Transforming Higher Education through Assessment Opportunities

Friend or Foe? Configuring the Role of Assessment as an Opportunity to Transform the Quality of Higher Education Professor Susan J. Deeley susan.deeley@glasgow.ac.uk

Nature of assessment

Nature of assessment Situated in the classroom

Nature of assessment Situated in the classroom Taking a broader view

Nature of assessment Situated in the classroom Taking a broader view

the way learning is assessed is probably the single most important factor in influencing what and how learners learn (McMahon,1999: 550)

Assessment of learning

Assessment of learning where summative marks are given, there is (and will always need to be) a clear divide between assessor and assessed (Price et al, 2012:18)

Assessment of learning where summative marks are given, there is (and will always need to be) a clear divide between assessor and assessed (Price et al, 2012:18) summative co-assessment blurs that divide (Deeley, 2014)

Assessment for learning (Sambell et al, 2013; Nicol and McFarlane Dick, 2006) constructive feedback self regulation assessment and feedback literacies

Assessment as learning

Assessment as learning embedding assessment and feedback literacies into the curriculum using a staff-student partnership approach

Nature of assessment Situated in the classroom Taking a broader view

W Assessment and feedback literacies (Smith et al, 2013; Sutton, 2012) Aims and intended learning outcomes Standards/ rubrics Marking criteria

W a) model of a good performance b) how the student has performed c) between a) and b) (Sadler, 1989) what the student must do to bridge the gap

W Lack of clarity or understanding of marking criteria (Bloxham and West, 2004) Difficulty in understanding language of feedback or how to apply it (Blair and McGinty, 2013)

W Lack of clarity or understanding of marking criteria (Bloxham and West, 2004) Difficulty in understanding language of feedback or how to apply it (Blair and McGinty, 2013) Arop http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~hcp/aropa/AropaGuide.pdf

Staff-student partnership a collaborative, reciprocal process through which all participants have the opportunity to contribute equally, although not necessarily in the same ways (Cook-Sather et al, 2014: 6-7)

Staff-student partnership a collaborative, reciprocal process through which all participants have the opportunity to contribute equally, although not necessarily in the same ways (Cook-Sather et al, 2014: 6-7)

Co-design of assessment criteria has the potential to promote learning (Carless, 2015: 139)

Co-design of assessment criteria has the potential to promote learning (Carless, 2015: 139) essays and exams (Deeley and Bovill, 2017) critical reflective journals (Deeley, 2022)

Partnerships in assessment facilitate incentives to learning it s clarified what s expected having an input was great having freedom of choice more engaged and excited about (the assessment) (Deeley, 2022)

Co-design of assessment questions using pre-set questions to adjust or redesign using set parameters or other framework

Choose a command word prefixed by critically o analyse/ assess/ discuss/ evaluate/ examine Choose a topic area o secularism/ domestic abuse/ learning disability and sexuality/ the underclass / lone parenthood Chose a focus o freedom/ equality (Deeley and Bovill, 2017: 468)

student resistance I just don t see the point it doesn t matter what I think (Deeley and Bovill, 2017: 469)

Nature of assessment Situated in the classroom Taking a broader view

staff-student partnership in assessment sharing power (Boomer et al, 1992; hooks, 1994) developing a pedagogical philosophy de-socialising to transform passivity into involvement (Shor, 1988: 106) creating an ethos of care (Sutton, 2012: 39) engaging in relational pedagogy (Bovill, 2020) developing feminist critical pedagogy (Deeley, 2022)

active student engagement and deeper learning (Cook-Sather et al, 2014; Sambell and Graham, 2011; Stefani, 1998) increases student confidence, intrinsic motivation and develops metacognitive skills enhances employability skills and graduate attributes (Deeley, 2014) inspiresstudents (Deeley, 2022; Deeley and Brown, 2014)

Configuring the role of assessment as holistic as situated in the classroom as part of a developing pedagogical philosophy

References Blair, A., & McGinty, S. (2013) Feedback-dialogues: Exploring the student perspective , Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education 38(4): 466-476. Bloxham, S. and A. West. (2004) Understanding the rules of the game: peer assessment as a medium for developing students' conceptions of assessment , Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education 29(6): 721-733. Boomer, G., Lester, N., Onore, C., Cook, J. (eds) (1992) Negotiating the Curriculum London: Falmer Press. Bovill, C. (2020) Co-creating Learning and Teaching St. Albans: Critical Publishing. Carless, D. (2015) Excellence in University Assessment Abingdon: Routledge. Cook-Sather, A., Bovill, C., Felten, P. (2014) Engaging Students as Partners in Learning and Teaching San Francisco: Jossey Bass. Deeley, S.J. (2022) Assessment and Service-Learning in Higher Education: Critical Reflective Journals as Praxis Palgrave Macmillan. Deeley, S.J. (2014) Summative Co-assessment: A Deep Learning Approach to Enhancing Employability Skills and Attributes , Active Learning in Higher Education 15(1): 39-51. Deeley, S.J. and Bovill, C. (2017) Staff Student partnership in Assessment: Enhancing Assessment Literacy through Democratic Practices , Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education 42(3): 463-477. Deeley, S. J. and Brown, R.A. (2014) Learning Through Partnership in Assessment , Teaching and Learning Together in Higher Education: Issue 13. https://repository.brynmawr.edu/tlthe/vol1/iss13/3 hooks, b. (1994) Teaching to Transgress London: Routledge. McMahon,T. (1999) Using Negotiation in Summative Assessment to Encourage Critical Thinking , Teaching in Higher Education 4(4): 549-554. Nicol, D. J., and Macfarlane-Dick, D. (2006) Formative assessment and self-regulated learning: A model and seven principles of good feedback practice , Studies in Higher Education 31(2): 199-218. Price, M., Rust, C., O Donovan, B., Handley, K., Bryant, R. (2012) Assessment Literacy Oxford: Oxford Brookes University. Sadler, D.R. (1989) Formative assessment and the design of instructional systems , Instructional Science 18(2): 119-144. Sambell, K., McDowell, L. and Montgomery, C. (2013) Assessment for Learning in Higher Education London: Routledge. Sambell, K. and Graham, L. (2011) Towards an Assessment Partnership Model? Students Experiences of being Engaged as Partners in Assessment for Learning (AfL) Enhancement Activity , in S. Little (ed) Staff-Student Partnerships in Higher Education London: Continuum. Shor, I. (1988) Working hands and critical minds: A Paulo Freire model for job training , Journal of Education 170(2): 102-121. Smith, C. D., Worsfold, K., Davies, L., Fisher, R., & McPhail, R. (2013) Assessment literacy and student learning: The case for explicitly developing students assessment literacy , Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education 38(1): 44-60. Sutton, P. (2012) Conceptualizing feedback literacy: Knowing, being, and acting , Innovations in Education and Teaching International 49(1): 31-40.