The Student Assessment Handbook: New Directions in Traditional and Online Assessment

320 Pages·2003·0.97 MB·English

by  Lee Dunn, Meg OReilly, Sharon Parry, Chris Morgan

The Student Assessment
Handbook
This book is a comprehensive guide to contemporary assessment,particularly
for those professionals coming to terms with new pressures on their traditional
teaching practices.Increased use of IT,flexible assessment methods and quality
assurance all converge on the area of assessment, making new demands of
assessors.The need to diversify and adapt traditional assessment practices to suit
new modes of learning is clearer than ever.
The Student Assessment Handbook looks at the effectiveness of traditional
methods in the present day and provides guidelines on how these methods may
be developed to suit contemporary learning outcomes and teaching practices.It
is a practical resource,with case studies,reflection boxes and diagnostic tools to
help the reader to apply the principles to their own practice.
The book provides advice on a wide range of topics,including:
* assessing to promote particular kinds of learning outcomes;
* using meaningful assessment techniques to assess large groups;
* the implications of flexible learning on timing and pacing of assessment;
* the pros and cons of online assessment;
* tackling Web plagiarism and the authentication of student work;
* maintaining assessment standards;
* assessing generic skills and quality assurance.
This book will be required reading for practicing lecturers and course leaders
and will also be of interest to course designers and anyone with involvement in
educational and staff development.
Lee Dunn, Chris Morgan, Meg O'Reilly and Sharon Parry are all based at
Southern Cross University,Australia.They are part of a research and devel-
opment team in the teaching and learning centre,which focuses on curriculum
development and students' assessment.

The Student Assessment
Handbook
Chris Morgan,Lee Dunn,Sharon Parry and
Meg O’Reilly
First published 2004
by RoutledgeFalmer
11 New Fetter Lane,London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by RoutledgeFalmer
29 West 35th Street,New York,NY 10001
RoutledgeFalmer is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 2004 Chris Morgan,Lee Dunn,Sharon Parry and Meg O'Reilly.
The right of Chris Morgan,Lee Dunn,Sharon Parry and Meg O'Reilly to
be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accor-
dance with the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved.No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic,mechanical,or other means,now
known or hereafter invented,including photocopying and recording,or in
any information storage or retrieval system,without permission in writing
from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
The student assessment handbook :new directions in traditional and online
assessment / Chris Morgan … [et al.].
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-415-33530-2
1. College students—Rating of—Handbooks,manuals,etc.2.
Educational tests and measurements—Handbooks,manuals,etc.I.Morgan,
Chris,1957-
LB2368.S88 2003
378.1(cid:1)67--dc21
2003013321
ISBN 0-203-41651-1 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-43948-1 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-33530-2 (pbk)
Contents
About the authors x
Foreword xi
Preface xii
Acknowledgements xiv
Part A:Issues and themes in assessment
Introduction to Part A 3
1. The link between assessment and learning 9
Approaches to learning 9
Unintended outcomes 11
Side effects of assessment 12
2. Roles and purposes of assessment 15
Maintaining standards 15
Students – the primary stakeholders? 16
Validity and reliability 17
Formative assessment 18
Summative assessment 18
Balancing formative with summative assessment 20
3. The grading game:norm- and criterion-referenced
assessment 21
Norm-referenced grading 22
Mixed messages 24
Moving towards professional judgements of performance 25
Grading categories:standards and criteria 26
4. Valid assessment 29
The big picture:core skills and attributes 29
The middle picture:disciplinary differences 30
The little picture:ensuring alignment 31
What individual assessors can do 32
vi Contents
5. Assessing in flexible modes 35
How flexible learners go about their study 36
Some common issues 37
Some tensions 38
Assessing online 38
Why move to flexible assessment? 39
6. Assessing with new technology 41
The broad picture 41
ICTs and formative assessment 42
ICTs and summative assessment 44
Some gains,some losses 45
7. Assessing in diverse contexts 47
Inclusive assessment 48
Assessing international students 50
Benchmarking opportunities 50
8. Assessing larger cohorts 53
Assessing more students 54
Valid assessment with more students 54
Formative and summative assessment of more students 56
9. Academic fraud and plagiarism 59
About academic fraud 59
What is plagiarism? 60
Who plagiarizes? 61
Attitudes to authentication 63
Teaching students academic writing and correct attribution 65
10. Maintaining standards in a consumer market 67
Stories and myths about standards 67
The tension between maintaining standards and teaching for success 68
Making assessment standards explicit 69
Do assessment tasks reflect standards? 70
11. Accountability and the quality agenda:evaluative purposes
of assessment 71
Core skills and attributes 71
Documenting the quality of assessment practices 73
Evaluative uses of student assessment 73
Whose interests are served? How to balance conflicting needs? 74
Contents vii
Part B:Assessing key learning outcomes
Introduction to Part B 79
12. Communicating 83
Introduction 83
What is communicating? 84
Communicating in the disciplines 85
Assessment methods 86
Implications for teaching 103
13. Accessing and managing information 105
Introduction 105
What is ‘accessing and managing information’? 106
Accessing and managing information in the disciplines 109
Assessment methods 110
Implications for teaching 119
14. Demonstrating knowledge and understanding 121
What is meant by ‘knowledge and understanding’? 121
Knowledge and understanding in the disciplines 123
Assessment methods 125
Implications for teaching 131
15. Demonstrating procedures and techniques 133
Introduction 133
What is competence? 133
Demonstrating procedures and techniques in the disciplines 135
Assessment issues 136
Assessment methods 137
Implications for teaching 141
16. Designing,creating,performing 143
Introduction 143
What is creativity? 144
Designing,creating and performing in the disciplines 145
Assessment methods 147
Implications for teaching 154
17. Thinking critically and making judgements 157
What is critical thinking? 157
Critical thinking in the disciplines 158
Methods for assessing critical thinking 161
Implications for teaching 170
viii Contents
18. Problem solving 171
What is problem solving? 171
Problem solving in the disciplines 172
Assessment methods 174
Implications for teaching 182
19. Managing and developing oneself 185
Introduction 185
Assessment methods 193
Implications for teaching 201
Part C:Assessment in practice
Introduction to Part C 205
20. Designing assessment tasks 207
Context of assessment 207
Diversity of students 210
Whole-of-programme approach to assessment 211
Aligning learning outcomes and assessment tasks 214
Determining student assessment load,frequency and value of
assessment tasks 218
Improving validity and reliability in assessment 222
Selecting methods of assessment 224
Flexible design of assessment tasks 225
Designing assessment tasks at a glance 226
21. Developing marking schemes 229
Criterion-referenced and standards-based grading systems 230
Marking schemes and scoring rubrics 231
Developing marking schemes 235
Ensuring that marking schemes are open,fair and defensible 239
Developing marking schemes with workloads in mind 241
Developing marketing schemes at a glance 242
22. Communicating assessment tasks 243
Providing a rationale 246
Explaining terms 247
Explaining the form 248
Suggesting methods of approach 248
Information overload 249
Communicating assessment tasks at a glance 250
Contents ix
23. Marking and grading 251
Assessment systems 252
Marking practices 254
Multiple markers,reliability and consistency 258
Feedback to students 261
Awarding final grades 263
Record keeping 265
Marking and grading at a glance 265
24. Evaluating assessment practices 267
Using formative or summative evaluation 268
Obtaining student feedback 269
Seeking input from other stakeholders 276
Developing evaluation tools 278
Analysing the evaluation data 280
Reporting evaluation outcomes 280
Using information from evaluative processes to improve
assessment practice 281
Evaluating assessment practices at a glance 282
25. Dealing with plagiarism 283
Seek out policies and practices about plagiarism 284
Use strategies to minimize plagiarism 284
Change your assessment regime to make plagiarism more difficult 286
Teach your students to avoid plagiarism 286
Establish ways to detect plagiarism 287
Dealing with plagiarism at a glance 288
References 289
Index 299