The key premise of this module is the need for ongoing review and analysis of the effectiveness of assessment and feedback. This involves active engagement of educators and learners in evaluating the quality of provision so as to enable dynamic change to enhance the assessment experience for all, and to ensure that the needs of all students are addressed during a course of study.
Assessment design need to be dynamic, and open to change and adaptation, to adjust to changing learner needs. The ongoing review of assessments is not just the purview of educators, learners have a vital role to play in the process, in order to make assessments learner-centred.
Such an approach is agentic in highlighting the joint responsibility of learners and educators in impacting the efficacy of assessment design as part of a dialogic process.
Sadler (2017) suggested: “Logically, two questions need to be answered about any quality assurance initiative. The first: what is the ‘object’ whose quality is to be assured? It has to be the quality of something, not just ‘quality’ in the abstract. Second question: how will it be known whether a particular quality assurance scheme is being, or has been, successful?”
The informed use of data that examines the process of learning, and that supports learner and educator development, is essential (Macfadyen et al., 2014; Mora et al., 2016; Nguyen et al., 2014; Whitworth & Wright, 2015). But there are potential pitfalls and room for misinterpretation of data in this process.
We need to be mindful of how the data and observations are collected, and remember that students are individuals, and any changes made to an assessment may have unforeseen consequence. Please see these resources on effective use of data
This module will look at the importance of ongoing opportunities to review the effectiveness of assessment and feedback provision which ideally should take place as part of teaching sessions.. It will discuss the potential sources of data for such reflections, and how to measure the impact of assessment changes and interventions.