Source: Fry Ketteridge and Marshall, 2009 p.134

2. “It is now widely accepted that assessment tends to shape much of the learning that students do, so if we want to change the way our students learn and the content of what they learn the most effective way is to change the way we assess them” Source: Fry Ketteridge and Marshall, 2009 p.134

3. Outline of Session Why: the issue of assessment? What is integrated assessment? How?

4. Satisfaction with assessment

5. Common assessment issues • Often a bottleneck for large cohorts – significant amount of staff time. • Lowest scores in student surveys – feedback often an issue • Crucial interface between student - teacher and institution • Meeting turnaround times for staff • Large amounts of coursework remain uncollected • Plagiarism. • Time taken to assess

6. Why we assess • Pedagogy • Measurement • Standardisation • Certification Source: Quality assurance agency (QAA)

7. More reasons why we assess… • To classify or grade students • To set standards • To allow students to get the measure of their achievement; • to give a licence to proceed to the next stage or to graduation • To help them to consolidate their learning; • To provide feedback so they can improve and remedy deficiencies; • To motivate students to engage in their learning; • To provide students with opportunities to relate theory and practice. Source: Phil Race

8. The five minute University – A perspective!

9. An overarching principle in assessment: Constructive Alignment

10. Module and course assessment strategies should be integrated An integrative assessment approach brings the many and various strands of assessment together in a coherent way. Applies at Course and Module Level.... Source: Scottish QAA

11. Balancing assessment

12. Feedforward Assessments • Improves the balance between assessment for and assessment of learning • Convert feedback into feedforward – feedback from one task feeds another. Strategies: Link between assessments Active use of feedback (123 guides)

13. Cumulative Coursework • Replace ‘single occasion’ coursework with assignments which evolve over a longer period. • Strategies: • Log books, portfolios, lab reports which are sampled.

14. Better understood expectations and standards • It is important that students understand criteria – it is not sufficient to tell or write down – active engagement is required. Strategies: Marking exercises Dialogue Exemplars

15. Active engagement with feedback Completion and submission of work Engaging students at each stage of the assessment process Explicit Criteria Active engagement with criteria Students

16. Speedier Feedback • The evidence is that speedier feedback optimises the quality of what is learnt.

17. Criteria for assessment ‘working’ • Enough student effort distributed reasonable across all important topics • The effort they put in a high intellectual level – focussed on understanding rather than memorising or ‘sufficing’ • Students clear about ‘goals and standards’ and orientate their effort to them. • Feedback is effective: students read it, understand it and use it to improve what they do next. • Progression over time so that students become more sophisticated in the way that they tackle similar tasks. Source: Graham Gibbs TESTA Project: http://www.testa.ac.uk/

18. Integrative assessment at a Course Level. • Consider course level outcomes • Take an outcomes based approach to assessment. • Consider the assessment experience at a course level • Map subject knowledge, skills and competencies across the curriculum using level outcomes • Consider integrative assessments

20. Integrated assessment examples

21. An example of an integrated assessment activity A video example..... http://vimeo.com/7808839

22. Student impact • Where a six week activity led module was introduced in Mechanical and Automotive Engineering area: • Student drop out rate decreased from 3% to 0.9% in a term • Student progression rates for the year increased by 8% • Examination results increased across all modules by between 6 and 18% • 74% of students wanted to see more Activity led learning (22% indicated less) • Formation of good staff – student relationships And... Increased Student satisfaction

23. Example of a six week integrated activity led -learning activity • 6 week project to design and build a lightweight cart and bridge to transport a 2 kg mass. • Level 1 activity: 6 activities and associated resources formed the first 6 week experience for Mechanical and Automotive Engineering students

26. Key features of the activity and assessment: • New task every Monday • Students timetabled for 18 hours of core task (30 hours including other activities) • Lead academic gives key note lectures and leads assessment • Supporting facilitator provides supervision and support • Students work in small groups of 2 or 3 • Students keep individual logbook • Assessment by poster presentation / brief report / video • Assessment, feedback and result all in final Friday session

27. Skills and attributes developed Wilson-Medhurst, S. and Green, P. (2012) Researching the effectiveness of Activity Led learning as a pedagogy for engagement with professional development in engineering. Case study.Available [online]: http://www.hestem.ac.uk/sites/default/files/case_study_-_researching_the_effectiveness_of_activity_led_learning_0.pdf

28. Integrated assessment in a Business Course at Coventry Integrative assessment Project on the car Industry: Individual written project + group video

29. High Impact Activities • First-Year Seminars and Experiences  • Common Intellectual Experiences • Learning Communities • Writing-Intensive Courses • Collaborative Assignments and Projects • “Science as Science Is Done”; Undergraduate Research • Diversity/Global Learning • Service Learning, Community-Based Learning • Internships • Capstone Courses and Projects Link to site George Kuh (2008)

30. Evaluation.... • On separate post-it notes write down: • One thing you will do as a result of this session • An area where you would like further development • One thing that was useful