Courses are expected employ a variety of assessment types that:
The inclusion of a variety of assessment types within a course will require students to demonstrate their learning in multiple ways, employing different skills in communication, higher order thinking, and self-management. It is expected that all courses will provide students with assessment components that involve students communicating using academic and non-academic writing, employing oral/visual communication, and working in groups. To support students' achievement on such components, they should be provided ample opportunities to learn, practice and refine their abilities through delivery (synchronous and asynchronous), formative assessments and progressive summative assessments within the overall assessment schedule.
In this section we explore some of the wide variety of types and forms of assessment that may be employed as summative assessment. Before exploring these, it is worth noting some key variables that can distinguish assessment types and approaches, and through which assessment selection and design can be thought through.
It is impractical to explore all the possible assessment types that could be included in a course's assessment strategy (as illustrated by the selection listed in the diagram below). Consequently, here we set out some overall approaches and illustrate how these can be enhanced or tailored for specific situations or purposes.
A Proliferation of Assessment Types
Synoptic assessments offer the opportunity for separate modules to be assessed (partially or fully) through a single assessment component. This would allow, for example:
Academic writing assessments take a varietry of forms. While essays are the mainstay of many courses assessment strategies, and most courses will require students to produce a prolonged dissertation, report or similar prolonged piece of academic writing, there are other formats that might be employed. In some subject areas there are specific forms of writing that need to be produced by students such as lab reports in some science subjects, and the variety of formats employed in both academic and professional journals and magazines can inspire alternative student assessment component formats.
It is important that students are prepared for their engagement with the forms of academic writing they are required to produce, and course teams are expected to embed opportunities for students to receive guidance and learning for, gain experience of, and receive feedback on their work for each of the skills required by students to produce academic pieces. Consequently, course teams are encourages to provide opportunities for students to produce partial academic pieces both as formative opportunities and as summative assessment components early in their students' learning plan. Possible partial academic pieces include:
For many students, writing in a formal academic style can form a barrier to their ability to express themselves freely and expressively. Employing reflective writing styles can allow students to effectively produce written evidence of their higher order thinking, particularly in relation to practice and the application of theory to practice, without the need to spend significant time proofing or polishing their work. Many courses require students to compile reflective diaries that record their experiences, thinking, learning and decisions as they engage with either study activity through a module or with particular learning situations such as work placements, field or prolonged lab work, or research projects.
Reflective writing can form the basis for assessment pieces on their own, or can be utiliused in the collection of evidence for more formal assessment pieces:
The use of time constrained assessment components can have a number of advantages:
Traditionally, time constrained assessments have taken the form of exams. While there is a place for exams, particularly when courses are meeting the expectations for PSRBs or need to prepare students for their engagement with professional exams post graduation, course teams are encouraged to explore other forms of time constrained assessment. Such alternatives can benefit students by reducing the stress involved, minimising the mystery over what the questions will be, and removing unnecessary time limitations.
Time constrained assignments can be either synchronous or asynchronous. Synchronous time constrained assignments ususally involve students completing one or more tasks at the same time in a particular phsyical location, For example, a student group could be required attend a given time to complete some practical IT based tasks in a computer lab, or to complete a design and prototype process in an appropriately equipped workshop. An asynchronous time constrained assignment give students flexibility over when they engage with the set tasks within a limited period. For example, students might be asked to produce written responses to a set of questions or resolve some set problems. These tasks might be expected to take around two hours but students are allowed to do the work at whatever time is most convenient to them within a twenty-four hour period.
In designing time constrained assignments, the following should be considered:
On a computing course a tutor required students to demonstrate their ability to complete an analytical process to a case study involving a sequence of steps. The tutor decided to set a time constrained assessment (TCA) at the end of the module in which students would be required to perform this process. The tutor shared with the students the time constrained assessment at the start of the module’s delivery within the module guide, and also provided a number of example case studies. Through the module’s delivery the tutor referred to the TCA and encouraged students to explore the provided case studies as examples within their independent learning. At the end of the module the students were encouraged to complete two further case studies which the tutor subsequently worked through with them. Through this, all students had ample opportunity to prepare for the TCA, and were fully informed on what they would be expected to do.
It is normal to include opportunities for students to make presentations to their peers and possibly other audiences in our courses. Presentations can take a number of forms, ranging from short verbal statements through to prolonged multimedia presentations. It is important that students get sufficient opportunities to develop presentation skills, receiving feedback on their performace on formative opportunities before being required to deliver presentations as summative assessement.
In planning assessment based on presentations, the following points are worthy of consideration:
Some creative subjects and computing based courses require students to submit digital artifacts such as pieces of software, films and sound recordings. Where such digital artifacts will be employed in modules throughout a course, the course team should develop standard processes and instructions for students on how the artifacts should be submitted and include these in the student's handbook. Consideration will need to be taken to ensure all students have sufficient opportunity to develop their work including ensuring that they all have access to required tools, systems and facilities, and adequate training in how to use these effectively.
Many courses will require students to produce physical artifacts, particularly within creative arts and engineering based courses.
A portfolio is a means by which a variety of different pieces of student work, possibly including some emergent from group activity, can be collected together as a single assessment component. Portfolios are particularly useful as a means by which student can curate evidence that demonstrates their achievement of learning outcomes whilst allowing each student to employ materials that are pertinent to their individual situation, context or talents. By specifying portfolios as an assignment component for a module, teams can allow themselves flexibility to vary the precise elements that students are required to include depending on the approach taken in the module or the variety or nature of case studies employed within the module’s learning activities. Some possibilities that portfolios can offer include:
Brightspace has an e-portfolio facility that can be employed for assessments – Please contact the Brightspace team for further details of this facility.
Particularly suitable for more creative subjects, but often very powerful in opening students up to different ways on thinking in other subjects, there are a number of other assessment formats that involve students curating and commenting on collections of artifacts. Examples include:
In recent years a few courses have introduced assessments based on vivas, interviews with tutors where student's understanding and learning is tested through questioning. Such assessments remove the need for students to spend time preparing assessement for submission, and ensure that it is the student's own learning that is assessed. Vivas can be quite stressful for some students and so care will need to be taken to minimise this. Some other points worth considering include:
Automated - Automatic release of score/grade on completion
Tool | Formative/Summative | Features |
---|---|---|
H5P
Self-assessment: this is a third party tool and currently does not pass scores back to Brightspace. |
Formative |
|
Brightspace Quiz | Formative and Summative |
Quizzes are often thought to only be useful for quick knowledge checks, however different question types allow you to test different levels of knowledge. They can align to Bloom’s Taxonomy:
|
Bongo Video Assignment | Formative and Summative |
Video assessment tools can help you develop your communication, collaboration, and critical thinking skills.
|
Partial Automation - Automatic release of some scores/grades on completion with added manual intervention
Tool | Formative/Summative | Features |
---|---|---|
Brightspace Quiz |
Formative and Summative |
As above auto-grading with manual intervention of:
|
No Automation - manual marking and grade release
Tool | Formative/Summative | Features |
---|---|---|
Brightspace Assignments |
Formative and Summative |
|
Brightspace Discussion Fora | Formative and Summative |
|
Brightspace Portfolio | Formative and Summative |
|
Bongo Video Assignment | Formative and Summative |
Video assessment tools can help you develop your communication, collaboration, and critical thinking skills.
|
Involving students in the processes employed for determining the marks of their peers can be a powerful mechanism for encouraging students to engage with marking criteria, to develop evaluative and judgemental skills, and develop communication skills through their provision of feedback. Peer assessment can occur in both formative learning activities (see Assessment for learning) and within summative assessment. In summative assessment, employing peer assessment activity can:
There are many ways in which we can require students to work with each other as part of their assessment activities. At times this might involve the students working together towards a particular goal or in solving or addressing a particular scenario (as in Problem based learning). Other possibilities include having students in one level take on a leadership role, with students at earlier stages in their studies working with them to achieve a particular outcome, and students working together to combine their individual pieces of work to form a larger piece.
Employing peer assessment approaches should not be taken lightly – students will need to be well prepared for their role and be given support in the marking process. In addition, there are likely to be students who fear unfairness of marking, or fear a negative impact should they give a low mark to one of their peers.
In assessing students' work, it is important that the individual achievement of the relevant learning outcomes are demonstrated by each student. It is also good to reward effective or high quality application of the transferable or non-subject specific skills employed with higher marks.
As explored in the delivery section, group work should be an essential feature of students learning at the University. It is usual for all students to have an opportuinity for their abilities to work within groups to be summatively assessed. Please explore the tabs below to explore the University's expectations for assessed group work.
Exemplary | Accomplished (Baseline) | Promising | Incomplete |
Students have opportunities within the course to negotiate with tutors the types of assessment component they are required to submit.
|
Formative and summative assessment strategies are configured to support and enable the development of each assessment skill and competence through the course. The course's overall assessment strategy is carefully planned to ensure students gain meaningful experience of producing significant assessment component types along with constructive formative feedback on their work before they are required to submit high stakes summative assessments of each type. |
The course assessment strategy requires students to employ academic and nonacademic written communication skills, oral / visual communication skills, and group work through a variety of assessment types employed across the course. Students are able to engage with, complete, and gain formative feedback on, each assessment type employed at levels five and above prior to them being employed in summative assessment at those levels. |
There is a limited variety of assessment types in place on the course. Students are provided with sufficient guidance to engage effectively with each assessment type through guidance and support when the type is first encountered in the curriculum. |