The influence of disciplinary assessment patterns on student learning: a comparative study (original) (raw)
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The implications of programme assessment patterns for student learning
Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 2016
Evidence from 73 programmes in 14 UK universities sheds light on the typical student experience of assessment over a three year undergraduate degree. A previous small-scale study in three universities characterised programme assessment environments using a similar method. The current study analyses data about assessment load parameters using descriptive statistical methods, drawing on a large sample in a wider range of universities than the original study. Findings demonstrate a wide range of practice across programmes: from 12 summative assessments on one programme to 227 on another; from 87 per cent by examination to none on others. While variations cast doubt on the comparability of UK degrees, programme assessment patterns are complex. Further analysis distinguishes common assessment patterns across the sample. Typically students encounter eight times as much summative as formative assessment, a dozen different types of assessment; more than three quarters by coursework. The presence of high summative and low formative assessment diets is likely to compound students' grade-orientation, reinforcing narrow and instrumental approaches to learning. High varieties of assessment are probable contributors to student confusion about goals and standards. Making systematic headway to improve student learning from assessment requires a programmatic and evidence-led approach to design, characterised by dialogue and social practice.
Investigating The Undergraduate Experience Of Assessment In Higher Education
ukm.my
This paper reports on the preliminary findings of a doctoral study in progress, which is situated in the context of quality in higher education, and is premised on the view that the student learning experience is ultimately the most meaningful and lasting measure of academic quality. The literature on assessment in higher education clearly places assessment at the heart of student learning and it is claimed that "the truth about an educational system" may be discovered by examining its assessment procedures (Rowntree, 1987, p.1). Using a qualitative case study approach, the study aims to reveal the values inherent in assessment, to show how these are conveyed through institutional discourses and through practices of lecturers, and how students' learning behaviour may be affected by their perspectives of assessment. Data gathering activities for the entire doctoral research include focus group discussions and individual interviews with finalyear undergraduates, interviews with their lecturers, observations of lectures and classroom assessments, examination of documents related to the course descriptions and assessment, as well as a study of the administrative and procedural aspects of assessment which are part of the assessment praxis. The emerging themes reported here, based solely on the analysis of two of the focus group discussions, indicate how assessment praxis in higher education seems to be a reproduction of dominant power structures that have inculcated patterns of student passivity in learning. This has serious implications for the 1 This is a revised version of a work-in-progress paper presented by Lee King Siong at the 30 th Language Testing Research Colloquium (LTRC) 2008, Hangzhou, China. Attendance at the conference was funded by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
Assessment and feedback in higher education: considerable room for improvement?
2016
Assessment exerts a major influence on students’ approaches to study in higher education, so it is important to ensure that it enables students to develop and thrive as learners. Generally speaking, however, the student experience of assessment remains far from positive and assessment has been accused of having damaging effects on student engagement. Mann (2001), for instance, sees assessment as an important mediating factor in determining a student’s relationship to the university. All-too-often, she asserts, it results in alienation rather than engagement, provoking general feelings of compliance, powerlessness and subservience rather than a sense of belonging, enthusiasm, enjoyment and ownership of the learning process. For the last two decades researchers have been vigorously advocating a shift in assessment culture, such that assessment actively promotes learning rather than simply measuring it (see, for example, Brown & Knight, 1994; Birenbaum, 1996; Sambell, McDowell, & Brown...
and feedback Understanding arts and humanities students ' experiences of assessment
2013
This article examines how undergraduate students on arts and humanities courses experience assessment and feedback. The research uses a detailed audit, a specially devised questionnaire (the Assessment Experience Questionnaire), and student focus group data, and the article examines results from 19 programmes, comparing those from ‘arts and humanities’ courses with those from ‘other’ programmes to give a sense of the particular characteristics of assessment and feedback for arts and humanities students. Findings indicate that teachers in the arts and humanities should focus on ensuring that students understand goals and standards, particularly by giving feedback often and in time for application to other learning activities and assignments. The evidence that this type of research provides can help programme teams evaluate whether intended learning outcomes are being achieved and decide on any pedagogical interventions required.
Measuring assessment: a methodology for investigating undergraduate assessment
Bioscience Education, 2004
For many degree programmes, including those within the School of Agriculture, Policy and Development (SAPD) at the University of Reading, modularisation has resulted in increased flexibility of degree programmes and a wider choice of modules offered to students. An important consequence of this is that module coordinators and programme directors may no longer have the same detailed knowledge of the amount, timing and diversity of assessments (coursework) being undertaken by their students. This situation may be further compounded when students study modules that are coordinated by a number of different Schools. The first aim of this project was therefore to provide a systematic methodology for analysing the nature and timing of assessments from a range of degree programmes using 'electronic assessment diaries', which we designed for this research. These diaries, completed by undergraduate volunteers, recorded details of all coursework assessments, module by module, for the autumn and spring terms 2003/4. A further aim of the research was to provide information to Course Directors to enable a more pedagogic and informed approach to future changes in assessment practices. The discussion reflects on the use of the electronic diaries and the provision of assessment-related information to programme directors and lecturing staff.
Students' perceptions about new modes of assessment in higher education: a review
… new modes of assessment: In search …, 2003
In educational contexts, understanding the student's learning must take account of the student's construction of reality. Reality as experienced by the student has an important additional value. This assumption also applies to a student's perception of evaluation and assessment. Students' study behaviour is not only determined by the examination or assessment modes that are used. Students' perceptions about evaluation methods also play a significant role. This review aims to examine evaluation and assessment from the student's point of view. Research findings reveal that students' perceptions about assessment significantly influence their approaches to learning and studying. Conversely, students' approaches to study influence the ways in which they perceive evaluation and assessment. Findings suggest that students hold strong views about different assessment and evaluation formats. In this respect students favour multiple-choice format exams to essay type questions. However, when compared with more innovative assessment methods, students call the 'fairness' of these well-known evaluation modes into question.
Assessment Practices in Higher Education: Myths and Realities
University News, 2019
Assessment is an integral part of any teaching learning process. Assessment practices have a large number of functions to perform in the context of the teaching learning process. Do contemporary assessment practices perform these function is a critical question to be analysed. In this paper, an attempt has been made to analyse the myths and realities of the assessment practice in the higher education sector.
The International Journal of Assessment and Evaluation, 2014
Recent changes in UK Higher Education have renewed the importance of ensuring that assessment practices are transparent and comprehensible, not least in terms of the criteria by which the evaluation is conducted and the timeliness with which the results of that evaluation are delivered. The policies that underpin assessment and feedback, and the formal documentation to which they give rise, are necessarily robust for reasons of quality assurance and to support the learning experience, and in consequence they are typically loaded with standard terminology whose intended meaning may not be as readily apparent to students as to staff. Much work therefore remains to be undertaken in consulting with students to develop strategies to help negotiate the vocabulary of current practices such that institutional regulatory frameworks are satisfied without sacrificing intelligibility to the purported target audience. This research draws on a series of interviews and other consultations with students conducted at City University London, UK in the 2011–12 academic year with the purpose of reviewing their understanding of the fundamental vocabulary of assessment practice, whether that vocabulary appears within the learning outcomes and assessment criteria, the feedback itself, or the wider context of assessment policy. Ultimately, it explores whether staff and students in Higher Education are presently being divided by a common language, and, in light of the students’ narratives, proposes a series of recommendations by which assessment and feedback practices may be improved. Such recommendations include the provision of papers submitted by previous students for the benefit of current cohorts, a more active engagement of students with the regulatory documentation, a greater use made of dialogic feedback methods, and the need for change to the existing educational culture to facilitate these enhancements.
Assessment in higher education: A case study of one course in Australia
2008
This paper presents a case study of assessment practices in one PG unit of study being taught by the author in the last 2 year. Based on an understanding of assessment in terms of constructive alignment (Biggs, 1996) and consequential validity (Boud, 1995; Linn, Baker, & Dunbar, 1991; Messik, 1989), this paper evaluates the current assessment protocols in this unit. Biggs (1996) argues that learning is best achieved if there is a constructive alignment between the learning goals, teaching approaches, and assessment techniques. Each of these should relate to the other. It is when these three elements are finely calibrated that learning is at its peak. In this paper, I evaluate the degree of constructive alignment in the unit of study under focus. Assessment documents are studied in relation to the theoretical insights gained from the literature and related to the course aims and objectives. In addition, students’ evaluation of these assessment protocols are examined and these are compared to the unit coordinator’s goals and understanding. The results help outline future directions in assessment practice for this unit.