Postgraduate Course: Assessing Students (EDUA11176)
Course Outline
| School | Moray House School of Education |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | The twin starting-points for this unit are on the one hand the myriad and competing purposes, goals and functions associated with the assessment of student progress and performance in higher education, and on the other the advent of mass higher education, where questions of quality, accountability, student-centredness and economy further complicate considerations of goals and functions. Participants will be invited to relate these challenges to consideration of which stakeholders university teachers are accountable to, and in what respects, as far as their assessment practices are concerned.
The tensions between contrasting assessment goals and functions and the available empirical evidence will be reviewed by means of three illustrative themes: the relative extent of alignment or congruence between different methods and strategies of assessment and intended learning outcomes; the growing evidence on the benefits of formative or learning-oriented assessment; and the impact of developments in assessment practices (largely but not wholly technology-driven), which can open up opportunities to strike new balances between competing goals but also prompt a reappraisal of traditional assumptions about student assessment.
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| Course description |
Not entered
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2017/18, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Full Year |
| Course Start Date |
18/09/2017 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 14,
Online Activities 1,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 8,
Other Study Hours 1,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
74 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Prepare an analytical critique of assessment strategies in a particular course unit or year of study, recommending changes to enhance students' learning while safeguarding academic standards. Critiques (word limit: 2,500 words) will draw on relevant literature to anticipate likely drawbacks and potential objections to the proposals and discuss how these might be constructively addressed.
A pass in this course is contingent on course participants demonstrating:
¿ a critical grasp of contemporary assessment processes and practices in higher education and how these are linked to student learning;
¿ Awareness of diversity with regards to student learning and the practical constraints and affordances of particular assessment strategies within discipline-specific and research-intensive contexts;
¿ A reflective awareness of current conceptions of and orientations to assessment.
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| Feedback |
All students have the opportunity to submit assignment plans or drafts for feedforward before final submission. Any student who does not pass the first submission is asked to make an appointment with the course organiser to receive feedforward for the second submission. This feedforward is intended to be definitive. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- review and critically appraise the principal goals and functions of student assessment in higher education
- identify and evaluate the empirical evidence on the competing tensions to which these may give rise
- critically examined the balances which can be struck between these tensions in designing and implementing assessment strategies
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Reading List
Bloxham, S., & Campbell, L. (2010). Generating dialogue in assessment feedback. Assessment &
Evaluation in Higher Education, 35(3), 291-300.
Hounsell, D., McCune, V., Hounsell, J., & Litjens, J. (2008). The quality of guidance and feedback
to students. Higher Education Research & Development, 27(1), 55-67.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Cognitive skills
Students gain experience critically evaluating current practice and using relevant research literature in designing enhancements
Communication, numeracy and IT
Students will gain experience of communicating their critique of current practice and their rationale for change in a persuasive manner.
Autonomy, accountability and working with others
There is a presumption that students will apply their critiques to a real work situation they are dealing with and that they will be intending to carry out the changes they propose.
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| Additional Class Delivery Information |
Two full days of face-to-face teaching. |
| Keywords | assessment,feedback,student learning |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Neil Lent
Tel: (0131 6)51 7199
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Emily Salvesen
Tel: (0131 6)51 6661
Email: |
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