What does CSU policy require?

Read the CSU Assessment Policy. http://www.csu.edu.au/acad_sec/academicsenate/docs/assess_policy_amended-approved16-05-12AS.docx

Identify the staff pre-assessment responsibilities outlined in section 6.1.  The peer- review and course frameworks discussed in this section are not yet in place in every school. Discussions with academics teaching in the course/discipline and/or your Educational Designer will be helpful as you work through this process.

Select a subject for which you can design or adapt an assessment item.

Identify the subject objectives in the subject profile of your chosen subject located in CASIMS (Course and Subject Information Management system). The subject objectives are also accessible from the subject outline in Subject Outline Tool.

CSU's Subject Outline policy is found in the Academic Manual 1.3.5.1 http://www.csu.edu.au/acad_sec/academic-manual/docs/l6-3.pdf

It  requires provision  for each assessment task of
a) a description of the task;
b) a brief rationale for the task which reflects the learning objectives for the subject,
c) a brief statement about the assessment criteria that will be used to ascribe value to the task.

Fortunately you do not need to immerse yourself in the Subject Outline policy as the Subject Outline Tool available in Interact structures the subject outline and identifies requirements. In relation to assessment, it will prompt you for three fields: 

• Task (a clear description of the task that is appropriate to the cohort of students you have identified);
• Rationale (which relates the assessment task  to at least one of the stated subject objectives)  and
• Marking Criteria (where you define Criteria and Standards )

Rationale:  Aligning and assessment tasks with subject objectives

Because, as we've seen, assessment is the primary driver of student learning, effective assessment design needs to be tightly linked to the objectives of the subject supported by learning activities and resources if the intended learning outcomes are to be achieved.

Read John Biggs, Aligning teaching for constructing learning. (Biggs is a prolific writer on design and alignment of subject assessment with  intended learning outcomes and supporting these through learning activities. This is a short simple introduction to his ideas.)   http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/resources/database/id477_aligning_teaching_for_constructing_learning.pdf

The task you have chosen needs to align with at least one of the approved objectives of your subject. Intended learning outcomes  for a particular assessment item should reflect the subject objectives stating precisely what it is students will demonstrate that they have learned on completion of the subject. This can only happen if the requirements of the assessment task are clearly specified and tightly aligned with the objectives of the subject.

When the nature of the task and its rationale (its alignment with subject objectives) is clear you are ready to embark on developing the task description which needs to clearly communicate to your students what they have to do to your students. The type of detail provided will depend in part on your students' experience. This is a point to reflect on who those students are.

A student perspective

Drawing on your work in Module 2, Student Diversity, consider the student cohort that will be undertaking this assessment task:

• What level are they? Are they (or some of them) new to University study? Remember some students come in through TAFE pathways to 200 level subjects
• In designing and describing this assessment task, what relevant prerequisite knowledge and skills can you assume your students have achieved?
• Will your task engage students deeply in the subject or can they perform the task successfully through a surface approach (see Bloxham and Boyd, 2007)?

Designing Criteria and Standards

The CSU Assessment policy requires you to clearly set out the assessment criteria (the specific performance attributes or characteristics that that the assessor takes into account when making a judgment about the student response to the different elements of the assessment task) and standards (specified levels of quality of student performance in relation to criteria).

One way to approach this task is through the design of a marking rubric. This not only assists your thinking at the design stage, but assists students and markers to understand what is required. Students may also self assess their performance. It also provides a format for feedback which is clear, specific and easy to use.

An assessment rubric is usually in the form of a matrix, grid or cross-tabulation. It aims to make expert judgments of student work both more systematic and more transparent to students. Rubrics explicate in summary form the bases upon which expert judgements are made. They can be used for marking feedback with associated specific comment.

A simple matrix design is for the rows to set out the dimensions of the performance that have been selected as the aspects upon which the judgement will be focused. Each row corresponds to one dimension (aspect, property or characteristic) know as a criterion. Across the column heads of the matrix are set out the performance standards – typically four or five with labels indicative of each of the levels demonstrated (e.g. High Distinction, Distinction, Credit, Pass, Fail).

Attached is a rubric for Assessment 2 in EEL416. Because of the SY/US grading used in this subject the rubric is a simple one that does not have to wrestle with how marks are assigned.

To consider more complex examples Associate Professor Ritter, who has undertaken extensive work on rubrics, has provided a series of examples with commentary.

Try designing a rubric for your assessment task. Remember this is not an easy task but practice and feedback will help you improve over time (There's no such thing as a perfect rubric and the level of granularity and the way marks are allocated are highly contested domains.)

For me the test is

Does the rubric help me clarify my thinking and does it help communication with my markers and my students?

Another pair of eyes is always useful – discuss your assessment and rubric with a mentor, Course Director, Educational Designer or Learning Skills Advisor (particularly useful for 1st year assessment).

Rubrics are no panacea for communicating about assessment. What is clear to you may not be to your students. Discussing rubrics with students is good practice. (It develops students' skills in interpreting assessment requirements and their misunderstandings may sharpen your rubric).

Further questions to consider

Feedback to students needs to be timely, informative and supportive. It provides information on performance and facilitates a positive attitude to student learning through specific information on how to improve quality of work. First year students need regular formative evaluations of their work early in their course. How do you plan to provide effective feedback to your students? This may be a mix of some general feedback to the cohort and specific feedback to students on their own work Rubrics are a good way of structuring this process.

Paperless marking. Distance Education students are especially reliant on timely written assignment feedback  and CSU policy requires that student receive feedback with 21 days of the assignment due date.  Traditionally even when DE students submit assignments electronically (over 80% do), assignments were printed and distributed to markers who then returned them to DLTS for mailing to students. Now CSU is moving to paperless marking to shorten turnaround times, how do you plan to manage this?  See tools that can assist in this process: http://www.csu.edu.au/division/landt/resources/resources

What are the responsibilities of students outlined in the CSU Assessment Policy? What approach will you take to assisting your students to understand the assessment process?

In the document Assessment 2020: Seven propositions for assessment reform in higher education, Boud (2009) talks of students and teachers as responsible partners in the assessment process with students gradually developing the ability to form judgements on the quality of their own work. How can you assist these developments in your subject and course?

How are you discouraging student plagiarism (task design, promoting plagiarism website, educative use of Turnitin, checking assignments through Turnitin)?

Feedback

Peer Review. Another pair of eyes is always useful – discuss your assessment with a mentor, Course Director, Educational Designer or Learning Skills Advisor (particularly useful for 1st year assessment).

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Task

On completion of this assignment you will have developed an assessment task for use in a CSU subject in a form suitable for subject outline documentation.

You must provide a description of the task, a rationale that links the assessment with subject objectives, the criteria by which work will be assessed and the standards by which student performance will be evaluated.  Document your reflections on the assessment design process.

In your assignment you will:

Part A

Select or design an assessment task. Provide the task description, rationale, criteria and standards for a student audience in the form required in the subject outline. 

In selecting or constructing an assessment task for this activity, choose from a subject for which you are, or will be, responsible or in which you teach or provide professional teaching support (e.g. Educational Designer, Learning Skills Advisor etc).  The task need not be your original design but you must describe the task, the rationale, the criteria and the standards in your own words.

In undertaking this task you must consider: 

• the appropriateness of the task to the level of the subject ,  the cohort characteristics and assumed prior knowledge; and
• the principles and definitions in the CSU Assessment Policy 2012.

You are encouraged to share the task documents with a mentor, Course Director, Educational Designer or Learning Skills Adviser and reflect on and if necessary modify in the light of feedback.

Part B

Reflect on the how your design and documentation of the assessment task addressed:

• the alignment of the task with the subject objectives  (available in Subject Profile);
• the nature of the student cohort  (diversity  of academic background; work experience, prerequisite knowledge and skills ) and the level of the subject;
• the requirements of  CSU Assessment Policy 2012 - you may include and discuss  a marking rubric which becomes the basis for your description of assessment criteria and standards in Part A;
• scholarly work on principles of good practice in assessment;
• any feedback received from colleagues.

[N. B. Remember the Subject Coordinator, in conjunction with colleagues, is responsible for assessment in a subject so you will not be able to implement suggested changes to an assessment item without following appropriate school practice.]

Rationale

This task provides students with the opportunity to demonstrate their achievement of the following learning objective:  

• Design assessment activities and criteria in alignment with CSU assessment policies and the diverse CSU student cohort.

Marking criteria

The criteria on which the task will be assessed will be: 

• Assessment documentation demonstrates an understanding of the elements of assessment task design (45%):
  task description
  rationale
  criteria and
  standards statements
• Clarity and appropriateness of language (15%)
• Identification of student cohort characteristics and application to assessment decisions (15%)
• Application and reflection on principles of effective assessment (25%)

(NB.  This subject is graded SY/US. Percentage figures are indicative of the importance of each assessment criteria and do not refer to an allocation of marks.)

Your assignment will be graded according to the following standards:

SY

You demonstrate an understanding of the CSU Assessment policy. You describe the requirements of the assessment task in sufficient detail for students to understand what they are required to do. Your rationale indicates the alignment of the task with at least one of the subject objectives. Your criteria identify a set of attributes that indicate to students on what basis their performance will be assessed and grades awarded. Your standards statements guide students and markers as to the standard of performance required to achieve a specific grade. Your language is clear, precise and appropriate to the characteristics of your student cohort. You identify characteristics of your student cohort and explained how that influenced assessment design. Your reflections indicate awareness of key principles of assessment derived from policy, resources and scholarly literature and their application to assessment design.

US

You do not present all the required elements of assessment documentation as specified in the assessment policy.  Your use of language is unclear or difficult for your students to comprehend.  Students may not be able to understand task requirements and expectations. You do not provide a rationale that indicates the alignment of the task with at least one of the subject objectives. Your description of your cohort is vague or unsubstantiated. It is not related to assessment design. Your reflections do not demonstrate awareness and application of principles of assessment design.

The marking rubric used to grade this assessment will be provided in the resources section of the EEL416 Interact site.

Presentation 

Part A) Present in the form appropriate for inclusion in a CSU Subject Outline i.e. using the headings: Task; Rationale; Marking Criteria.

Part B) The reflection on assessment design should be a maximum of 800 words.  The APA referencing style should be used.

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