Assessment Theory and Guidance:

As students you will be familiar with the process of assessment as a recipient, but you can improve your performance in assessment by understanding the process and developing your own assessment skills. You will be familiar with the relatively straightforward methods of assessment used when there are defined answers for the questions. This may be considered “objective” testing and can also be delivered automatically nowadays using software to judge whether a particular answer meets the objective criteria. Examples of this are multiple choice, multiple response or fill in the blank type questions. We are more interested in this exercise in developing “subjective” assessment skills where some educated judgement is required.

The assessment of free text is a typical exercise that requires a more subjective approach. Some assessors use a technique known as “Norm-based referencing” where an answer is read and given a mark and feedback that is based on the assessors experience of similar work. Hence the answer is marked against a preconceived expectation of what would be an excellent, norm, or poor answer. Norm-based reference assessment is only appropriate when the person is an expert in the field and has experience of the expected level of performance. Norm-based referencing is sometimes criticised as it discriminates against the group, for instance if everyone does the exercise very well, then they should all receive high marks, not be norm-referenced to a new moderate level.

An alternative, and for some educators, more correct way of completing assessment is to use “Criterion-based referencing” to complete the assessment of the work. In this case a series of defined criteria are produced and each piece of work is marked against each criterion, the overall mark obtained is the sum of marks awarded for each criterion. This assessment system is seen as appropriate for those who are new to carrying out assessments, but also may be appropriate for an expert to use, when they wish their marking criteria to be explicit and clearly understood by the participants in the exercise.

We will be using “criterion-based referencing” to complete the self and peer assessment of text that you submit. The criteria will be carefully defined, but you should use the guidance below when completing the assessment. Remember that in the future you may be assessed on your ability to complete accurate and efficient assessment.

General guidance:

a.      Be fair in your approach.

b.     Marking is completed anonymously in a double blind fashion. The marker does not know whose work they are marking and the student does not know who marked their work

c.      Tutor marking is also completed anonymously, although the tutor has the ability to examine the assessments completed by the self and peer markers.

d.     Do not award marks for work that is not present (in this case the student would miss out on learning what was wrong with their work).

e.      Award marks when the work is a good attempt. You should not expect the answer to be “perfect”, as restrictions normally apply on the time and effort available to commit to the exercise.

f.       Try to avoid giving average marks to all work. Assessors are often encouraged to use the full marking range, excellent work should receive an excellent mark, while poor work should receive a poor mark.

g.      Provide direct and useful feedback. Mention positive and negative features of the work. The aim with feedback is to help the person improve.

h.      Provide no more than a moderate level of feedback. The student should not be overwhelmed by details that require attention, focus on a few significant matters.

i.       Be careful with your language when giving written feedback. Use clear and carefully constructed English to ensure that the student understands what you are saying. Avoid slang, colloquialisms or ambiguities.

j.       Do feedback concerns to the instructor at any stage during the exercise. This exercise in particular is innovative, so we may expect to difficult or unforeseen problems. We can all learn.