Assessment: putting the theory into practice

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Assessment putting the theory into practice

• Chris Rust
• Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development
• Assessment Standards Knowledge Exchange (ASKe)
• Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
• Oxford Brookes University

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Student learning and assessment

• Assessment is at the heart of the student
  experience
• (Brown, S Knight, P., 1994)
• From our students point of view, assessment
  always defines the actual curriculum
• (Ramsden, P.,1992)
• Assessment defines what students regard as
  important, how they spend their time and how they
  come to see themselves as students and then as
  graduates.........If you want to change student
  learning then change the methods of assessment
• (Brown, G et al, 1997)

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6 areas of research theory

• Constructive alignment
• 7 principles for good practice
• Deep and surface approaches to learning
• Maximising student potential
• Assessment and feedback
• Social-constructivist assessment process

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Constructive alignment - issues of validity

• We continue to assess student learning - and to
  graduate and certify students much as we did in
  1986, 1966, or 1946, without meaningful reference
  to what students should demonstrably know and be
  able to do
• (Angelo, 1996)
• Assessment systems dominate what students are
  oriented towards in their learning. Even when
  lecturers say that they want students to be
  creative and thoughtful, students often recognise
  that what is really necessary, or at least what
  is sufficient, is to memorise
• (Gibbs, 1992)

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Constructive alignment - what is it?

• The fundamental principle of constructive
  alignment is that a good teaching system aligns
  teaching method and assessment to the learning
  activities stated in the objectives so that all
  aspects of this system are in accord in
  supporting appropriate student learning
• (Biggs, 1999)

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Constructive alignment 3-stage course design

• What are desired outcomes?
• What teaching methods require students to behave
  in ways that are likely to achieve those
  outcomes?
• What assessment tasks will tell us if the actual
  outcomes match those that are intended or
  desired?
• This is the essence of constructive alignment
• (Biggs, 1999)

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7 principles for good practice

• Good practice.
• Encourages student-staff contact
• Encourages cooperation among students
• Encourages active learning
• Gives prompt feedback
• Emphasises time on task
• Communicates high expectations
• Respects diverse talents and ways of learning
• Arthur W Chickering et al, for
  the
  American Association for Higher Education,
  the Education Commission of
  the States,
  and the Johnson Foundation

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Deep and surface approaches to learning

• Surface approach
• The student reduces what is to be learnt to the
  status of unconnected facts to be memorised,
  which means that the learning task becomes to be
  able to reproduce the subject matter at a later
  date
• Deep approach
• The student attempts to make sense of what is
  learnt, which consists of ideas and concepts, and
  involves the student in thinking, seeking
  integration between components and between tasks,
  and playing with ideas (Gibbs, 1992)

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Course characteristics a surface approach

• A heavy workload
• Relatively high class contact hours
• An excessive amount of course material
• A lack of opportunity to pursue subjects in depth
• A lack of choice over subjects and a lack of
  choice over the method of study
• A threatening and anxiety provoking assessment
  system

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Course characteristics a deep approach

• The engendering of intrinsic motivation in the
  students students wanting and needing to know
• Learner activity
• Interaction with others
• A well structured knowledge base - i.e where
  content is taught in integrated wholes and where
  knowledge is required to be related to other
  knowledge

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Maximising student potential 1 - Clarify
expectations/keep them busy

• Setting students assignments as soon as soon as
  they arrive at university could help cut dropout
  ratesintegrate students into university life
  as quickly as possible. This involves making them
  aware of the quality and quantity of work
  expected from them..The freedomis too much for
  some and they probably need more structure in the
  first year.
• Higher, 24/1/03
• Reporting Student Transition and Retention (STAR)
  project
• (in 5 universities)

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Maximising student potential 2 - Pace learning

• Multiple-staged assignments
• Self-assessment
• Peer-assessment
• CAA

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Maximising student potential 3 - Skills
development

• information retrieval
• ICT skills
• academic writing skills
• time project management
• self-assessment
• marking exercises/peer assess
• reflection
• group skills
• etc

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Maximising student potential 4 - Positively
reinforce/allow for early failure (a)

• Low self-belief can adversely affect achievement
• (leading to drop-out)
• Believe failure due to lack of intelligence
• Leads to learned helplessness
• Difficult tasks prompt giving up
• Overly concerned with saving face
• Mantz Yorke, based on study of six institutions.
  ILT symposium on widening
  participation and promoting student retention,
  27th September, 2001

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Maximising student potential 4 - Positively
reinforce/allow for early failure (b)

• Possible assessment solutions
• Adjust the curriculum to foster development
• Set sub-goals for longer assignments
• Allow for slow learning in the programmes
  assessment strategy
• Make first semester assessments primarily
  formative
• Mantz Yorke, based on study of six institutions.
  ILT symposium on widening
  participation and promoting student retention,
  27th September, 2001

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11 conditions under which assessment supports
learning 1 (Gibbs and Simpson, 2002)

• Sufficient assessed tasks are provided for
  students to capture sufficient study time
  (motivation)
• These tasks are engaged with by students,
  orienting them to allocate appropriate amounts of
  time and effort to the most important aspects of
  the course (motivation)
• Tackling the assessed task engages students in
  productive learning activity of an appropriate
  kind (learning activity)
• Assessment communicates clear and high
  expectations (motivation)

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11 conditions under which assessment supports
learning 2 (Gibbs and Simpson, 2002)

• 5 Sufficient feedback is provided, both often
  enough and in enough detail
• 6 The feedback focuses on students performance,
  on their learning and on actions under the
  students control, rather than on the students
  themselves and on their characteristics
• 7 The feedback is timely in that it is received
  by students while it still matters to them and in
  time for them to pay attention to further
  learning or receive further assistance
• 8 Feedback is appropriate to the purpose of the
  assignment and to its criteria for success.
• 9 Feedback is appropriate, in relation to
  students understanding of what they are supposed
  to be doing.
• 10 Feedback is received and attended to.
• 11 Feedback is acted upon by the student

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Social-constructivist assessment process

• the social-constructivist view of learning
  argues that knowledge is shaped and evolves
  through increasing participation within different
  communities of practice

the social-constructivist process model of
assessment argues that students should be
actively engaged with every stage of the
assessment process in order that they truly
understand the requirements of the process, and
the criteria and standards being applied, and
should subsequently produce better work Rust,
C., ODonovan, B. Price, M. (2005) Assessment
and Evaluation in Higher Education, Vol.
30, No. 3
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Explicit Criteria
Students
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Tutor discussion of criteria
Staff
Assessment guidance to staff
Marking and moderation
Explicit Criteria
Students
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Tutor discussion of criteria
Staff
Assessment guidance to staff
Marking and moderation
Explicit Criteria
Students
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Summary

• Taking account of the research literature,
  assessment strategies should
• Require constructive alignment
• Ensure workload is realistic and assessment is
  non-threatening and non-anxiety provoking
• Engender intrinsic motivation through relevant
  real world assessment tasks, tasks which
  require active engagement by the student, and by
  providing a choice of tasks
• Pace student learning and ensure there are
  sufficient formative tasks
• Structure skills development
• Allow for slow learning and early failure
• Include explicit guidelines on giving effective
  and prompt feedback
• Improve student and staff understanding of
  assessment by implementing a social-constructivist
  assessment process model