivery
Introducing Assessment Tools
however have considered the relationship between the AQF Descriptors and the
taxonomy.
 Lead a discussion using the prompts from PowerPoint slide 8 the summary of the
taxonomy from the Matching Verbs and AQF Levels - Worksheet.
 Identify the value of:
o reading the Unit of Competency with the taxonomy in mind
o linking the wording (instructions) used in the assessment activity to the level
of difficulty of the qualification level (AQF)
o considering the “useful verbs” as prompts when reviewing assessment tools
Interactive online activities to support content
There are no interactive online activities developed to support this content.
Topic Summary
Introducing Assessment Tools
 What is an Assessment Tool?
 What principles / rules apply to Assessment Tools?
 Designing Assessment Tools
Page 7 of 7
106736200
 The State of Queensland (Department of Education and Training), 2009