C/9.1 Assessment policy

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9.1.1 Purpose of assessment
9.1.2 Principles of assessment
9.1.3 Approach to assessment - Criterion-referenced Assessment
9.1.4 Formative and summative assessment
9.1.5 Assessment of Graduate Capabilities
9.1.6 Assessment patterns
9.1.7 Assessment in the first year of study
9.1.8 Self and Peer Assessment
9.1.9 Assessment of group work
9.1.10 Management of assessment in large classes
9.1.11 Assessment of workplace learning
9.1.12 Student performance as staff feedback
9.1.13 Assessment arrangements for persons with close or significant relationships with the assessor
9.1.14 Transparency of Faculty/School Assessment Policies to Students
9.1.15 Notification of assessment requirements
9.1.16 Roles and Responsibilities of Stakeholders
Related Documents
Modification History

9.1.1 Purpose of assessment

Learning environments are designed to achieve clear learning outcomes. Assessment is an integral component of the learning environment. Assessment achieves the following major purposes:

• encourage students to achieve the desired learning objectives
• monitor students' progress, and provide feedback so that students can plan future learning
• document students' learning and development over time
• assure academic standards certify achievement, and
• provide data that can be aggregated to monitor the performance of academic programs and learning environments.

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9.1.2 Principles of assessment

In order to achieve the purposes of assessment (see C/9.1.1 above), the following set of principles is used.

(a) Assessment is aligned with learning outcomes

Good curriculum design starts with the desired learning outcomes, which inform the choice of the learning experiences and associated assessment strategies. Assessment links clearly to the learning objectives, content, and teaching and learning approaches at unit and course level.

(b) Assessment is standards based

Assessment is based on pre-determined and clearly articulated criteria and associated standards of knowledge, skills, competencies and/or capabilities.

(c) Assessment is valid and reliable

Valid assessment measures the desired learning outcomes.

Reliability in assessment ensures that different markers make the same judgments about an individual student's achievement and/or that the same markers make the same judgements if students' achievements are re-assessed.

(d) Assessment is coherent, comprehensive and sequenced

Assessment across a course and within a unit is coherent. Assessment is an integral part of the curriculum design for any course or unit (see the assessment section of the Unit Outline proforma . Accordingly, assessment strategies for each course will include a consideration of the assessment profile across the whole course as well as assessment in individual units in order to ensure that all the objectives of the course will be achieved, including the full complement of knowledge, skills and graduate capabilities that are intended to be developed throughout the course. In this respect, both unit and course coordinators have a vital role to play in the design and execution of assessment items and strategies.

Assessment is comprehensive in that it addresses the breadth of learning objectives outlined at unit and course level, challenges the students to deeper learning, and provides opportunities for students to demonstrate their full capabilities.

Assessment is sequenced in that, over time, assessment items should build on prior experience and learning to allow students to demonstrate complex concepts and require students to link learning across different units in the course. In this respect the types of assessment items need to be chosen to reflect the nature of learning that occurs at different stages of the course.

(e) Assessment is equitable and inclusive

Assessment strategies provide equal opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds to excel. In doing so, they exhibit social and cultural inclusivity.

(f) Assessment is authentic

Authentic assessment is relevant where possible to life and work contexts. It should be challenging, engaging and directly relevant to the learning objectives and content of the unit and course.

(g) Assessment provides feedback to staff

Assessment has a quality improvement and assurance dimension because it provides feedback for teaching staff. Students' misunderstandings that become evident through assessment provide insights for modifying teaching practices and/or unit content.

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9.1.3 Approach to assessment - Criterion-referenced Assessment

Criterion-referenced assessment requires the determination and communication of detailed and clear criteria, each with performance standards, in advance of the assessment. Well-designed and clearly communicated criteria and performance standards will invest the assessment process with a great deal of objectivity, but of necessity the process must also rely on the professional judgement of those doing the assessing.

The establishment of assessment criteria contributes to the reliability and validity of the assessment task. Clear standards that are high but attainable motivate students and focus their energy on learning rather than on competition with peers.

Notwithstanding all of the above, it will be normal practice that staff will check the spread of grades or scores being generated by criterion-referencing methods as a means of evaluating whether the assessment tasks and assessor interpretations are appropriate. This statement must NOT be interpreted as meaning that a normal distribution of grades should be aimed at.

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9.1.4 Formative and summative assessment

The purposes of assessment are stated in section 9.1.1 of this policy. The second and fourth of these point to both formative and summative assessment methods being necessary in each unit and course.

Formative assessment is about feedback being provided to students so that they can find out how they are progressing, and how their work can be improved. Formative assessment can be diagnostic in nature since it focuses on why an outcome was obtained, and how it can be improved, rather than the standard of the outcome. Formative assessment should be offered to students from an early stage of each unit.

Feedback on assessment should be timely and available to students before they submit a subsequent formal piece of assessment. For formal pieces of assessment as appropriate, verbal feedback should normally be followed up with written confirmation. Written feedback should be clear, respectful of the student and contribute to positive learning outcomes.

Summative assessment is about grading students. Its purpose is, therefore, classification and prediction. It focuses on outcome, standard and comparison with criteria.

The Unit Outline proforma describes how formative and summative assessment are linked into the overall curriculum design in a unit.

Individual assessment items may be entirely formative, or entirely summative, or may contain elements of both types.

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9.1.5 Assessment of Graduate Capabilities

QUT graduate capabilities are stated at section C/1.4 which includes a statement on the responsibilities of faculties.

This section draws on the report of the ATN project on graduate capabilities .

There are three principles related to the assessment of graduate capabilities:

• assessment practices should align with unit objectives and teaching/learning practices
• a package for assessing graduate capabilities incorporates items designed for a range of purposes
• students benefit from progressive feedback on the development of capabilities.

A coherent assessment package for graduate capabilities could include tasks that both implicitly and explicitly assess graduate capability development and achievement. Graduate capabilities should be assessed through performance in content-related tasks within units as well as in planned learning activities across units culminating in the explicit assessment of a graduating student's capacity to communicate the progress they have made in developing required graduate capabilities at an appropriate level.

It is important to recognise that students take time to develop graduate capabilities to the level that is required on graduation and that across a course they must, therefore, engage in learning activities that progressively and realistically build their capability and be assessed accordingly. For example, a first year student may be able to recognise the characteristics of effective team contribution but may not yet have developed the capability to be a team leader on a large project.

Students may be supported to communicate their capability development through portfolios or profiles. In this case assessment may be linked to student contribution to their profile.

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9.1.6 Assessment patterns

The assessment for a unit should be constructed in such a way that there are sufficient types and numbers of assessment items to ensure that the unit objectives, student learning desired, and assessment criteria are covered reasonably. On the other hand, students should not be over assessed.

Relevant guidelines are:

• as far as possible, unit coordinators should not use a single assessment technique
• a final examination should not normally exceed 60% of the total summative assessment for the unit
• assessment items should be spread across the semester, and include early items with a formative (ie feedback) component
• the number and size of the assessment items should be sufficient to cover the objectives and criteria, but should not create excessive load for either students or staff.

Assessment patterns for courses should be monitored and coordinated by course coordinators, so that students experience a wide range of assessment types which cover the complete set of course objectives and graduate capabilities to be gained. The assessment across particular semesters of the course should be monitored so that students do not experience unduly heavy assessment loads at particular times of the semester.

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9.1.7 Assessment in the first year of study

The same principles of design of assessment will apply to units normally taken in the first year of a course as to those of higher years. However, unit and course coordinators should be particularly careful to ensure that first year students are carefully orientated to assessment practices, requirements and policies before beginning the units or course.

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9.1.8 Self and Peer Assessment

Self assessment may be used to encourage students to reflect upon and think critically about their own learning. It should require students to contribute to the formulation and objective application of relevant criteria to judge their work. Self assessment is assisted by clear and agreed criteria and performance standards. The provision of exemplars and commentaries can be used to assist students in developing skills in self-assessment. Both the student work and the self commentary/critique of their work should be moderated by the teacher where it contributes to summative assessment.

Peer assessment encourages the exchange of critical appraisal between students and may be used to encourage cooperative work practices. Peer assessment requires clear and agreed criteria to guide student judgments. Moderation processes can be used to ensure consistency of judgment. The provision of exemplars and commentaries can be used to assist students in developing skills in peer assessment.

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9.1.9 Assessment of group work

Group work, including teamwork, may be used to develop interactive working techniques or to introduce a social dimension to student learning. Group work is an effective strategy for tackling large, complex problems and/or sharing scarce resources. However, an aim of minimising administrative workload associated with marking should not be the principal reason for the use of group work. Group work can be assessed individually for each group member, collectively for the group, or by a weighted mark allocation comprising both a whole group and individual component.

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9.1.10 Management of assessment in large classes

Management of assessment in large classes should take account of the general principles of assessment outlined in section C/9.1.2 . However, as student numbers increase, the challenge of providing meaningful assessment and, in particular, feedback to individuals becomes greater. In this case, particular account should be taken of the development and support of tutoring or demonstrating staff who may be best placed to provide more individual feedback to students and who may also be responsible for marking. In order to ensure consistency, reliability and validity of assessment, staff development and support should be planned for before marking begins and a process of moderation is vital.

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9.1.11 Assessment of workplace learning

Workplace assessment may be shared with various stakeholders, including students and industry supervisors, but it is ultimately the responsibility of the University and academic supervisors.

Such assessment should:

• be consistent with QUT's Assessment Policy (MOPP C/9.1). Assessment should be in line with the principles of assessment (MOPP C/9.1.2) and the approach to assessment – criterion-referenced assessment (MOPP C/9.1.3);
• use a range of assessment strategies – including an appropriate mix of formative and summative assessment items, peer and self-assessment regimes;
• test students engagement with authentic, real world learning opportunities/projects that:
  • enable students to take responsibility for their own learning
  • involve critical thinking and problem-solving
  • enable analysis of the theory/practice nexus
  • engender reflection on the meaning of work in professional contexts;
• explicitly address and assess one or more of QUT's Graduate Capabilities ( C/1.4 ). The level and/or element of the capabilities to be tested will depend on the location of the workplace learning component(s) within courses;
• test specific, identified professional learning outcomes; enable students to reflect on their achieved levels of professional competency and the knowledges and skills they need to acquire;
• provide data that will promote and enable curriculum reform/renewal within QUT's courses to improve the ‘real world' relevance of courses;
• enhance workplaces as sites of learning and encourage the development of University/industry partnerships and the formation of learning communities.

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9.1.12 Student performance as staff feedback

In planning for assessment, academic staff should take account of the role of assessment in providing feedback on their teaching, and curriculum and course design. In devising a coherent assessment package, staff plan teaching and learning activities to achieve desired student learning outcomes. Assessment provides a means of checking that the activities have achieved the outcomes. Assessment provides both quantitative and qualitative indicators of learning. For example, responses to exam or test questions will indicate whether the teaching and learning activities have achieved the learning objectives planned for or may identify common misconceptions that have remained. This information can be used to plan future activities to change those misconceptions. By incorporating reflections and responses to these outcomes in a teaching portfolio, staff may demonstrate their scholarly teaching approach through the PPr-AS and Promotions processes. Further, by working with a course coordinator or course team, assessment across courses can be improved on the basis of this feedback.

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9.1.13 Assessment arrangements for persons with close or significant relationships with the assessor

Occasionally, staff responsible for assessment of students may find themselves in a situation where their relatives or other persons with whom they have a close or significant relationship are being assessed. QUT expectations and policy with respect to this situation are outlined in the QUT Code of Conduct (particularly section B/8.1.6 ).

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9.1.14 Transparency of Faculty/School Assessment Policies to Students

Faculties may develop assessment policies and procedures which are supplementary to the University policies contained and referenced herein. Where faculties have such policies and procedures, these should be communicated effectively to students at the beginning of the course, and of each unit undertaken by the student.

For example, faculties may penalise students who fail to submit assessment by the formally notified due date and who have not been granted extension of time. Faculties may also declare students who have not met formally notified course requirements ineligible to sit for examinations. The student is entitled to submit an application for review of this decision under the University's procedures for reviews of academic rulings ( E/9.1 )

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9.1.15 Notification of assessment requirements

Unit outlines will normally be published on QUT Virtual by Week 11 in the semester prior to offering of the unit. Unit outlines contain a broad statement of the types of assessment that students can expect, and its linkage to the unit objectives.

In the first week of the teaching period, unit coordinators will provide the unit outline to students (normally electronically, but in hard copy on request), together with at least the following:

• full details of all assessment items, including the due dates and assessment criteria to be used in determining marks and grades, except where the unit coordinator and the students have agreed to negotiate the assessment criteria in the course of the unit offering, and
• a reference to the University's policy on academic dishonesty , and a statement of any supplementary detailed faculty policies on academic dishonesty.

No subsequent changes to assessment requirements will be made, except by mutual agreement of the unit coordinator and the students taking the unit, and approval of the head of school.

The only exception to the matters covered in the previous two paragraphs will be if the unit is of the relatively rare type where the learning objectives call for the unit coordinator and students to collaborate during the semester in setting the assessment criteria for an assessment item.

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9.1.16 Roles and Responsibilities of Stakeholders

A complete assessment program and the overall assessment process requires considerable contributions from a number of people.

Unit coordinators are responsible at the unit level for devising and offering assessment items appropriate to cover the objectives of the unit. These assessment items need to cover knowledge, skills and graduate capabilities. Unit coordinators ensure formative feedback is provided to students, and that a summative assessment is provided for each student in any unit requiring a grade to be awarded. Unit coordinators ensure that the standards applied by all markers are comparable and appropriate to the level of the unit.

Course coordinators ensure that the assessment across the whole course covers all the knowledge, skills and graduate capabilities which the course aims to provide, and that it conforms to the principles of assessment outlined in the University's assessment policy ( C/9.1.2) . Course coordinators also ensure that there is an appropriate and varied range of assessment strategies mapped across the course. They are responsible for monitoring assessment loads across the course each semester, for monitoring assessment results across the course including monitoring for inconsistencies, for identifying areas for improvement and review of assessment, and for implementing those improvements. Course coordinators ensure that the standards applied by all unit coordinators in a course are comparable and appropriate to the level of the units they coordinate.

Faculty academic boards are responsible for monitoring assessment results for all courses offered by the faculty, including double degrees, and for approving the final grades for each student. Faculty academic boards also monitor assessment strategies proactively in the unit approval process and in cases where there is doubt that the assessment strategies for particular units have achieved reasonable outcomes. Faculty academic boards may delegate their responsibilities in this respect to an appropriate sub-committee as determined by the executive dean of faculty.

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Related Documents

MOPP E/6.3 Alternative arrangements for assessment

MOPP C/1.4 QUT Graduate capabilities

MOPP C/6.1 Workplace learning

MOPP C/9.3 Procedures for academic dishonesty

MOPP Appendix 1(c) - Student Rules (Part 5 - Assessment)

MOPP Appendix 10(d) - Unit outline proforma

Guidelines on assessment of workplace learning

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Modification History

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