Assessment feedback
Feedback should include what the learner has done well and what skills and knowledge/understanding they need to develop further. Feedback should make clear how the mark was determined.
Assessment Journey Map
An Assessment Journey Map is a visual representation of a student’s or group of students’ assessment requirements over a delivery period, indicating types of assessments, size of assessments and deadlines set. This can also include formative assessment activity.
Assessment literacy
Assessment literacy relates to the ability of staff and students to understand assessment purpose and requirements, and make effective judgements on work produced.
Authentic assessment
Authentic assessments are those which are designed in a way to be relevant to the student’s future role. They seek to involve or simulate real-world tasks.
Calibration
Calibration involves the discussion of a number of different assessments by colleagues from the same subject area across a number of institutions (a professional community) in order to reach a shared agreement of grading judgements. The aim of calibration is to allow assessors to make consistent judgements on other pieces of work.
External moderation
External moderation refers to checks made by a Senate-approved External Examiner that the internal moderation process for briefs, examination scripts and marked work has been carried out correctly and that the standards for the qualification are consistent with the Sector Recognised Standards Sector-recognised standards (officeforstudents.org.uk).
Feed-forward
“Feed-forward” relates to constructive feedback given in a timely manner, so as to feed into the next assessment. Thus, feed-forward is a necessary characteristic of feedback. (Boud and Molloy, 2013 p.702).
Formative assessment
Formative assessments are assessments which do not count towards the formal outcomes of the module but allow students to learn from feedback and tutors to address any learning gaps. Examples of formative assessments are drafts, work plans, in-class presentations etc.
Inclusive assessment
Inclusive assessment involves designing assessments which are fair and equal to all students regardless of their diverse backgrounds.
Internal moderation
Internal moderation refers to checks made by a University colleague against a set of criteria laid out on a relevant Moderation Proforma in relation to assessment briefs, examination papers and marked work in order to ensure academic standards are being met and good practice is highlighted. Internal moderation occurs prior to external moderation by the External Examiner.
Reliability in assessment
Reliability signifies that assessments and marking criteria are designed to ensure that evaluation of the relevant learning outcomes is consistent from student to student, marker to marker, and year to year. That is, different markers would award similar marks for the same piece of work.
Rubric
A Rubric is a tool which helps markers to assess work which include assessment criteria grade descriptors and which link to learning outcomes.
Standardisation
Standardisation involves academic staff delivering the same module to discuss the requirements of an assessment (the brief, learning outcomes and marking criteria) before all the work is marked. A small sample of assessments is usually marked individually by all staff and then marks and feedback compared and agreed. The aim of calibration is to ensure consistent judgements are made for all students taking the assessment.
Summative assessment
Summative assessments are assessments do count towards the formal outcomes of the module and also allow students to learn from feedback for future assessment.
Technology-enhanced Assessment
Technology enhanced assessment (TEA) refers to the use of digital tools and platforms to support various stages of the assessment process including before, during, and after assessment submission.
Transparency in assessment Transparency signifies that the requirements of the assessment and expectations for grade bandings are made explicit to the students.
Validity in assessment
Validity signifies that the assessment (task or instrument) allows students to demonstrate attainment of the learning outcomes addressed by the assessment. In short, a valid assessment evaluates what it is supposed to.